George, you've got me on
LOTR. I read it every year (usually in spring) between the ages of 15 and 35 - it was a seasonal ritual. I've only read it once in the past 20 years, and that was prompted by the first movie. Call it 25 total.
I love Stephenson as well. Hiro Protagonist had to be the best character name ever penned. I've consumed
Diamond Age,
Anathem (tough read, but I finished it) and
Cryptonomicon too. I've had these huge, daunting hardback editions of
Confusion/Quicksilver/System on my shelf for years, and tackled the first one not that long ago. After a week I was only through about 250 pages (each is 800-1000), and decided discretion was the better part of valor.
Shackleton - the greatest story ever IMHO, fiction included. Un-freaking-believable. I've bought every book I know of on the subject and have watched the A&E DVD maybe a dozen times. The determination, courage, honor and endurance of those men - especially Shackleton - is breathtaking. You can't make this stuff up.
Love Twain too. The Library of America catalog I mentioned earlier has all of his writings collected in several super high-quality volumes. Slowly but surely through Amazon at $22 a pop . . .
The Hardy Boys: we thought 40 was a lot. Check
this out. Frank and Joe have not let any grass grow under their feet all these years.
