Favorite fiction books

[MadArchitect]

Never one to pass up a potential potshot, are ya, Frank? Well, even if you categorize the Bible as untrue, calling it fictional is just a clever way of pushing people's buttons by blurring the boundaries of intent. Honestly, there are sections of the Bible that likely were intended as straight-up fiction, but it's too complex a conglomerate to apply any single category to the whole text.

[Jeremy1952]

Robertson Davis' Deptford Trilogy, Fifth Business, The Manticore, World of Wonders. A protestant hagiologist, a child abuse victim who overcomes, Circus as institution of redemption, a Saint who has sex with hobos. The theme of the work is, "What is Myth?", and most... maybe all of my appreciation of the value of myth comes from reading these books. If you make yourself really small, you can externalize virtually everything. Daniel Dennett, 1984

[RuthlessBob]

My old favourite to return to over and over is PG Wodehouse, especially his Jeeves and Wooster series although the Blandings series is also fantastic. I really enjoy Jonathan Kellerman or James Pattersons for bath time reading (I think I am revealing some kind of Hitchcock-esque fascination for scary bathroom scenes! ) They are also the perfect length for a 2 or 3 hour train journey.I recently read Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam about a Muslim community in England after a couple were killed for "living in sin". It was an impulse buy and has become one of the most compelling books I have ever read. The author's use of imagery is beautiful. I highly recommend it.

[mistytops]

Nobble Hospital of the Aegean by Paul Judges is a lovely story set on a contemporary Greek island. Funny, and also reflecting on deeper themes.

[pctacitus]

A brief list is as follows:The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears, Eagle In The Snow : A Novel of General Maximus and Rome's Last Stand by Wallace Breem, Greek Fire: The Fabulous Secret That Saved Europe by W. H. Spears Jr., Annapolis by William Martin, Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert and The Weapon by Michael Z. Williamson. "...the great events in life come from the books, rather than the people, one comes across." - Robert D. Kaplan, Mediterranean Winter: the Pleasures of History and Landscape in Tunisia, Sicily, Dalmatia, and Greece

[Tobiahsgirl]

Since I used to be a proofreader (and read so much fiction it nauseated me), I'm currently reading Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism. But my favorite fiction author is Barbara Pym, whose satires of English village life are hilarious. Unfortunately, the women at the Pym discussion forum get bogged down in the coziness, the minutiae, and seem to ignore all the tongue-in-cheek humor. Glad to see someone else likes humor (Wodehouse). I read David Nicholls's The Understudy for work -- it was very, very funny.

[MadArchitect]

What do you think of "The Origins of Totalitarianism" so far, TG? That's one that I've planned to read, having enjoyed Arrendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem".

[Mike Philbin]

I'm a big Philip K Dick fan and have had a number of reviews of his novels published in various online locations. A couple of my ZoneSF reviews are referenced on PKD's official website, namely Solar Lottery and The Cosmic Puppets. I've compiled what I believe to be a full list of all the PKD books I've ever reviewed - my style of reviewing is (hopefully) a more personalised reaction to the PKD non-sci-fi mentality. It's a culture clash in the truest sense - this, I believe, is where PKD excelled, in confronting the reader with surprising worlds beyond our ken. Mike PhilbinHere's the list:The Cosmic PuppetsSolar LotteryMary and The GiantA Maze Of DeathEye In The SkyTime Out Of JointA Scanner DarklyCantata 140The Game Players Of TitanDo Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep home blog lj chimericana

[mmpruitt]

My favorite is probably The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. -Meghan"Are you alright? Yeah you're alright, you're alive!" -Garden State

[juniper9]

the handmaid's talecatcher in the ryegeneration xlife of pi