What are some great books?

[Beltom]

If you enjoy Science Fiction (In general, not just space-based Science Fiction), got a massive list here:

Spoiler

Author/Editor | Title | Year
[S1] First book in a series; [C] Single-author collection; [A] Multiple author anthology


Orson Scott Card Ender's Game [S1] 1985
Frank Herbert Dune [S1] 1965
Isaac Asimov Foundation [S1-3]1951
Douglas Adams Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy [S1]1979
George Orwell 1984 1949
Robert A Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land1961
Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 1954
Arthur C Clarke 2001: A Space Odyssey1968
Isaac Asimov [C] I, Robot 1950
Robert A Heinlein Starship Troopers 1959
Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?1968
William Gibson Neuromancer1984
Larry Niven Ringworld1970
Arthur C Clarke Rendezvous With Rama 1973
Dan Simmons Hyperion [S1] 1989
H G Wells The Time Machine 1895
Aldous Huxley Brave New World 1932
Arthur C ClarkeChildhood's End 1954
H G Wells The War of the Worlds 1898
Robert A Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 1966
Joe Haldeman The Forever War 1974
Ray Bradbury [C] The Martian Chronicles 1950
Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse Five 1969
Neal Stephenson Snow Crash1992
Niven & Pournelle The Mote in God's Eye 1975
Ursula K Le Guin The Left Hand of Darkness 1969
Orson Scott Card Speaker for the Dead [S2] 1986
Michael Crichton Jurassic Park 1990
Philip K Dick The Man in the High Castle 1962
Isaac Asimov The Caves of Steel 1954
Alfred Bester The Stars My Destination 1956
Frederik Pohl Gateway 1977
Roger Zelazny Lord of Light 1967
Stanislaw Lem Solaris 1961
Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1870
Madeleine L'Engle A Wrinkle In Time 1962
Kurt Vonnegut Cat's Cradle 1963
Michael Crichton The Andromeda Strain 1969
Carl Sagan Contact 1985
Isaac Asimov The Gods Themselves 1972
Vernor Vinge A Fire Upon the Deep 1991
Philip K Dick UBIK 1969
John Wyndham The Day of the Triffids 1951
Neal Stephenson Cryptonomicon 1999
Robert A Heinlein Time Enough For Love1973
Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange 1962
Kim Stanley Robinson Red Mars [S1] 1992
Walter M Miller A Canticle for Leibowitz 1959
Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon 1966
Mary Shelley Frankenstein 1818
Neal Stephenson The Diamond Age 1995
Isaac Asimov The End Of Eternity1955
Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth1864
Ursula K Le Guin The Dispossessed 1974
Ron Hubbard Battlefield Earth 1982
Iain M Banks Player Of Games [S2]1988
Kurt Vonnegut The Sirens of Titan 1959
David Brin Startide Rising [S2]1983
Peter F Hamilton The Reality Dysfunction [S1] 1996
Orson Scott Card Ender's Shadow [S1] 1999
Greg Bear Eon 1985
Philip Jose Farmer To Your Scattered Bodies Go 1971
Philip K Dick A Scanner Darkly 1977
Niven & Pournelle Lucifer's Hammer 1977
Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale 1985
Arthur C Clarke The City and the Stars 1956
Harry Harrison The Stainless Steel Rat [S1] 1961
Gene Wolfe The Shadow of the Torturer [S1] 1980
Alfred Bester The Demolished Man 1953
Michael Crichton Sphere 1987
Philip K Dick The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch 1964
Robert A Heinlein The Door Into Summer 1956
Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space [S1] 2000
Robert A Heinlein Citizen Of the Galaxy 1957
Connie Willis Doomsday Book 1992
Dan Simmons Ilium 2003
H G Wells The Invisible Man 1897
Robert A Heinlein Have Space-Suit - Will Travel 1958
C S Lewis Out of the Silent Planet [S1] 1938
Robert A Heinlein The Puppet Masters 1951
Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars [S1] 1912
Ursula K Le Guin The Lathe of Heaven 1971
Clifford Simak Way Station 1963
John Wyndham The Chrysalids 1955
Iain M Banks Use of Weapons [S3] 1990
Edwin A Abbott Flatland 1884
Richard Morgan Altered Carbon [S1] 2002
John Scalzi Old Man's War 2005
David Brin The Postman 1985
Arkady & Boris Strugatsky Roadside Picnic 1972
Philip K Dick VALIS 1981
Julian May The Many-Colored Land [S1] 1981
John Brunner Stand on Zanzibar 1969
James Blish [C] Cities in Flight 1955
Stanislaw Lem [C] The Cyberiad 1974
Clifford Simak [C] City 1952
E E 'Doc' Smith Grey Lensman [S4] 1951
David Brin The Uplift War [S3] 1987
Arthur Conan Doyle The Lost World 1912
Cormac McCarthy The Road 2006

All of those are good, but I'd pick out Roadside Picnic, I, Robot, Ender's Game and War of the Worlds as some of my favourites, if you don't feel like crawling through the list.

 

[asspills]

John Dies at the End.

It's a horror parody novel that is legitimately intriguing and thought-provoking and occasionally disturbing.

On top of that it is also the funniest thing I've ever read anywhere. Seriously, David Wong (the author) can go from a dick joke, straight to a deep philosophical commentary without even breaking stride. In fact, the dick joke is the set-up that makes the comment hit home.

 

[Meneghetti]

Well, if my humble opinion is of value...

