I figured it was about time for me to do a 'list' xombyte and what better to do a list of than my favourite books/reads? So here you go; some of the most enjoyable things I've read to date; -

• Stranger In A Strange Land - Robert Heinlein

  Michael Valentine is the son of two astronauts part of a crew on their way to Mars. His parents die, however, and he is left to be raised by the native inhabitants of the planet.

  Years later, he is 'rescued' by a recovery mission and brought back to earth. What follows is a strange and thought-provoking adventure through what suspiciously seems like the human condition.

• Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

  This is from a first time published author. And in my opinion, many of the good ones were at their best when first published; Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Heinlein....Very difficult to explain but suffice to say it includes a time travelling gene, a love story, very emotion provoking scenes and...and an ending (I can't say!).

• The Odyssey - Homer

  Really the second part of Homer's epic poem, with the first part being The Illiad (which I wasn't quite so fond of). With the Trojan War over, our protagonist - Odysseus - finds himself trying to reach home, overcoming many obstacles but helped along by the Gods when they see fit. The characters are great and the mix of mythology adds to the read.

• L'Immoraliste; The Immoralist - Andre Gide

  This one I almost feel in two minds about; the moral/point of the story is very sharp and almost disconcerting but the tone of the narrator seems a bit lack-luster. Yet in saying that, I think it was supposed to be. The main character thinks he has found a new lease on life after falling seriously ill and making a long, arduous recovery whilst his new wife helps him along the way by never giving in to doubt. And I can't really tell you more without giving the whole thing away.

• Transmetropolitan - Warren Ellis

  This is actually a graphic novel........I heard that at the back there! They are not for children, 'kay? If anything, if Hunter S Thomson was a comic book hero, he'd be Spider Jerusalem. Not for the faint-hearted.

• Ummm....most anything by Edgar Allan Poe - he could be scary when he wanted to be.

  Ooh, ooh, but you know who was even scary than him? H. P Lovecraft. *Shudder*

• Down & Out in Paris & London - George Orwell

  From the dude that brought you 1984 and Animal Farm, comes a true story of his struggles as a vagabond. Time spent in jails as a homeless beggar and of picking up discarded cigarette butts in the hopes of a smoke.

• The Man Who Fell To Earth - Walter Tevis

  I saw the movie when I was younger and it really weirded me out; - I didn't like it all that much. However when I saw the book in a second-hand book store/coffee place, I actually exclaimed out loud "Holy crap, I didn't know this was a book!" and beamed a grin at the old guy behind the counter when he dared raise an eyebrow in my direction. No, I'm not gonna write about it. What? No, just read it.

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  Hmmm, not many lists have eight things in them, huh? I mean, it's usually ten or other multiples of five. Sometimes there's 12.....I don't know why. I do know that nobody's ever heard of an eight itemed list now, have they?

  So I guess I'll add another two of my most favouritest books ever;

• To Kill A Mocking Bird - Harper Lee

  To Kill a Mockingbird was Lee's first novel. The book is set in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s during the Great Recession....I mean, Depression. Atticus Finch is a lawyer defending a black man in court, simply because to defend the innocent is the rihgt thing to do. Seriously, I could not put this book down.

• The Princess Bride - S Morgenstern (Abridged by William Goldberg)

  This is a great adventure way ahead of it's time; it's cynical yet true to every fairy tale happy ending there could be. Buttercup lives on a farm in Florin with her mother and father and a stable boy - Wesley. She's mean and makes the boy grovel yet he responds with kindness and kind words; "As you wish".

  Thus, he teaches her love and they are soon to be married. Things happen, they're torn apart, there are bad guys and mean princes. There's giants and sword-fighting as well as monsters and swamps.

  Ahem, I mean it's a great tale of renaissance politics & history and we could all learn a thing or two.

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  So thar ye have it xombie folks, 10 of my most favourite books of all time. It was real hard to choose between them all and I swear I'm going to have to make maybe a couple o' more list to fit them all in.