Thank you! It's going to be hard to narrow down my favorite bands into an appropriately sized response for these boxed limitations, haha...butttt... Some favorites are Gris, Emperor, Ahab, Evoken, Hexvessel, Ulver, Cathedral, Elder, The Gathering, Khemmis, Satyricon, Summoning, Les Discrets, Mournful Congregation, Ved Buens Ende, Wedard, Graveland, Sleep, Swans... okay there's tons more but I'll stop there! I also love bunches outside of metal, like a lot of 70s progressive (Rush is one of my favorite bands!)
And as far as books go, some of my favorites are Sabriel by Garth Nix, Sword of Shannara, Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson, Psychology and the Promethean Will by William Sheldon, various works by Christopher Hitchens, and quite a few others but I'm drawing blanks
What about you?