- The Foundation Trilogy, by Issac Assimov ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_series#Original_trilogy )

- Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_%28novel%29 )

- The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zombie_Survival_Guide / It's fun )

- A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Brief_History_of_Time / no need to know physics, he explain everything in a simple way.)

- Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_Punishment / it's a bit of a "heavy" reading, but it's good!)

- The Vampire Chronicles, by Anne Rice ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Chronicles / NO shining/emo/flower-lover vampires here, Just the good old mystical and blood-lover maniacs with fangs!)

If I remember anything else, I post here.

Oh, and if you have any specific liking of book, post here, so we can focus our recommendations.

 

[The Boy in the Hat]

The Belgariad by David and Leigh Eddings.
It's funny, moving, dramatic, and heartwarming all at once.
And it has an interesting twist on this...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BecauseDestinySaysSo
But read it to find out. Just don't scroll down to list of books it's featured in to spoil it

If you're looking for something a bit wackier, there's the DNA Cowboys trilogy by Mick Farrant.
It's absurd, hilarious, yet consistent... and pornographical. (I guarantee that there's a sex scene at least once every chapter )

 

[Meneghetti]

John Dies at the End.

It's a horror parody novel that is legitimately intriguing and thought-provoking and occasionally disturbing.

On top of that it is also the funniest thing I've ever read anywhere. Seriously, David Wong (the author) can go from a dick joke, straight to a deep philosophical commentary without even breaking stride. In fact, the dick joke is the set-up that makes the comment hit home.

It's really this good? I heard of it, but didn't seamed something worth...

Oh, btw, I want to read WORLD WAR Z, by Max Brooks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_Z), It appears as a epic win... with zombies!

 

[Bad Jim]

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
The Gun Seller - Hugh Laurie
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul - Douglas Adams

 

[RocksW]

I was recommended House Of Leaves when I made a topic like this and im ploughing through it atm. It's amazing so far, give it a google.

( House is always in blue)

 

[meticadpa]

Most of mine have already been posted, but here you are:

"1984" - George Orwell
"The Kite Runner"- Khaled Hosseini
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and its sequels - Stieg Larsson
The "His Dark Materials" trilogy - Philip Pullman
"Paradise Lost" - John Milton
The Bible and the Koran - God/Allah? P)
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (although all of his books are good)

 

[Chris^^]

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Singularity Sky
Jarhead
The Iliad

some of my favourites

also try the Gaunts Ghosts series, brilliant if you like military sci-fi

 

[HerrBobo]

Thw Shadow of the Wind, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_of_the_Wind
The Gallic Wars by Caesar. I mean who does'nt want to read a book that Caesar wrote.
The Rift War Saga, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riftwar_Saga

 

[Cyd0n1a]

I think everyone should give Jonathan Littel's "The Kindly Ones" a go. It is absolutely fantastic, one of the best books I have ever read. In addition to that, I would also recommend the works of Gene Wolfe (especially The Book Of The New Sun, now in a complete collection called Severian Of The Guild), Iain M. Banks (amazing scifi) and of course M. John Harrison's "Light".

In the nonfiction department I strongly recommend God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (as mentioned already), basically anything by Michio Kaku or Brian Greene if you are into physics (though these require practically no previous knowledge about the said subject, everything is carefully and clearly explained) and finally Beyond Good And Evil or Thus Spoke Zarahustra by Friedrich Nietzsche if philosophy is of any interest to you.

And also G.R.R Martin's A Song Of Fire And Ice -series.

 

[MorganL4]

If you are looking for historical fiction that has some of ( if not the best) action writing in it check out Bernard Cornwell.... Id recommend the grail quest series for starters ( its only three books) so it won't break the bank.....and if you find you like those go for his first series ( now over 20 books) the Sharpe Series

author's site:

http://bernardcornwell.net/

Grail Quest first book:

http://www.amazon.com/Archers-Tale-Grail-Quest-Book/dp/0060935766/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1297542519&sr=1-1

Sharpe's Series First book:

http://www.amazon.com/Sharpes-Tiger-Richard-Adventure/dp/0060932309/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297542483&sr=8-1

 

[Zakarath]

The Dresden Files and The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher are both very good. Song in the Silence & sequels by Elizabeth Kerner are quite good but a bit sappy in parts; The first two or three books of the Sword of Truth are very good, but around the third book they start going downhill fast...
If you're looking for a very good but rather short book I highly recommend either:
The Riddle of the Wren by Charles de Lint
or
Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy

 

[Me55enger]

American Gods - Niel Gaiman

 

[Albuin]

"Sojourn", "Servant of the Shard" and "Ghost King" by R.A. Salvatore (part of the "Drizzt Series")
as well as
"Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

 

[B1||y]

Every single one of these here sounds good, and to add my two cents:

"Going Bovine" by Libba Bray--a quirky, ridiculous fantasy.
"Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment" by James Patterson--exceedingly light and fluffy.
"Shogun" by James Clavell--800 pages of medieval Japan.
"Little Brother" by Cory Doctrow--science reality in a police-state San Francisco.
"The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas--good ream, if a bit dense and archaic.

Starship Troopers, Ender's Game, Catch 22, LoTR, 1984 all have my reccomendation. Hope this helps!

 

[Duck Sandwich]

The Sword of Attila - Michael Curtis Ford

Historical fiction based on the lives of Flavius Aetius and Attila the Hun. It has humour, action, and a thought-provoking story of two friends who end up leading opposing sides in a war.

The Philip K. Dick Reader

A collection of short science fiction stories, full of bizarre twists and "man, that guy is so fucked" moments.

 

[CATB320]

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (this is honestly my favorite book)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
1984 by George Orwell