Sci-Fi - Fantasy Recomendations
 

I'm going to England on the 10th, and I've got two massive layovers on top of the actual trip (11 hours once I get to O'Hare, ouch). I need some recomendations for sci-fi or fantasy books to keep myself busy.

Here's a list of books in this genre I've read, so I don't get a recomendation for something I own =):

Ender's Game
Battlefield Earth
Deathstalker series
Blue Moon Rising
The Song of Ice and Fire series
The Legend of Huma
Swords of Haven

I hear the Drizzt series is pretty good, maybe I'll get that. But if you see something I haven't written down that every proper nerd should read let me know.

I recommend any of the Dragonlance books in the main series. Kaz the Minotaur is the sequel to The Legend of Huma; it's a good one as well. I suggest starting the saga with Dragons of Autumn Twilight. You won't be disappointed. :) The Dragonlance series is phenomenal. The Legend of Huma is definitely in my top 5 list for books in the series, so you read one of the best. Dragons of Autumn Twilight would be a very good read. It starts out the series, not to mention it's one of the best out of the 150 books in the series.

There are some other great stand-alone books in the Dragonlance saga, but most of them require knowledge gained from previous books. :(

-Lasereth

go for the drizt stuff- its good- only problem being that the middle series gets stale(legacy serries) - salvatore fixes that later though
also liked the cleric quintet

david gemmel is great- he put out a book called "against the horde", in the 80's, complete w/ cheesy cover- then re issued it in the 90's with a new title, legend- and better cover art- It is now a best seller (or was) I read the cheesy cover version as a last resort, as it seemed like a bad cliche' , but 20 pages in was amazed- 100 pages in could not put it down- it is THAT COOL- think the Alamo meets ghengis khan meets lotr- gave to the wife she had simmilar opinions/ read it in one setting - this is my personal example of the old maxim about judging books by the covers.....
also- steven brust is a helluva writer- the vlad taltos series is lighter but he also gets deep in some of his stuff..... also does a great fantasy version of the three musketeers with the phoenix guards and 500 years later.......

Seriously though:
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
The Cyberiad - Stanislaw Lem
Dune - Frank Herbert
1984 - George Orwell
Solar Lottery - Philip K. Dick
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Adams

Starship Troopers- Heinlein
Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C Clarke
1984 - Orwell
Dune - Herbert
Ringworld - Niven

Gotta second Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers. Anything from Robert Heinlein is worth the read, but his style takes some getting used to. These two books are perfect beginner books.
I also suggest the Dark Tower series by Steven King, this series goes a long way to show that Steven King is more than just a hack and slash horror writter.
Last, I suggest the Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Excellent Sci-fi.

I would recomend Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series from a fantasy perspective.

I've never read much sci-fi, and I wouldnt call 1984 Sci-fi, but it is a excellent book which everyone should read.

If you read 1984, you should also check:

Bend Sinister - Vladimir Nabakov
Brave New World - Aldus Huxley

They are the best dystopian novels I've ever read, along with Orwell's 1984.

Isaac Asimov is a great Sci-fi writer, read his Foundation series.

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords

By George R.R. Martin

Am loving this series imensely. Seriously one of the best series I have read in many many years.

Some books that I think are great for trips, readily available in most bookstores in paperback, and seem to fit in your tastes would be:

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Fantasy. Easily one of the best books I've read in recent years, I'd recommend it almost any other book in the genre, right now.

The Nightside series, by Simon R Green. Fantasy. First book is Something from the Nightside, they're much shorter and lighter reads than the Deathstalker series, but incredible so far.

Chasm City, by Aliester Reynolds. Sci-fi. Engaging story, it's a dectective/adventure novel.

Enders Shadow, by OSC. Sci-fi. A novel that happens during the timespan that Enders Game took place, only from Beans pov. Good read, although, if like me, you loved Enders Game, you might want to steer clear of it, as it takes a bit of the "magic" away from it, imo.

Anyway, those are all enjoyable, and none will burden you down with a series commitment (Nightside is only 2 books long right now, and each are only roughly 200 pages, and Chasm City, while set in a Series Universe, is an offshoot and requires no additional or prior reading), and each should be engaging enough to read for long stretches.

Allot of good Sci-Fi books mentioned. Read almost all of them.

As for fantasy books

The already mentioned A Song of Ice and Fire saga by George R.R. Martin is excelent.

By leaps and bounds my favorite fantasy author of all time is Guy Gavriel Kay. Some of his best book include Tigana, Lions of All-Rassan and The Sarantine Mosaic (especially the second book) are all excelent.

Yeah, that series makes ghandi look like a child molestor. I've read them though, listed it as "The Song of Ice and Fire series."

I'm going to check out Against the Horde/Legend and The Nightside series. Horde sounds awesome, and I love Simon R. Green (deathstalker is good, and blue moon rising is hilarious) so I think I'll go with them.

Thanks guys!

The Cronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
by Stephen R. Donaldson
It's a three book fantasy series.

It's a great read with alot of man vs. self conflict

Go with Battletech

Everyone has listed the well known stuff so here are two lesser known ones:

Altered Carbon is one of the best new sci-fi books I have read.

Cross-Time Engineer is a lesser known but VERY funny sci-fi book. It has something of a cult following and shouldn't be missed.

If you like Ender's Game, read Ender's Shadow. It's basically the same story, but told from a different point of view. Be sure to read Ender's Game first though, because there are some things in Ender's Shadow that you won't understand without having read the first one.

Hope I got the right book, they didn't have "against the horde," or "Legend." So I got "The Legend of Deathwalker," which was the closest thing I saw.

Saw two of the nightside books, but they didn't look like my kind of thing. So after like an hour of perusing dragonlance books I just got the next Deathstalker book.

The New Jedi Order series in the Star Wars realm is actually pretty damn good. I approached it with skepticism at first, but really got into it, and I have thoroughly enjoyed them. Start with Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore (they actually have a chrono progression, each book has a timeline and will help you buy the next book in the series). They're good reads.

i would say the rama series by clarke

Definatly pick up Dune.
Starship Troopers is great, and also try "The Forever War" by joe haldeman, its even better.
If you like Card, try out the Homecoming series, i just finished the thrid book and really like it.
SnowCrash by Neal Stephenson is great also.
Michael Crichton is a great author, and his books are WAY better than the movies.
Pretty much anything by Clarke is worth a read, Childhood's End is good, along with Fountains of Paradise.
My general guide is to just find a site that lists hugo and Nebula Award winners, read the excerpt on amazon.com, and buy it used if its interesting. Great way to find books in my opinion.
Edit: And if your man enough, don't be afraid to pick up the Harry Potter books;they happen to be great books

Anything by Issac Assimov especially Nemesis and the resulting sequels.

The Coldfire Trilogy (Black Sun Rising and its sequels) by CF Friedman is great fantasy without rehashing overdone Dungeons and Dragons themes.

The Thomas Covenant series is extremely entertaining and insightful.

I would also highly recommend Neil Gaiman. Pellaz already mentioned American Gods. I would also recommend his book of short works, Smoke & Mirrors and his collaboration with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens