Favorite Castle Book?

[ben_toy_tech]

I'd have to say The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks, soon to be a major motion picture, by the way. I have read all of Mr. Brooks' work, and that book is generally considered to be one of his best. However, they are all good, if a bit similar to one another in general.

[Blue Moon Knight]

My favorite book is defenitly LOTR. The detail, the self-made languages and just the way it is written, simply great.

Very true. Creating a whole new language can be difficult...

[gormadoc1]

The Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell is quite good.

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

Once I discovered Terry Pratchett, I don't think I ever put down one of his books without having another one to start. But the short list I would consider indispensible includes Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, Beowulf, the Niebelungenlied, and of course Tolkien's works on middle earth. And then as an afterthought, toss in The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians by J.B. Bury, and Stardust by Niel Gaiman which isn't so much a castle book as just a neat fairy tale.

[Albatross_Viking]

Some more good books:
Arthur, The King in The Stone
and
Arthur, The Borderland (i think its something like that - i read them in danish, so im not all sure about the translation)
and
Gattys Tale
All three by Kevin Crossley-Holland.

A_V

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

Some more good books:
Arthur, The King in The Stone
and
Arthur, The Borderland (i think its something like that - i read them in danish, so im not all sure about the translation)
and
Gattys Tale
All three by Kevin Crossley-Holland.

A_V

I didn't know Crossly-Holland wrote works of fiction. I had only known him from the compendium of Anglo-Saxon literature he had written (which I had considered putting in this list). I'll have to look into his novels.

[Napoleon]

We've had a favorite movie thread; it's only fitting that we do favorite books too!

Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

-snip-

The Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King: Good solid yarn--just imagine all those napkins...

-snip-

Carl

Stephen King. The one who writes stories about blood-thirsty cannabalistic clowns kidnapping small children. I am not reading that guy's stuff!

[quaraga]

the song of ice and fire books.
ranger's apprentice books
i know theres more I like but i can't put my finger on them.
edit T.H. White's once and future king.

[Albatross_Viking]

The Edge Chronicles by Paul Steward and Chris Riddel (drawings)

A_V

[Jacob C.]

Anything in the Osprey Fortress series is great.
Really good info combined with excellent, detailed illustrations.

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/fortress/

I already own 20+ of these books myself.

[Redav]

I haven't thread mined today so here it is

While at primary and secondary school I used to borrow Knights and Castles from the library all the time. I loved it and the other three books in the series which were Rome and Romans, Viking Raiders and Pharaohs and Pyramids. Last year I managed to find it in an omnibus and bought it. Oh the memories!

As for fantasy, I must confess that the only series, or even books I have read are the Legends of Lone Wolf series. I kinda expected that someone else would have mentioned them. It's a novel series written by John Grant (Paul Barnett) based on Joe Dever's gamebook series Lone Wolf. I absolutely love both series and it was a shame neither were finished. The game books stop four books short and the Legends books stop half way through the Magnakai game books. I dream for them to continue. Also, a new game was being developed but bit the bullet when the GFC kicked in. That looked like it had a lot of promise.

[SevFalcon]

Has anyone here read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (the one finishing up the Wheel of Time series)?

I've been debating about getting this, but I keep reading good reviews for it....

If anyone here has read it, what are your thoughts?

[sidewinderl]

I've been reading the Brother Caedfael mysteries lately and am getting inspired by them. I may have to build a Shrewsbury Abbey now....

Josh

I never read it, but I love the tv series. People should definitely either read it or watch it.

I'm very disturbed the lack of The White Company (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...the Sherlock Holmes guy) in this topic. It's one of my favorite books ever, and it's very well illustrated by one of the greatest American painters ever. He also wrote a spin-off called Sir Nigel, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. One of these days I'll make a Lego White Company...

And to the guys who said Ivanhoe...it's been many years since I attempted to read it, but it was the worst book I've ever tried to read. Not long after that I read all 3 LOTR books in 3 days...and then I went through The Silmarillion without any problem, but I just could not get more than 60 pages or so into Ivanhoe without literally falling asleep. Man, that book was awful.

[Highwayman]

I'm a sucker for fantasy books. I devour them regularly.

I really, really like the First Law triology by Joe Abercrombie. I consider them must-reads for persons interested in medieval type fantasies, magic, and like the characters to be in a moral gray-area. No Tolkienesque cliches for sure! Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind is another very fine castle (well...it's sort of medieval!) book.

Many of Raymond Feist's books are very good as well. I really enjoyed the Riftwar cycle. As time has passed I've found that it's becoming more difficult to read his work though after having read works from authors such as Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, and others who have a darker and grittier take on fantasy.

I am particularly interested in reading the Ranger's Apprentice series and I've finally started to read George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series.

[Ye Olde Republic]

Not to stir the pot, OK yeah, to stir the pot....a lot of you have mentioned LOTR as your favorite castle book(s) but what makes it 'castle'? Swords? Horses? Armour? Lack of modern technology? Am I just too close minded in my thinking of 'castle' as more realistic/historical?