I am unashamedly obsessed with HDM and desperately waiting for a release date for the third Book of Dust and/or season two of the TV series...

Harry Potter is... I like the characters, I like writing fanfiction about it, but I don't love it in the same way I do HDM.

ohnoitsshipfestI'mgivingpeopleideas

There are still a lot of incredible truths inside it, primarily the consequences of a culture replacing emotional depth and its understanding of the world with superficial trivial knowledge and and a disregard for anything but a basic feeling of entertainment as a substitute for happiness. But in retrospect, there's also an awkward element of "the minorities are taking away our historical literature because the legacy or racist imperialism makes them feel bad, baaaaah" . . . so I'm not quite as worshipful of it as I used to be. I still love reading some passages from it out loud, though.

"'But many were those whose sole knowledge of Hamlet . . . was a one-page digest in a book that claimed: now at last you can read all the classics; keep up with your neighbors. Do you see? Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries or more.'"

My reading habits are pretty much just straight gluttony; I finish one book and immediately want to move on to the next, explore another world. So I haven't really developed a specific favorite; I'm more about the activity than the enjoyment. The only two novels I've ever reread are 1984, which was only because of a school assignment, and To Kill a Mockingbird, because that novel really is that good. I still need to read Go Set a Watchman, come to think of it.

—doctorlit, reading ever onwards

Although I would say that Fifth Elephant or Night Watch are my favourite Discworld books.

I'm currently re-reading the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne (who has very similar humour to Aaron Allston, so I suspect you may like).

After reading the Honorverse and being introduced to Eric Flint, I'm going down the rabbit hole that is the Ring of Fire (1632) series: what happens when good fanfic/collaboration is given Word Of God mandate and becomes canon. (answer: so many books.)

Other than that I've also got a soft spot for Bernard Cornwall's Saxon Stories (the ones filmed as The Last Kingdom, although as always The Book Is Better Than The Movie) and Julian Stockwin's Kydd series of buckle-swashing Napoleonic naval novels (which have an interesting spin on the whole Hornblower sub-genre in that Kydd starts off as a press-ganged enlisted man, although eventually becomes an officer for reasons of Plot).

Elcalion, binge-reading

It's hard to pick a favorite book. There's just a lot of axes to pick on.

By reread count, I'd probably end up with the Chanur Saga. Is it Great Literature (tm)? No. Is it a fun bit of space operas with interesting aliens and interactions between them that's fun to flick through again? Yep.

Pretty close on the rereads, I suspect, and definitely on fanfic written, is Young Wizards, which is a book series I quite like overall.

Harry Potter has a big nostalgia factor, Anathem is pretty high up there on the nerd factor/cool science (well, math, in this case)/... side of things

... yeah, decisions are hard, especially at 1 AM on a Monday.

Clariel by Garth Nix is one of my favorites- a great book in a great series. It's got an actual ace/aro character! Which was insane to me, especially because I read it before I knew I was ace/aro. Coming back to it feels like coming back to an old friend, in that way. The villain of that book is one of the most heartbreaking and relatable characters to me, for that reason. It's a book that helps me confront the bitterness inside of me and turn away from it. Artemis by Andy Weir is somewhat on the opposite end of the spectrum. It's not a book I connect to as emotionally- rather, it's more of an inspiration. The way Andy Weir's worldbuilding informs the characters and plot so seamlessly just leaves me staring in awe, and occasionally ranting about how good this book is to other people. (I really should read The Martian, since that's also by him). It's one of the best examples I've seen for how a sci-fi or fantasy economy can drive a plot. As for better known books, Titan's Curse is my favorite Percy Jackson book. It has the Hunters of Artemis, lots of prophecies, some of the best fight scenes I've ever read, and Zoë Nightshade. I... may have had a thing for the Hunters of Artemis as a child. And I definitely have one now! I hope to take a lot of inspiration from Riordan's writing during fight scenes- the way he incorporates the location of the fight is always a great mix of clever and funny.

My favorite book series is definitely Harry Potter. I don't know what my life would be like if HP never existed. Whenever someone asks me which HP book is my favorite, I'd say they're all my favorites. I know it annoys some people, but it's not like I can help it. They are all incredibly good books.

My favorite movies are the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies. This time, I have an answer to which of those movies is my favorite. The Black Pearl, definitely.

Favorite musical is Elisabeth, and favorite show is nothing. I don't like TV shows.

Oof, I just realized how lucky I am to have relatively clear answers, and that I don't have to explain my obsessions to my friends anymore because they've learned not to ask (or waste 15 minutes of their life listening to me explaining).

I'd personally have to say that just for how deeply and enduringly I've engaged with and absorbed the universe, Harry Potter is probably at the very top. My friends generally know me as the person to go to for any fact-checking or trivia with regards to the Potterverse, the majority of my fanfic is Potter-based, and my home has way more Potter-related merch than anything else.

However, Tolkien and Pratchett are joint seconds when it comes to my favourite authors.

I don't exactly love the Harry Potter series, but it's the one I've enjoyed the most so far.

I don't... have favorites. I have things I like. How could I pick a favorite book or song or game or whatever? There are far too many incomparables in each area—if two books are too tonally different, they'll scratch different itches, and it doesn't make sense to compare them.

I can answer "What's your favorite TV show?" definitively (y'all know the answer to that by now), but anything else? Not so much.

I tell people my favorite book is The Lord of the Rings because people have heard of it and I can easily explain why I love it so much. I really do! It has an enormously special place in my heart, and nothing will ever change that.

But, for that reason, I didn't engage with it as a fan in the same way I have with other works. LotR was (and to a large degree still is) sort of sacred to me, such that I never dared to profane it with anything more permanent than a Neopets RP, certainly not fanfic, and only after...

*checks mission publication dates, does math*

Only after eight years in the PPC did I get up the nerve to write a proper mission set there, and it was a cowrite. ETA: And a crossover! "Ring Child," btw.

By contrast, I RPed a ton in Harry Potter and wrote fic based on the RPs. Phantom of the Opera, too.

My absolute favorite series, though? Judging by my level of engagement with fandom for it, that's Pern, hands down, no contest. Look, I didn't just RP, I ran an RP. Two, actually. I poured hours of research, writing, art, web design, and even attempts at networking into my Pern groups. I still know Pern better than anything.

I have the latest book, too! Haven't read it yet, but it's next on my list, right after I finish The Prydain Chronicles. (Which is super good, by the way. Totally deserves to be up there with the other "children's" fantasy classics. Maybe even at the top of the heap. There's a *heroine* who *does* stuff! Sad I missed it when I was a children, will remedy this for my young relatives.)

Don't ask me my favorite song, food, or movie. I have no idea. ^_^

~Neshomeh wants to write an "Everything I Need To Know I Learned From Farscape" list. 1. You can be more...

You have the Original Series, and a hell of a lot of expanded universe material, but it's definitely its own canon and continuity at this point. You have some characters that are fan favorites (Luxury, Nume, Dafydd, Paddlebrains, etc spring to mind), you have a small but very active fanbase, there's fanart, fan songs, and of course terrible fanfic courtesy of the badfic games. ;P

It's definitely the fandom I've written for the most at this point, and I'm not ashamed to say it IRL if people ask (though it does take a bit of explaining, haha). The little'uns might not really get it yet, but I would definitely say the PPC counts as a fandom.