I find a lot of those books I was forced to read in high school, but never did were actually good once I came back to them later in life. They were, most notably, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Chrysalids by Wyndham John, and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

However, for real fun reading, I would recommend Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and was already mentioned, and if you're willing to stoop down a few reading levels, the Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin was always a favourite of mine.

Shogun by James Clavell

That was an awesome book, well... except for the ending...
When you read that book try to remember when it was written. At the time there were no such things as cell phones, microwave ovens, hover cars, etc... Definitely a man before his time.

Ok, I've looked overthe recommended book selections and it seems we have quite an intellectual group of choices. I am not the most intellectual of people so my recommendations might reflect that...

Also for the record I have only actually read one novel in my life, all the other's I listened to on audio cassette.

Maveric's Recommendations -

• Anything by Stephen King
  (especially the Dark Tower Series)
  
• 2001, 2010, and 3001
  by Arthur C Clarke (don't bother with 2064)
  
• The Light of Other Days
  by Stephen Baxter & Arthur C. Clarke
  
• Stranger in a Strange Land
  by Robert Hienlen
  
• Cabal
  by Clive Barker (it was made into a movie horror called NightBreed)
  
• The Thrawn Trillogy
  by Timothy Zahn (what happens after the Star Wars Movie trilogy)
  
• The Left Behind Series
  by Dr. Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins - (fictional tale about the events of Revelations happening in the present time)
  
• The Hannibal Trilogy
  by Thomas Harris (thillers about serial killers and a pyshopathic pyschiatrist)
  
• Have a Nice Day
  by Mic Foley (A Pro-Wrestler's Biography, very good story telling)
  
• Vampire Chronicles & Servant of the Bones
  by Anne Rice (romantic horror stories about vampires and ghosts)
  
• Strange Highways and Tick Tock
  by Dean Koontz (twilight zone esque stories... I didn't like the ending of Tick Tock)
  
• The Miracle Strain
  by Darrell Larson (about making a clone from the DNA of Christ)
  
• The Last Precinct
  by Patricia Cornwell (very fast paced, mystery, suspense, thriller)
  
• Get in The Van
  by Henry Rollins (biography of a punk rock singer)

I'm sure I left out some so I'll add more as I think of them :)

With SARS in the present scope of daily life the following book waybe wise to read. THE STAND
BY STEVEN KING

:D

Also, anything by Terry Pratchett

..and the following authors

Robert Rankin - extreme screwed-up humour. In one of his books you don't get to realize that the main character is a black-magic using, homosexual, serial-killing maniac, until the last third of the book. And that's a book that combines talking with the dead and alien invasions.

Andrew Vachss - Not for the faint of heart. He's a children's lawyer, and used to be the director of a correctional facility, so he knows what he's talking about. Read the "Burke"-series, it's quite amazing. A lot of it deals with the abuse of children, and pedophiles, and could be heavy reading for some.

Joe R. Lansdale. Read the Hap Collins series. The "heroes" are Hap, a white ex-hippie pacifist from Texas, and Leonard, a black, gay, Vietnam-vet, conservative. The books are offensive, and funny as hell.

Stephen Laws book, "The Chasam" was excellent, well above his other great work. He's an English Stephen King.
Brian Lumley's Wamphir series is a good investment in time as well.
Robert Heinlein has been mentioned a couple times but not "Starship Troopers"-forget that Paul Veerhooven crap that was the movie!
Armour is another book along the same veign though I forget the author's name at the moment.

Oh and Douglas Adam's "The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul"
great title, great book.
Like Flaubert meets Monty Python.

Nothing better than Steven King. Never will be. The Stand and It both gave me nightmares.... And I was 18 when I read them...

Must read writers:

Haruki Marukami

Kinky Friedman

Also the Wamphyr series by Brian Lumley and Long Dark Tea Time od the Soul (both mentioned above) are good too.

