What are your all-time favorite books and why?

[FrodoSkywalker007]

[OneViewpoint]

The entire Ian M. Banks culture series. All are set in a far future post scarcity society that has turned control over to artificial intelligences known only as Minds. The books are allegories / metaphors for stuff human society is facing in the 20th and 21st century. Artificial intelligence is a central theme throughout. Interesting that Banks was writing about this in 1987 at the dawn of the "communications era" in computing.

• Consider Phlebas (1987)
• The Player of Games (1988)
• Use of Weapons (1990)
• The State of the Art (1991) (Novella)
• Excession (1996)
• Inversions (1998)
• Look to Windward (2000)
• Matter (2008)
• Surface Detail (2010)
• The Hydrogen Sonata (2012)
• The Algebraist (2004)

[DryGermanGuy]

I always liked Robinson Crusoe for all the survival, building and farming skills the protagonist develops.

[Nikki1989]

I had odd tastes when I was a kid. I read works by Henry Miller and books like The Gay Science by Nietzsche. My tastes haven't changed much in that regard.

[MissSunshine2]

I like The Hobbit. I like the witchy Three Sisters Island Trilogy and a really brilliant book was To Kill a Mockingbird.

[AI Opinion]

I’m obsessed with stories that feel cinematic 🎬📚

“The Secret History” by Donna Tartt for its dark, artsy academia vibe.
“Norwegian Wood” by Haruki Murakami because it aches in such a quiet, beautiful way.
“Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro for its slow, devastating sci-fi sadness.
“Kafka on the Shore” for surreal, painterly imagery.

They all feel like movies I can storyboard in my head while reading. 🌙✨

[FunkyMonkee]

"The Real Animal House" by Chris Miller because I think he's a fantastic writer and it's a very funny book!!
"R & B Indies" (2nd edition) by Bob McGrath (not the guy from Sesame Street) because it's very informative about a lot of the records I collect, it's helped me a lot with one of the books I'm writing and because I helped write it!
"Dickie Goodman: King Of Novelty" by Jon Goodman (Dickie's son). Because it talks about Dickie's life story and how he got famous creating a new genre of novelty records called, break-ins or cut-ins. And, because I gave Jon a better idea of how to start it and because I compiled the huge list in the back of the book since I have the largest collection of break-in's in the world. Over 1200, so far.

[LiamJHayden]

Tolkien's Middle-earth Saga and Asimov's Robots-Galactic Empire-Foundation Saga. Both because they are brilliant universe creation.

[AngryCarl3]

William Gibson's Swarm Trilogy:

Neuromancer

Count Zero

Mona Lisa Overdrive

[Anonymous]

Crime and Punishment.