1. Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny.
BEST.
BOOK.
EVAR.

2. DUNE, Frank Herbert. Brilliantly created universe, and no other book has so much dripping off overy page.

3. The Dark Tower, by Stephen King. Next to LotR and DUNE, the world of the DT is probably the best and most original to date. Brilliant.

I am reading this book now and I keep scolding myself. "Why haven't you read this years ago?!" The book is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

its neat seeing one of Robert Jordan's inspirations too :)

a 'couple' of books i've read woul d highly reccomend........

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. a fantasy series that is very different than any other fantasy books i've ever read. The plot is outrageously deep, many say too intricate, and awesome. You feel like you know every character and actually make you gasp when things happen. I also love the way the two sexes intertwine!

The Ender Series by Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game is great and I think anybody with any intelligence will feel a kinship with Ender as he struggles with everything. I liked The Speaker For the Dead, and Xenocide, and Children of the Mind even better. the philosophy is beautiful and the ethical debates between species of creatures had my dumbfounded.

the Dune series. I'm just now reading Dune by Frank Herbert and am simply loving it.

I am enjoying His Dark Materials by Philip Paulman thanks to Cynthetiq.

One book I'd highly reccomend to anybody who likes to see how an event can defer completely from one person to the next is An Instance of the Fingerpost by Ian Pears. Just imagine reading about a murder and a witch hunt through four different people's POV. it is awesome.

The Dark Elf Trilogy by RA Salvotre is by no means deep or really philosophil, but amazing. It is three books about Drizzt D'Urden, a dark elf born in the Forgotten Realms (Dungeons & Dragons began here) that is totally different from every other elf of his race - he is good. he never gives into the evil side and becomes everyone's arch enemy. I liked this so much, cuz he fought hardhardhard for everything important to him, no matter the pain. A great series!


That's all for now, though I have many others!:)

Peter Hoeg:
The Woman and the Ape
Smilla's Sense of Snow

Hoeg is an unbelievably orginal danish novelist. I read Woman & ape through and then reread it cos the plot really took twists that I wanted to read it again to see how he develops it when I didn't see the ending before hand when you usually know how things are going to go after you've read the first chapter of a book. His style is sharp and witty with hints of magical realism in it and this makes me often wonder how intelligent he actually has to be.

****Other favorites by genre:

Magical realism:
*One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marguez
Read it three times through and taken it from the self to quote some part to a friend in a mail many times. Beautiful and magical, pseudohistorical and warm-hearted.

Scifi:
*Dune by Frank Herbert
The first part is the best of this more-than-five-books-long-trilogy.

Scifi-dystopias, the 3 great ones:
*Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
*1984 by George Orwell
*The Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
These books are considered common knowledge.

Fantasy/humor:
*Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
I've reread Hitchiker's guide and it doesn't amuse me nowadays like it did when I was 12, but Good Omens hasn't lost the touch. It still gets me to laugh out loud. :)

History & anthropology, but can be read as a novel as it is also a story of an american woman who was first ever (and possibly still only) western woman to get a REAL geisha training:
*Geisha by Lisa Dalby

Fictional, but historical:
*Sinuhe the Egyptian by Mika Waltari
(Based on poem telling the tale of Sinuhe by unknown writer from 1875 BC., this novel is actually so correct and rich in historical details it's listed in some universities as new student's source material of egyptology.)

The Hagakure is in the same vein, I've read them both and find myself going back to the Hagakure more often. It's more parable-driven than The Art of War covers a broader range of subjects. Mushashi's A Book of Five Rings is pretty good too.

Btw, has someone read the Tale of the Genji? When I have time, gotta take a priority to read it.

well, the book i'd recommend changes ever few days... but at the moment, fingersmith by sarah walters. all that and a lesbian sex scene! :D

Other than that i'm a big fan of david eddings, esp the belgarid/mallorean. my rabbits called polgara coz hes black with a white bit on his forehead.

also: girl, interupted by suzzanna keays is far better than the movie, and ranks alongside the bell jar (sylvia plath) for that kinda thing.

great, excellent book, i also recommend. :)

[edit]

and looking thru the thread, i see some *great* recommendations of books i've not read, but will surely do so.

and, i see a couple mentions of another of my faves i just thought of - Watership Down.

so true, that its way more than a kids book.

:)

Captain Corelli's Mandolin (wonderful book, shit film - completely different)

I went through a phase of having everyone refer to me as Hiro, and threatening to unleash my katana if they became unruly. I'll definitely look into pizza delivery as a career option if the mob ever gets around to subsidizing that industry.

My friend and I couldn't decide which is cooler, being a motorcycle riding, hacking, spying samurai, or being your own nuclear power with a knife that can cut through body armour. Maybe I should save this for a 'Snow Crash' thread....

Timothy Zahn's Conquerors Trilogy
and
Coraline by Gaiman

I reccomend the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. He's just an excellent story teller and this is my favorite work of his.

Just finishing "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Some pretty good non fiction with his trademark wit - a decent read for me.

I'm rereading the Harry Potter series ..currently on book 4...book five is due to be released on the 21st. yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!

I remember reading "A Wrinkle in Time" ( Madeleine L'Engle )when I was a kid.
Small book but pretty good.

"The Ghosts of Sleath" (James Herbert)is an excellent thriller...I've read it a few times...

Salmon of Doubt by Doug Adams is pretty interesting, though it's more of a collection of writings and articles than anything. Hitchhiker is mandatory, of course.

Kiln People is pretty interesting, though I forget who it is by.

I have to second SiN with Watership Down. I also have to agree with (vixen) regarding anything from David Eddings.

Most of the time I have to know the person before I recommend a book. Just because I like it, doesn't mean everyone will. But there's one book that I've founf I can recommend to anyone, and everyone has liked it. It's "Replay" by Ken Grimwood. The main character dies on page one and wakes up back in college, back in time. What happens is fun and thought-provoking. It's a great book, and a lot of people never heard of it, so it makes a great recommendation.

Anything by Robert J Sawyer... just read his book Hominids - is a great book about what would have happened if neanderthals had become the dominant species... Calculating God is also another book well done by him... but pretty much everything is fantastic

The Count of Monte Cristo is fantastic - Even if you have seen the movie, but dont see the movie after you read it... it would be a big dissapointment

A New World - Aldous Huxley, for all those 1984 lovers...

Dune

Enders Game

4000 days (The Damage Done) - by Warren Fellows... is a book about an aussie who got caught selling cocaine in Thailand and his life in prison there... unbelievable book... the prologue will have you hooked for sure.... find this one no matter what

I think ill stop there

ok, here is a list of the books i have read and enjoyed in the last 2-3 months (that i can recall);

-the power of one [bryce courtney]
omg, fantastic book, i could not put it down, i was late to work for 3 days in a row because of this book, i was reading until 3-4am and unable to put it down.

-the beach [alex garland]
another great book, i saw part of the movie and wasnt overly impressed, found it going cheap at work and read a chapter during a 10 minute break one day, took it home that night and started reading it, next thing i know it is 3 am and there is only 20 pages to go.

-the comedy writer [peter farelly]
another relativley short read, but has some real laugh out loud moments and i felt a strong sense of empathy with the main character and found myself abusing him when he did things he shouldnt.

-the alienist/angel of darkness [caleb carr]
forensic and detective/ serial killer and founding psychiatry stories set in mid 19th century- turn of the century new york, very engaging and believable, apparently set to be made into a motion picture (the alienist) at some point.

i read snow crash quite recently also (by neal stephenson) was a good story, a little inconclusive for me , but entertaining nonetheless, am having trouble getting started on
*the diamond age* however.

am currently reading
*the charm school*, by nelson demille, a bit outdated perhaps, but is a genuine cold war thriller, also stirs the curiosity about russian and soviet state history and culture (is doing so for me anyway).
oh, i would also recommend john wyndham, i enjoyed all his novels, the one i liked least though, would have been *the kraken wakes*, but even that was a good read, i would especially suggest trying * the triffids* if you havent already read it.

Tad Williams - Memory Sorrow and Thorn, best serious ever

i saw him mentioned a few trimes in here, but i would also recommend haruki murakami. especially norwegian wood or the wind up bird chronicle. and theyre really not that hard to find, most biggish book stores have them as do many libraries.

I just had a lot of fun reading The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown (faded at the end, but it's a good beach read.)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Previously mentioned) is a truly great book. If you have the slightest interest in Sci-Fi and haven't read this book you are really missing something special.

I loved the Foundation Trilogy by Aasimov.

In the line of 1984 by Orwell:

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (A book that influenced Orwell and Huxley)

A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Stephen King:

- Dark Tower series is fun
- The Stand is definitive
- His novellas in Different Seasons are good (the one that they based the movie Shawshank Redemption on is in there)
- His short stories in Night Shift are fun, as well. I think they made several movies from those.

I'm amazed that no one has mentioned Animal Farm by George Orwell. After the talk of 1984 I thought this book would be a shoe in. Also I have to add my $.02 for Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It was a great read.

"The Hot Rock" by Donald E. Westlake

:thumbsup: Cannery Row is a great book. The sequel, Sweet Thursday, is just as good.

Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold

A few selections that I didn't see that I think are truely great books:

War Music (poetry) a jazz poetry rendition of several chapters from the Illiad, simply amazing.

The Living End (fiction) The book by stanely elkins, not the other that floats around. 4 tales about the afterlife. Think Dogma with dead people and fewer dick and fart jokes.

Preacher (graphic novel/comic book) More enjoyable than Sandman, if not as intelligent, imo. A story of love and friendship at it's heart.

Revelation Space (hard sci-fi) Three of probably the 10 best scifi novels I've read in recent years are from the series starting with this book.

Something from the Nightside (horror) A truely wonderful detective noir story. Easily readable on a Sunday afternoon, and so enjoyable you'll be flipping through immediately after to read specific lines again.

Wraeththu (post-apocalyptic fantasy) Wonderful book, humanity is evolving into something different here.

Battle Cirlce (p-a fantasy) One of the most often over looked books by Peirs Anthony, but one of his best

Ok I'm surprised that I haven't seen <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=Dick%2C%20Philip%20K./104-2787779-7686303">Phillip K. Dick</a> mentioned along with some of the other authors here.

I recently read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0020315902/ref=pd_sbs_b_4/104-2787779-7686303?v=glance&s=books">"The Eye in the Sky"</a> just as a one-off, "hey it's only $3 used" impulse buy and I enjoyed it immensely. I plan to read his other works as well. For those of you not familiar with his books, the films "Blade Runner" and "Minority Report" were based off of a book(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345404475/qid=1058383993/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-2787779-7686303?v=glance&s=books">"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"</a>) and short story(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0806523794/qid=1058384098/sr=1-14/ref=sr_1_14/104-2787779-7686303?v=glance&s=books">"The Minority Report"</a>) written by him. Notice I said "based off of", the actual stories are very different from the movies.

A great non-technical technical book (what?!) is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735611319/qid=1058384152/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-2787779-7686303">"Code: The hidden language of computer hardware and software"</a>. Charles Petzold starts with Morse code and Braile, moves forward to explain other base number systems and binary, moves into Boolean algenbra, switches, Processors, memory, and ends up at Machine Language. Explaining how a computer works and how programs are interpreted in a way that is engaging and not difficult to follow.

A demon haunted world by Carl Sagen

Here we go.

-Life of Pi- Yann Martel. I cant believe that it was a true story. I could try, but I'd die on the first day.
-Moneyball is pretty good for all the baseball fans.
-Someone already said the Preacher so I'll second it. It was awesome.
-Anything by Gaiman (American Gods, got my gf to read it)
-The SNL book is good if youve been watching it for a while.
-LOTR, of course
- Harry potter series
I'm presently reading Bill Brysons new book "A short history on nearly everything" Its pretty good.

Locke, Life of Pi was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread. Are you sure it really is a true story?

I was pretty sure it was ( I think it says on the cover or something). It's my girlfriends book, so I'll take a look. Amazing story either way, huh?

Nevermind, It's not a true story. Dag nab it. I must have heard wrong or it just was written really well. Probably both. Sorry bout that.

Most of the best books I have ever read have already been listed with one noteworthy exception. It seems that no one has ever read "A Deepness In the Sky" by Vernor Vinge, and everyone I convince to read it ends up *really* loving it. (they usually end up putting it above snow crash, right below 1984) So now I am trying to add power to my lungs and scream to the heavens with a voice louder than my own....

Read "A Deepness in the Sky"

Really people, I wouldn't try to draw attention to it if I wasn't sure it would blow your mind.

Has anyone said Captain Correlli's Mandolin yet?

Or, as long as I'm talking books that got ruined in the movie adaption, Alex Garland's The Beach?

Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. It is a great anti-war novel.

Modern Fiction:

I saw Infinte Jest mentioned, but all the titles by the author David Foster Wallace are amazing. Some are even less than 500 pages! :p

also, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

Classics:
I'm in love with Stranger in a Strange Land by Camus

Nausea by Jean-Paul Sarte

The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer

all I can think of that haven't been mentioned

Anything by John Steinbeck, but especially "Travels With Charley", and "Of Mice and Men"

the icarus hunt by timothy zhan

So I just finished Road Fever by Tim Cahill. Laugh out loud, get stared at on the subway, funny! For those of you that have read his articles in Outside, or Adventure, you know what I'm talking about. This is a fast read, and did I mention funny!

I'll agree with anything by Steinbeck, but let's not forget "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt. Not that latest piece of crap by her, though.

I'd have to say cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Not quite for the lightweight reader, and quite a bit more technically oriented, but awesome after that!

It looks like Sci-Fi has been well covered, so I'm going to steer clear of that. I love Confederacy of Dunces, and I think that it's probably the best first novel ever. Definitely one that you should put on your summer reading list.

Best sports novel - Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr. The first book that I ever looked up from and said "this guy understands what it's like!" If you are or ever had been a runner, it's a must.

One of the greatest books ever - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It won him the Nobel Prize for Literature (OK, the Gulag Archipelago helped, but it's non-fiction). If you ever want to get a feeling for what being in a Soviet political prison camp was like while Stalin was alive, this is for you. It's not as shocking as it once was, but it's one that you'll have trouble putting down.

American Crime - Anything by James Ellroy. White Jazz is one of his best, and even if you've seen LA Confidential, you should pick up the book since it ends very differently, and they left out about 20 major characters in the movie.

Just finished "Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown, and now am reading his "The Da Vinci Code". Good books.
Good conspiricy theory stuff about the Catholic church, Illuminiti and such.

And I am listiing to The Prometheus Deception by Robert Ludlum.

The Cheese Monkeys by chip Kidd.

Very good book about a guys first year at college..

I really like all of Roger Zelazny's books as well as Asimov's robot series. Also recently read Catch-22 does anyone know if the sequel is any good?

Neuromancer, by william gibson. There'a full trilogy, but i can't remember the others. Absoultely fantastic .