I recently read Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and enjoyed it muchly - plus, it's available as a free download!

Anything by Vonnegut

i recomend starting with slaughterhouse 5. thats the one that everyone reads first

oh btw, if you like The Stand, check out Swan Song, i forget who its by though.

Anything by Tolkien, any of the New Jedi Order series, Left Behind series is good, I liked a book called the Hot Zone, it's about the Ebola scare, kinda graphic, but quite good actually. Anything Clancy, gotta love Tom Clancy.

Gaiman, Pratchett and Adams, Douglas Adams being # 1 in my book. If you've read all of their books then I'm sure your well on your way to insanity.

King, Saul and Koontz, Stephen King is a genius and you must read Night Shift if you like horror. Also I've recently discovered a new Canadian author by the name of Michael Slade ( actually is two authors using the name ) who writes crime/horror novels that are freakishly delightful.

I also enjoy FICTION by Tom Clancy, but would someone please tell him to give up on non-fic. Man I don't think I've ever read anything so mind numbingly boring as his non-fic.

I have a couple:
Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar. There are two ways to read it. You can go chapter 1 to 54, or start at chapter 73 and follow the table of instructions. I endorse the second way.
The Pugilist At Rest-Thom Jones
Where I'm Calling From-Raymond Carver
The Dead Father-Donald Barthelme. Really good

Some really good books suggested here. A lot that I've read, and some that I've read about that I've been meaning to pick up for a while. I feel compelled to throw my two cents in in as well.

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card - can't recommend this one highly enough. Loved it the first time I read it, and I must've read it a half dozen times since.

Jurassic Park - Michael Crighton - forget everything about the movies, the book is ten times better. Couldn't put it down and read it in one night.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis - Lewis's take on the story of Christ as told as a bedtime story for his grandkids. One day I'll read the other 6 books in the series.

For those of you who like multi-part series:

The Belgariad and The Mallorean - David Eddings - great fantasy series. Saw the first three books on my teachers desk in 7th grade. Read those and then the next two. Finished the series before she did. Start with The Pawn Of Prophecy.

The Riftwar and The Serpent War Sagas - Raymond Feist - great fantasy series part 2 - Start with Magician: Apprentice

Wildcards - edited by George R.R. Martin - anthology series featuring prominent sci-fi and fantasy writers (Martin, Zelazny, John J. Miller, Walter Jon Williams, etc) exploring the theme of "what if superheroes existed in the real world?" Aliens develop a gene altering bomb that can either give you superpowers, disfigure you, kill you or have no effect at all. They come to Earth to test it. Trust me, it's not as hokey as it sounds. Absolutely AWESOME series. If you like comics at all, you owe it to yourself to check this one out. (If you read the comic version, the books are FAR superior) Start with Volume 1.

Myth Adventures: Robert Asprin - good, lowbrow, humorous fantasy series. The puns (good and bad) fly fast and furious. The later books start to really build on each other, but the first four or so can be read on their own. Start with any of these: Another Fine Myth, Myth Conceptions, Myth Directions, and Hit or Myth (those title should give you an idea of what you're in for)

Jhereg - Steven Brust - I second the previous recommendation about this great fantasy series with an Assassin as the hero.

If you like vampire books try Laurell K. Hamilton's, Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series.

Charlaine Harris southern vampire series.

Dresden files series by Jim butcher. fantasy set in modern day

David Webber's Honor series for science fiction.

"Tyranny of the Moment" - Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Hitch Hiker series by Adams
Tolkien
"The Prince" - Machiavelli
Arn trilogy - Jan Guillou
"The Sharks" - Jens Björneboe

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

Hard to find but I loved it.

One hundred years of Solitude - Marquez

AND:

The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt

i'm glad other folks have heard of Martin's "A song of Fire and Ice" Series, i love it. also, "The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" possibly one of the most zany, and witty series' out there. my perrsonal favorite book, though, has to be "A prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving

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.