I've lost track of how many books I've read over the years. I even had a fairly decent collection at one time (numbering over 3000 books), but I had to get rid of a large portion of those to make room for my kids.

Anyway, here is a small snapshot of some of my favourites over the years...

Stephen Donaldson:

The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant...

Lord Foul's Bane
The Illearth War
The Power That Preserves
The Wounded Land
The One Tree
White Gold Wielder


John Wyndham:

Day Of The Triffids
The Kraken Wakes
The Chrysalids
The Midwich Cuckoos


Herbert George Wells:

The War Of The Worlds
The Invisible Man
The Time Machine
The Island Of Dr. Moreau
The Food Of The Gods


Basil Copper:

The Great White Space
Into The Silence


Edgar Rice Burroughs:

Thuvia, Maid Of Mars
The Chessmen Of Mars
Tarzan Of The Apes


Alan Dean Foster:

Into The Out Of
Spellsinger
To The Vanishing Point

The Icerigger trilogy:

Icerigger
Mission To Moulokin
The Deluge Drivers


David Gemmell:

Waylander
Legend
Morningstar
Knights Of Dark Renown


Robert E. Howard:

The Conan stories
The Gods Of Bal-Sagoth (collection of short stories)
Solomon Kane


Katherine Kurtz:

Deryni Rising
Deryni Checkmate
High Deryni
The Bishop's Heir
The King's
The Quest For Saint Camber


Barbra Hambly:

The Darwath Trilogy:

1: The Time Of The Dark
2: The Walls Of Air
3: The Armies Of Daylight


Ian Fleming:

Dr. No
Goldfinger
You Only Live Twice
From Russia With Love
Live And Let Die
Thunderball
On Her Majesty's Secret Service


James Herbert:

The Rats
Lair
The Fog
The Dark


Raymond E. Feist:

Magician
Silverthorn
A Darkness At Sethanon


Dean R. Koontz:

Strangers
Cold Fire
Lightning
The Bad Place
Darkness Comes
Phantoms


Jules Verne:

Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Mysterious Island


Alexander Dumas:

The Three Musketeers
Ten Years Later
Twenty Years Later
The Man In The Iron Mask
The Count Of Monte Cristo

Douglas Adams:

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Restaurant At The End Of The Universe


Clifford D. Simak:

All Flesh Is Grass
The Visitors
They Walked Like Men


Dennis Wheatley:

The Devil Rides Out
Uncharted Seas


Larry Niven:

The Mote In God's Eye
Dream Park

H. Beam Piper:

Little Fuzzy
Fuzzy Sapiens
Fuzzies and other people

Charles Dickens:

The Old Curiosity Shop
Oliver Twist
Great Expectations
A Christmas Carol

Robert Louis Stevenson:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Treasure Island

Isaac Asimov:

I, Robot
The Bicentennial Man

J.R.R. Tolkien:

The Hobbit
The Lord Of The Rings (complete)

Clive Barker:

Books Of Blood series
Weaveworld

Robert Jordan:

Eye Of The World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn

The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe
The Cthulhu stories of H.P. Lovecraft

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
Involution Ocean by Bruce Sterling
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
The Warlock In Spite Of Himself by Christopher Stasheff
Massacre River (and other 'Fargo' novels) by John Benteen
The Ipcress File by Len Deighton
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Moon Pool by Abraham Merritt
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained by John Milton
Duncton Wood by William Horwood

It's not an exhaustive list by any means, and there are many, many omissions, but I'd recommend any of these as a 'good read'.

Here are some of my favourite movies of all time, listed by genre.

