Horray! a thread about books!!!

anyway, some of my favorites:

the Tales of the Otori series -Lian Hearn
an excellent fantasy/samurai trilogy, that takes place in feudal japan.

Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
or anything by Tom Robbins, really. I love reading his books - the plots are always outlandish, and hilarious, and his language is incredibly descriptive. One particular metaphor sticks out in my mind: "her panties were so wet, children could of sailed boats in them". but don't get the wrong idea - sex is only a small part of his books.

The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russel
scifi book abut a Jesuit mission to the alien planet rakhat. the scifi aspect of the novel itself is not all that impressive -The story, though is pretty enthralling. it reminded me a lot of the later books of the Ender's Game series - i.e. Speaker for the Dead.

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
I can't believe no one has mentioned this one yet! I read first when I was 11 - and iIstill love it. a scifi novel about ender, a boy sent to a children's military school for geniuses.

Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
as mentioned by mae in some other thread -
About data encryption, spanning from WWII to the present. funny too. one of my favorite scenes is of a uber-geeky family trying to distribute their dead grandmothers things equally - and set up a giant cartesian plane in a parking lot, x being monetary value of an item, y being the sentimental value.

and of course, LOTR and Hitchikers's guide to the galaxy.

has anyone read the Silmarillion? i couldn't get into it.