I mostly read historical books,
preferably about medieval times (since that is an uttermost interesting time, not to live in, but to read about the details of how a civilization collapsed and grew)
But I also like to read fantasy.
My favorite is Gormenghast, written by Mervyn Peake.
It's the only book I've read yet wich was realistic/surrealistic, and I just love surrealism :-)
My favorite historical/fictional book is Iskander, written by Louis Couperus, a Dutch writer from the 19th century.
I believe there's a translation to English of this work, but
because of the time this book has been written, and the poetic style makes the translation a lot less, I fear. The style it's written in makes it hard to read, but once you get into it, the rythm and usage of certain words make this book a lot more intense. I can highly reccomend this book to Dutch ppl here with enough time and patience (mostly, I read such books on vacation). Can't say anything about the translation.
-- of course you could also learn Dutch :-)