Favourite Sci-Fi movies

1. Blade Runner (Director's Cut) ( 1982 )
2. Forbidden Planet ( 1956 )
3. The Day The Earth Stood Still ( 1951 )
4. The Terminator ( 1984 )
5. War Of The Worlds ( 1953 )
6. The Time Machine ( 1960 )
7. The Abyss (Special Edition) ( 1989 )
8. The Day The Earth Caught Fire ( 1961 )
9. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind ( 1977 )
10. Soylent Green ( 1973)


Favourite Fantasy movies

1. LOTR: Fellowship Of The Ring ( 2001 )
2. LOTR: The Two Towers ( 2002 )
3. LOTR: Return Of The King ( 2003 )
4. Sleepy Hollow ( 1999 )
5. The 13th Warrior ( 1999 )
6. Pan's Labyrinth (Spanish) ( 2006 )
7. Jason And The Argonauts ( 1963 )
8. Le Pacte Des Loups (aka Brotherhood Of The Wolf) (French) ( 1999 )
9. 7th Voyage of Sinbad ( 1958 )
10. Conan The Barbarian ( 1982 )


Favourite Period movies

1. Braveheart ( 1995 )
2. The Three Musketeers ( 1973 )
3. Scaramouche ( 1952 )
4. The Horseman On The Roof (French) ( 1995 )
5. Ben Hur ( 1959 )
6. Master and Commander: Far Side Of The World ( 2002 )
7. Name Of The Rose ( 1986 )
8. Le Bossu (aka On Guard) (French) ( 1997 )
9. Seven Samurai (Japanese) ( 1956 )
10. The First Great Train Robbery ( 1978 )


Favourite 'Westerns'

1. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly ( 1966 )
2. Once Upon A Time In The West ( 1969 )
3. The Outlaw Josey Wales ( 1976 )
4. Rio Bravo/El Dorado (basically the same)
5. A Fistful Of Dollars ( 1964 )
6. Unforgiven ( 1992 )
7. Hidalgo ( 2004 )
8. How The West Was Won ( 1962 )
9. Heaven's Gate (uncut) ( 1980 )
10. The Magnificent Seven ( 1960 )


Favourite Horror movies

1. The Changeling ( 1980 )
2. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers ( 1956 )
3. The Devil Rides Out ( 1968 )
4. Halloween ( 1978 )
5. The Frighteners ( 1996 )
6. The Haunting ( 1963 )
7. Legend Of Hell House ( 1973 )
8. The Shining ( 1980 )
9. Dracula: Prince Of Darkness ( 1966 )
10. Lifeforce ( 1985 )


Favourite 'Monster' movies

1. Aliens ( 1986 )
2. Jaws ( 1975 )
3. An American Werewolf In London ( 1981 )
4. Predator ( 1987 )
5. John Carpenter's The Thing ( 1982 )
6. Tremors ( 1990 )
7. King Kong ( 1933 )
8. Them! ( 1954 )
9. Jurassic Park ( 1993 )
10. The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms* ( 1953 )

* I'm a sucker for Harryhausen movies.


Favourite War movies

1. Where Eagles Dare ( 1968 )
2. Saving Private Ryan ( 1998 )
3. Apocalypse Now ( 1979 )
4. Kelly's Heroes ( 1970 )
5. Battle Of The Bulge ( 1965 )
6. A Bridge Too Far ( 1977 )
7. The Longest Day ( 1970 )
8. The Deer Hunter ( 1978 )
9. Cross Of Iron ( 1977 )
10. Taegukgi (aka Brotherhood) (Korea) ( 2004 )

Favourite Action movies

1. The Spy Who Loved Me ( 1977 ) (+ all James Bond)
2. The Bourne Identity ( 2002 )
3. Raiders Of The Lost Ark ( 1981 )
4. Lethal Weapon 2 ( 1989 )
5. Die Hard ( 1988 )
6. Ronin ( 1998 )
7. The Replacement Killers ( 1998 )
8. Enter The Dragon ( 1973 )
9. District B13 (French) ( 2004 )
10. Eraser ( 1996 )


Favourite Thrillers

1. The Ipcress File ( 1965 )
2. The French Connection ( 1971 )
3. North By Northwest ( 1959 )
4. Cop ( 1988 )
5. Marathon Man ( 1976 )
6. Rear Window ( 1954 )
7. The Conversation ( 1974 )
8. Magnum Force ( 1973 )
9. Leon (aka The Professional) ( 1994 )
10. Strange Days ( 1995 )
11. Children Of Men ( 2007 )
12. Kiss Me Deadly ( 1955 )


