There was a thread today on Dear Wandy about peoples' favourite books. I ended up writing a rather long post, one which I felt could be shared via the medium of blog. Since, like about 90% of the blogs in the world, I don't update this with actual intelligent posts as often as I should (believe me, I have plenty to say but seem not to) I think adding some book reviews would give me something to write. So I'll focus on each of these five and some of the list at the bottom sometime soon.

Empire series by Raymond E. Feist

A lot of people have cited Magician, or the trilogy it starts as their favourites, and I totally agree with that choice - the books are utterly fantastic. However it was his partnership with Janny Wurts and the wonderful story of Mara of the Acoma, her rise from failing house to one of the most powerful people in Kelewan, that really caught me. I'm not the sappy type, but one of the stories in these books brought me closer to crying than anything else I've read; the detail of the characters and the love for them that the books build up is amazing.

Harry Potter series by Ronald McDonald (aka JK Rowling)

So what they started out as kids books - they certainly didn't end up that way. Harry's adventures were wonderfully timed to correspond with my own schooling, and I actually attended the midnight opening for the final one (it was kind of out of necessity, we were going on holiday at 9am the morning after). The fact that even after reading them all (and every previous one multiple times) I'm still gripped upon my second reading of Deathly Hallows is a testament to the skill with which they're written. I'll always remember in Prisoner of Azkaban I actually ended up with my heart racing as the conclusion of the Quidditch cup was borne out.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams

It seems my favourite books are ones that affect me in a physical way - near to tears, racing heart etc. This one simply had me in stitches. Not the usual "stitches" that a critic gives Ben Stiller's latest film, I mean actually in a state of not being able to continue reading because one of the more unsubtle lines punched through. Its immensely clever, delivering most types of humour possible, and probably a few that aren't. If you haven't read it you must have seriously masochistic tendencies.

Dark Empire and Futures series' by Timothy Zahn

Simply a fantastic continuation to the Star Wars series, highly detailed, great plot twists and one of the best "baddies you almost hoped would win" ever created in the form of Grand Admiral Thrawn. If you're not interested in Star Wars you probably won't like them, but out of the myriad of books written in that universe these will always stand on a different level.

The Wind on Fire series by William Nicholson

We read the Wind Singer in the second year of high school, the standard way kids read, slowly and with the teacher stopping you all the time. After two weeks of this I got the book out of the library and finished it over the weekend, then read through it once more, followed by its sequels, whilst the rest of the class carried on slow reading it. The best thing about the series is that each book is of a very different type from the last, and you'd hardly link the last and first books without reading the second. Plenty of excitement whilst being easy to read.

Extra mentions for His Dark Materials, The Hobbit (I agree Grrry), Artemis Fowl, To Kill a Mockingbird, I Robot, Adrian Mole, Holes and the Alex Rider series.

Incidentally the quote used as the title for this item is a shortened version of one by Sir Francis Bacon. I know of this quote because it is written over the doors of Kensington Library in Liverpool, which I used to visit with my Granddad. Excitingly I found a picture of it on Flickr!

Kensington Library
Originally posted by andy_sunley