Best book you've ever read...

[The Jade Knight]

Now take what you just wrote, Maxonennis, and put it down at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype#Archetypes_in_literature .  If you go through the effort, you might as well help out the world a bit, eh?

[silver_kage]

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, it is the best series that I have ever read!

[Shaggy]

OK it would be virtually impossible for me to decide which book is my favorite…so I'll just say that the Bartimaeus Trilogy (The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate) [or something like that] was really, really good–it incorporated a lot of humour and feelings of joviality, while not straying from the pot line or interfering with the story's progress. It was good. And funny. Shaggy recommends.

[RavenstarRHJF]

Ok, so everyone seems to agree on The Wheel of Time and Mistborn.  Sadly, I can't agree with either because I've only read the first two books of the former and haven't picked up the latter yet.  As for BEST books, i.e. the ones I keep coming back to...  I noticed one lone reference to The Deed of Paksennarion by Elizabeth Moon which I have to second enthusiastically!  Recently I've also really enjoyed her Kylara Vatta series (sci fi).

I also have to mention Madeliene L'Engle for her series beginning with A Wrinkle in Time, and Georgette Heyer who writes Historical Romance novels devoid of text-based porn.  Her characters really shine and while the stories are somewhat predictable in that they follow the accepted plot line- guy meets girl, they appear to detest one another yet end up falling in love- not all of them do, and they are a very enjoyable read with a lot of laughing involved.  I would recommend starting with These Old Shades.  It's as much mystery and adventure as it is romance, with a delightful anti-hero.

As for more modern fiction: Jasper Fforde with his Thursday Next series.  Anyone who loves to read will like these books, I promise!  The Literary Detectives FTW!

[Madjius]

The best book I read, is often the latest book.
I started with YJK:Academy - translated to swedish.
Then Harry potter, in english.

And ever since, I'll never pick up a swedish piece of litterature, ever again.

The Best book I've read; Mistborn.

It has given me such self control and awareness that any more said would only be an understatement.

[SarahG]

I also have to mention ... Georgette Heyer who writes Historical Romance novels devoid of text-based porn.

I've loved Heyer's The Grand Sophy since I happened upon an old used copy once, but I haven't met anyone else who had heard of her.  I wholeheartedly second your recommendation!

That, combined with your liking of Madeleine L'Engle (another of my favorites), makes me want to try Jasper Fforde.

[ryos]

Funny, I didn't really enjoy A Wrinkle in Time. However, I was really young when I read it (third grade if memory serves), so I may have just not gotten it.

It's hard to pick a favorite book, but right now I'd have to say Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card is one of my favorites. I found it to be unique, vivid, compelling, and memorable. I want to read it again, and I don't read very many books twice (there are too many that I've never read once!).

[Shaggy]

I didn't like it, either. In fact the only person I've met who HAS liked it is a girl who I have a sneaking suspicion that the only reason she said she likes it is 'cause she has the same name as the main character.…

[SarahG]

I think what I loved about L'Engle, especially when I was younger, was that I related to her main characters.  Usually they are extraordinarily smart and talented girls, but somewhat less adept at connecting to their peers and fitting into the culture around them.  They are often stubborn, independent, and impatient with others' weaknesses.  I like the ways they grow, the things they learn, and the progress they make toward maturity - getting their social and emotional skills to catch up to their intellectual ones.

[ErikHolmes]

Hope its not too late to jump into this thread but here are some of my favorites:

#1 (by a large margin) The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny.
-I probably re-read this series every year, I never get tired of it (and I've played and run more Amber RPG's then any other, I just love the setting).

#2. Everyone has already mentioned Mistborn and Elantris. Both are great.

#3. The Vlad Taltos books. The first one is Jhereg and its great. Each one is a standalone book. They are like mobster stories set in a high powered fantasy world. Vlad is a minor mob boss and assassin.

#4. The Vampire Earth books. This is the best series that no one has heard of. IMO the protagonist is the truest hero I've ever read about. A Vampire-type race from another world has enslaved the planet and turned the population into cattle. The protagonist is part of one of the small groups of resistance.

#5. Valliant. I just finished this one and was really impressed. A high school girl runs away from home when she catches her boyfriend cheating on her with her mom. She ends up staying with some other kids on the street in the city. Her and another girl run into a Troll and she is forced to serve the troll for a month to free her friend.

[readerMom]

It's hard to pick a favorite book, but right now I'd have to say Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card is one of my favorites. I found it to be unique, vivid, compelling, and memorable. I want to read it again, and I don't read very many books twice (there are too many that I've never read once!).

That's funny, I don't like Card's fantasy nearly as much as his sci-fi.  But my sister loves his fantasy much better.  We've already promised to not recommend books to each other.
I can never say what my favorite book is because I have recent ones that were incredible, then the old comfort books I return to repeatedly.  My current favorites include Night Watch by Terry Pratchett and The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.  And Three Men in a Boat, which I finally read after my brother-in-law loaned me his copy.

[Necroben]

#4. The Vampire Earth books. This is the best series that no one has heard of. IMO the protagonist is the truest hero I've ever read about. A Vampire-type race from another world has enslaved the planet and turned the population into cattle. The protagonist is part of one of the small groups of resistance.

Who wrote them?  Sounds a lot like Brian Lumley's Source World stuff.

[RavenstarRHJF]

I like L'Engle because she combines a spiritual outlook with science in so many of her books.  It's not quite New Age, but it's also not run of the mill "Christian" and that's something I really like about her work.  I do remember trying to read "The Young Unicorns" and not even finishing it for lack of interest, though.  To each his own, I guess!

[Bookstore Guy]

#4. The Vampire Earth books. This is the best series that no one has heard of. IMO the protagonist is the truest hero I've ever read about. A Vampire-type race from another world has enslaved the planet and turned the population into cattle. The protagonist is part of one of the small groups of resistance.

Who wrote them?  Sounds a lot like Brian Lumley's Source World stuff.

E E Knight.
It isn't like Lumley at all. The Vampire earth is post-apocalyptic fantasy that has a very Revolutionary War feel to it. It's good, but I'm concerned that it has been going on for too long. And the cover art sucks. The first book is Way of the Wolf. It suffers from traditional "let me educate you on the world" syndrome. The ending is way cool though, and book 2 was really fun.

Lumley = Awesome.

[mtbikemom]

Goes on too long and the cover art sucks... where have I heard that before??? 
Definitely not Mistborn.  Brandon has been blessed with succinct writing and really nice
cover art.