Favourite Light Entertainment

1. A Shot In The Dark ( 1964 )
2. Return Of The Pink Panther ( 1975 )
3. It's A Wonderful Life ( 1946 )
4. The Italian Job ( 1969 )
5. The Big Lebowski ( 1998 )
6. Little Shop Of Horrors ( 1986 )
7. The Court Jester ( 1956 )
8. Repo Man ( 1984 )
9. Way Out West (or any Laurel & Hardy movie)
10. Anything with Will Hay


Favourite Animated/CGI movies

1. The Incredibles ( 2004 )
2. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs ( 1937 )
3. Lady And The Tramp ( 1955 )
4. Fantasia ( 1940 )
5. Renaissance ( 2006 )
6. Tron ( 1982 )
7. Shrek ( 1999 )
8. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within ( 2001 )
9. Akira ( 1990 )
10. Titan A.E. ( 2000 )

Many people already know my stance on restrictive DRM, and copy protection systems such as SecuROM and StarForce. Considering some of the difficulties I have had with SecuROM and StarForce in the past, I finally decided to remove games using that software from my game collection. It's taken me three days to check the majority of games in my collection, and separate those I deem problematic from those I deem acceptable.

Quite a number of titles are now languishing in a crate shoved in a cupboard, never to see the light of day again. It saddens me that I had to do it, but I can no longer support games, developers or publishers using this kind of malware. Most people know about the issues regarding StarForce, but I've also had difficulties with SecuROM. I atrribute two DVD drive failures and interruption of data backups using Nero to interference from both SecuROM and StarForce. I now face the prospect of reformatting my hard drive and installing the OS and all my applications from scratch, just to ensure all traces of these copy protection systems are removed.

After reading about it from all around the net, I checked my system registry and found null entries, and went into my user settings to find a hidden directory buried there with files named using illegal characters making them impossible to simply delete, and requiring a third party application to remove them. SecuROM is not uninstalled when a game is uninstalled - it remains on your PC to potentially interfere with CD/DVD burning software and drives. It is also rumoured to interfere with certain kinds of virtual drive, some SCSI devices and potentially some RAID setups.

I find this practice unacceptable, and in my view SecuROM is more like a virus due to the way it installs without your knowledge and buries itself deep in your system, resisting attempts to remove it. I have two firewalls (hardware and software), two anti-virus applications and a spyware/adware removal tool on my system because I do not wanted it infected by malicious software. Now I realise I have unwittingly been installing such malicious software along with the games I purchased, and it sickens me. Of course, it was my own fault for not educating myself more thoroughly about these things in the past, but foolishly I placed my trust in the developers and wanted to support them to combat piracy.

Needless to say, I will be a lot more vigilant and wary in the future. Even some game demos now come with SecuROM attached, so I will have to avoid those as well. Basically I will have to wait until others post about the copy protections used on certain games before making future purchasing decisions, because I will not risk compromising the integrity of my PC again.

This is the list of games I have put aside:

StarForce protected games

Brothers In Arms: Earned In Blood
Codename: Panzers: Phase One
Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
Rainbow Six: Lockdown
Sniper Elite
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

SecuROM 7.xx protected games

Bioshock
Boiling Point: Road To Hell
Call Of Juarez
Company Of Heroes (Gold)
Crysis
Dark Messiah Of Might & Magic
F.E.A.R.
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Hitman: Blood Money (Triple Pack)
Lego Star Wars
Lego Star Wars 2
Neverwinter Nights 2
Prey
Project Snowblind
Rogue Trooper
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War (Gold - includes both expansions)

Anyway, some of those games listed above number among my favourite titles, and many may ask why I would deny myself the enjoyment of playing them. The answer is simply that I cannot risk these copy protection systems interfering further with my PC, and that takes precedence over all other considerations. It does not matter how sugar-coated the pill, it is still a bitter pill to swallow.

Similarly, I will purchase no other titles using these copy protection systems in future, and especially will not purchase games that come with activation limits and other restrictive DRM measures. It is simply not worth the risk.