Couch surfing, unlike typical hotel and lodges, provides an opportunity of interacting with the people directly. This is pretty fascinating in the sense that you can learn about the new place and culture from the locals themselves. Most importantly, it's really economical.

Books: To Kill A Mockingbird: Harper Lee, Mud Sweat and Tears: Bear Grylls, Annapurna: Herzog Maurice, A thousand splendid suns: Khaled Hosseini and much more. Movies: Apocalypse Now, Das Leben Der Andern, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Kalo Pothi etc.