sorry, spleeing mistake its called guns,germs and steel.

The guy who wrote that book, whose name escapes me at the moment, gave a speech at my university based on that book. It was pretty interesting.

As far as Islamic books go, I usually find them boring. (exception: The Quran)

But I like books on Islamic History, and Fiqh, as many Fiqh books as I can get.
I began learning Arabic only so I could understand the Quran...and get my mitts on those yummy books of Fiqh sitting in my brother's library.

Now, I've made my way through Qudoori, its explanations the Lubaab and Jawharah, and have begun Hidaayah. I hope my speed increases.

And while we are on the subject of Arabic books, I like an author I recently found Ali atTantawi. He writes non-fiction articles on many Modren Islamic Issues. I like his writing because his thoughts are very clear and incisive, and his writing style is simply beautiful.

My fave is Dan Brown (dont think anyone has mentioned him yet!!)
The "Davinci code" and "angels and demons" are so cool!

Stephen King. I got soooo bored after the first page of "silent lambs" or whatever it was.

Yeah, I've read all 3 of her books. The writing isn't too good, but I like the general plot and characters. My favorite is the second book, A voice, i think? The one when she gets married.

Jared Diamond is the name of the author. I also heard that book is very good and another book by him Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed is also a very good book. I definately have to read those books soon.

Hey I was just on a site that measures how many words you can read per minute. http://www.rocketreader.com/demo/flashDemo.html I recommend everyone check it out. Choose Step A I read 358 wpm.

Oooh, very cool site! I got 466 words per minute.

What I'm reading at the moment:
Greg Bear's Eon, a sci-fi novel.

Bad book:
IAEA Bulletin, issue title 'Our Changing Earth'. Its a magazine which looks interesting but is actually full of weird newfangled phrases that don't mean anything, like 'Global Schoolhouse', or 'Generation: Next'. Even the title is awful! It just makes you think that the government is doing nothing about climate change and just wants to invent new words to make us feel happy...

Ahhh this thread reminds me of how much I love books. They really are one of life's joys.
I'm reading Cry, the Beloved Country now and it's beautiful, the writing is superb.

Sorry, but the Da Vinci Code is on my list of books I wouldn't read if I was stranded on a desert island, with only one book, nothing to do and no hope of rescue.

It has bad writing style, bad language, bad plot and 2 dimentional characters. I only read it because everybody was telling me how good it was. It wasn't. I think the only reason the book/author got so famous is that he is so blasphemous and foul-mouthed, it shocks people. Sort of like that authour, Salman Rushdie.

Who likes Linda Sue Park? I read her book "A Single Shard" and loved it, though it has almost no plot at all. But, just the writing style is so fabulously poetic that you don't realize that until you begin thinking about what you just read.

Other books that I am not sure I love or hate:
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin. Whenever I read it, I think that its just the most wonderful book around, but as soon as I finish, I begin thinking about the fact that the whole story is just about a man chasing his shadow around...and how stupid is that!!!
But I like the two books after that, The Tombs of Atuan and The Fartherest Shore

Another author that I have very mixed feelings about is Zenna Henderson. Her books are just so soppy, gooey, love-will-solve-everything, that I can't even read one page in normal circumstances. But when I am feeling very low, down-in-the-glumps, as if the world is a nasty place and everybody out to get me, then I pull out these books and read them. They are a very good sedative, prevent me from taking my feelings out on everybody around me , and usually improve my mood. I call her books my 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' (It works much better than the magazine of that title which a friend of mine used for the same purpose.)

My favourites include Jane Austen (no ones mentioned her yet i'm into old english my fav's gotta be Pride and Prejudice), J.K Rowling, I wish i could say J.R.R Tolkien thing is i haven't got round to actually reading The Lord of the Rings but the films were fantastic! I like my fantasies, Roal Dahl books (those that i read) were hilarious and I enjoyed reading the da vinci code by Dan Brown.

Anybody read the books by Philip Pullman??? He wrote 'Northern lights' aka The Golden Compass ad His dark materials

I like Jane Austin (though my whole speaking style changes after I finish with one of her books). I have read Lord of the Rings and JK Rowling. In JK's books, my favoutite is the 3rd, then the 1st, then the 2nd, then the 4th. The quality decreases after that. As for Lord of the Rings + Hobbit, I love them. My cats are named Bombadil (Bombo) and Goldberry (Goldy) after two of the characters. But I must say that the Hobbit is my favourite.

Roald Dahl is the king of authors. He has been a favourite since I was 7. I still crack up when reading The Witches, or Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and I have read them at least 1000 times since I first got them.

Dan Brown...I saw his books in the library and skimmed through them, but wasn't sufficiently intrested to borrow them. They seemed too sentimental/airy for my tastes.

Has anybody read Diana Wynne Jones' Chrestomanci series? Maybe Howl's Moving Castle? This author can beat JK hollow anytime.

ah reading, I love reading.

At the moment I'm reading mainly history and historical fiction - loads of stuff on the Romans, the wars for Constantinople, the Second World War etc.

I've just finished a huge series of historical fiction on the Baroque period (by Neal Stephenson). It follows a load of real life and semi-fictional characters through the great moments of the age, the great fire, the black death, the founding of the royal society and the beginnings of real science, the search for the Solomonic Gold, and all round the world from Spanish America, to Moorish Africa, to Moghul India. If anything far too much is packed into them, but I really felt like I'd achived something when I finished reading them.

I also like Terry Prachett, Stephen King etc.

My favourite book is 1984 though , by George Orwell.

I also like graphic Novels/comic books. Unfiarly maligned by a lot of people, I feel.

SF Favourites

Who likes to read Isaac Asimov? His best book in my opinion is Foundation, though nothing he wrote is bad. You can get the most wondrous quotes out of it, ( Violence, is the last refuge of the incompetent... Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!...and so on. These always help me feel superiour). and it always put a grin on my face, at the sheer sly cleverness and brashness of the heros.

Who reads Cordwainer Smith? I haven't quite figured out whether I like him or not, but it is a fact that you will never be the same person after reading one of his books. I recommend Golden the Ship was, Oh, Oh, Oh to somebody who wants to begin with him.

Who likes A E Van Vogt? He has some really weird, twisty and interesting ideas. My favorite is The Voyage of the Space Beagle.

And there are two SF books which are must reads for every fiction reader, whether they like SF or not. The first is The Witches of Karres by James H Schmitz. You won't stop laughing till the last page, and a week after that whenever you think of the book. And those who don't like SF can pretend it is fantasy. It reads like one.
The other is the omnibus named Cordelia's Honor, by Lois Mc Master Bujold, containg the books, Shards of Honor and Barrayar. It really changes your views on important matters like honour, duty, responsibility, morality.

Glad you approve of my taste sis lol Harry potter 3 was definately my favourite but on the whole I really enjoyed every single one i've lost count of how many times i've read them lol.

One of my favourite stories as a kid was Mrs Armitage by Quentin Blake (he worked alongside with Roald Dahl) LOL man i sooo recommend this book to all those who haven't already read it! It's just brilliant!