Angels and Demons, by dan brown is great. There's a new sequel out, but i heven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Don Quixote (read it in spanish if you can)

The complete mysteries of Sherlock Holmes

White noise, by don delillo, it's a strange but interesting commentary on society

My personal favourites include:

The Dune Saga by Frank Herbert (read all 6 in order)
if you want, read his son Brian's stuff do it after

Jane Yolen's Dragon's Blood trilogy
- Dragon's Blood
- Heart's Blood
- An Ascending of Dragons

Ursula LeGuin (spelling?) Earthsea series

Most important book ever written.....
Hero of a Thousand Faces
by Joseph Campbell

He writes about what makes a good story, why some stories seem to rest within our collective conciousness forever, that everything is a metaphor for the inner struggle. He also taught George Lucas how to make star wars into a memorable saga.

Personally, fatasy-genre books are my favorites. ANd I prefer series to single books, simply because if it is good I am loathe to see it end. Now let's see here, what are some of the best I've read:

Just about Anything by Margaret Weis, including: Death Gate Cycle; Dragonlance Chronicles, Legends and War of Souls; Darksword series; Rose of the Prophet series; Dark Heart (a shame this series never got completed!).

As for other authors, Terry Brooks Running with the Demon series; Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series; Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant as well as his Sci-Fi Gap series are all incredibly wonderful reads!

"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. It's a 20th century classic with everything:)

Enders Game by Orsin Scott Card is a great one for sci-fi fans and non sci-fi fans alike.

I know it's nonfiction, and that might not count, but I just read
Guns, Germs, and Steel, and it had a completely different approach to history that made it interesting and timely. I think everyone should have to read this book at some point in their education, but I'm sure that won't happen.
Might be too boring in part for some, but I highly recommend it.

Several people have mentioned books by Ayn Rand. I personally think you can get the same amount of understanding from reading some of her essays, and not have to wade through incredibly dull novels. There's a little paperback I have of her philosophy that has an address of hers to the graduating class at the US Naval academy that is absolutely incredible. Just my 2 cents

-The Teseract, by Alex Garland

-The Beach, by Alex Garland

He also wrote the screenplay for the current movie "28 Days Later".

This was going to be my suggestion, so go read this series, now! :) It starts with Guilty Pleasures.

Several of my favorite books.

Exodus-Leon Uris
Trinity-Leon Uris
Mila 18-Leon Uris

Tropic of Cancer-Henry Miller

Papillion-Henri Charrier (sp?)

Cold Mountain-Charles Frazier ( I read this before the movie came out, while the movie is good, it doesn't compare to the book.)

Shameful, took till page 4 for someone to mention Faulkner, the greastest american writer in my opinion. I heartily recommend "Light in August" by him, a fantastic read.

As far as things in a fantasy vien, I didn't see anyone mention Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series, while it has slacked in the last two books, the first four or so are fantastic; great characters and good twists.

In the non-fiction arena, I'd recommend "Naked Economics" by Charles Wheelan, a layman's guide to economics without math and that is constanly funny, I laughed out loud too many times to count. And also "The Metaphysical Club", its not light reading by any means and i'm only halfway through but it's a great look at some of the defining thinkers of the civil war and post civil war era.

And my random book of the night Job by Stephen Heilein, too funny for words.

A really neat, though challenging book, is Jose Saramago's Blindness. Its the story of what happens when the whole world goes blind simultaneously. Pretty neat story, though its in a format with little punctuation.

just finished a really great book and recommend it to everyone:
100 years of solitude, by Gabrial Garcia Marquez

another good book is The House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski

If it's by Robert Heinlein you should be reading it.
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Awesomely awesome)
Job: A Divine Comedy
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
Waldo & the Magic, Inc.
Time Enough For Love
Methuselah's Children
Starship Troopers

Woah, just finished Michael Crichton's "State of Fear".

What a great book. I highly recommend it.

I also agree with this. Very good Science fiction. And don't just stop with Ender's game. There is a full series by Orson Scott Card, showing the life of Ender. There are also newer books as well that look in to the rest of what is going on while Ender was away from Earth. I am currently on Shadow of the Hegemon. They have all been great.