Recommend-A-Book

[Graeystone]

Bible.
Anything by Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Bradbury, HP Lovecraft, Pre-2000 Stephen King(except for later Dark Tower books)

[Devgil]

Any of the books in Heralds of Valdemar world by Mercedes Lackey (this currently ecompasses seven trilogies, five stand-alone novels and three anthologies with more on the way).

Seconding the anything by Clark, Asimov, Tolkein and Lewis and adding David Weber with the new saga he's been churning out over the past through years (four books and no sign of stopping) as well as his earlier works (Honorverse and Dahak Series). I would also recommend his collaberations with Steve White and Eric Flint.

[DanteQ]

"Linked" by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi.

He's a world-renown expert on networks (not just computer networks), and explains with examples how our society and everything within it evolves toward networks (as in Graph-Theorem). Very interesting book, mostly because you never realized so many things in your environment which you thought were random actually are following networks.

[Sukichan]

Fantasy

Must add my voice to the people who recommended "Malazan Book of the Fallen". While there're many people here who recommend Wheel of Time I suggest all of you also take a look at this one. RJ has the greatest attention to detail and worldwide character creation in his epic tale, and the only one I've found so far that's up to par is Steven Eriksson. His writing is relentless... the world is brutal, the characters are wicked and I absolute love it. War is dark and he definitely gives it an unique touch you've never read before. Only one more book to go and the series is finished and even thou I've hold WoT as nr.1 for a long time I believe that in the end I'll favor Malazan. Eriksson's writing haven't shown any sign of faltering and I don't have that much faith in ghost writers I'm afraid, haven't read "The Gathering Storm" yet so I'll find that out eventually.

Atm I myself am searching for the second book of "A Godless World" and "The Magician's Apprentice" that a few people previously mentioned.

[Ixarku]

I'm 250 pages or so into Reaper's Gale (book 7 of The Malazan) and I'm still really impressed with the series.  The writing throughout the series has been very evenly paced, moreso than I think WoT was at the same point.  I think the only time so far that I've felt like the story has dragged was around the middle of Midnight Tides (book 5)... but Midnight Tides had so much other really good stuff in it that it wasn't that big of deal.

(click to show/hide)

In Midnight Tides, Hull Beddict and Featherwitch annoyed the hell out of me.  Featherwitch has just been a bitch in that whole story arc, and Hull was the only character in the entire story so far that just seemed to be utterly useless. 

I think my only real complaint about the Malazan is that there's so many characters, and there's so much subterfuge going on that it's difficult to keep straight which ascendant or which god is supposed to be on what side of the conflict.  (Heck, half the time, even if you know who's who you still don't know what side they're on.) I think this lessens the overall impact of that aspect of the story, as it's difficult to sustain the reader's interest in unfamiliar characters.

However, one of the best things about the Malazan is that there are so many great characters.  This is one of the few stories where I'm expecting my favorite characters to come into conflict with each other at some point, and I'm not sure who I'll be cheering for -- and I'm really looking forward to getting to that point.

[GreyFox37]

Raymond E. Feist and Terry Brooks write really good fantasy stories. The Krondor series from Feist and Shannara series from Brooks are fantastic

Tom Clancy rocks if you're a military buff

Kevin Anderson and Tim Zahn wrote some good Star Wars books

Michael Savage wrote some really funny and informative books

Lute Olson's book on his career as the University of Arizona basketball coach has good insights for aspiring coaches

The Alphabet of Manliness by Maddox is a hilarious read, but don't read it if you get easily offended or have assburgers =P

[Soryon]

Most anything by Hemmingway or Richard Adams

[logos]

I'm sure Jim Butcher's 2 series have already been mentioned, but +1 to them both.
Patrick Rothfuss's debut The Name of the Wind is an excellent book (course now I have to sit in anticipation for the next installment, and it has the best back of the book ever)

(click to show/hide)

My name is Kvothe:
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings.  I burned down the town of Trebon.  I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life.  I was expelled from the university at a younger age that most people are allowed in.  I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during the day.  I have talked to gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.

And right now I'm reading S. M. Peters's Whitechapel Gods, so far its quite good, very steampunk.

[Devergo]

Anything by Poul Anderson is a total win! (especialy Orion Shall Rise) He's one of the kings of SF novels after all.

[Magic Hat]

I like the hunger Games series..the 3rd book (and I think the last?) is about to be out. I dono if somebody else already mentioned it. It's for teens and adults, not really for children, even though I read it when I was 11. It has some pretty sad, gorey, violencey, bloody, romantic  moments. So if you're looking for like a bloody romance..it's pretty good.

[relic2279]

RJ has the greatest attention to detail and worldwide character creation in his epic tale, and the only one I've found so far that's up to par is Steven Eriksson. His writing is relentless... the world is brutal, the characters are wicked and I absolute love it. War is dark and he definitely gives it an unique touch you've never read before. Only one more book to go and the series is finished and even thou I've hold WoT as nr.1 for a long time I believe that in the end I'll favor Malazan. Eriksson's writing haven't shown any sign of faltering and I don't have that much faith in ghost writers I'm afraid, haven't read "The Gathering Storm" yet so I'll find that out eventually.

I have yet to hear a single (noteworthy) bad word about The Gathering Storm. Sanderson did an amazing job. There are glaring differences in the style of writing in some chapters. But not in a bad way. Robert Jordan left a lot of material to work with... Outlines, complete chapters, thoughts recorded, and from what I've read in interviews, he had the ending planned out before he even started writing the Wheel of Time.

WoT gets a lot of flack for being a bit drug out, and there were definitely highs and lows, but (in my opinion) The Gathering Storm is on par with The Dragon Reborn. It was fantastic.

[jaybug]

I'm a big reader. I agree with Devgil in the choices. And would add John Ringo, David Drake and Doc Taylor, yeah, he's a real rocket scientist, works for NASA kind, not sarcastic. I also recommend Larry Niven's Ringworld series. ANd C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series.

Ooh, John Varley! I was watching C-Span and they were interviewing Tom Clancy, and Clancy called John Varley the best writer in America, of any genre. SO I picked up his Titan/Wizard/Demon trilogy. Wow! Been hooked ever since. Also love his Golden Globe novel.

Eric Idle of Monty Python wrote a sci-fi novel. I think it's great. I also learned more about the inner workings of comedy than I would have thought possible. THe novel also seems as if it would fit into John Varley's universe.

Just finished David Weber's Mission of Honor. Now what am I going to do the rest of the month? lol It stands alone, and mostly refers to the two previous novels, so a new reader should not have great difficulties in becoming absorbed in the story.

[Sosseres]

I just started reading the Old Man's War by John Scalzi and will recommend it for keeping up a very good flow and being highly entertaining.

(click to show/hide)

The story of how I left Huckleberry begins—as do all worthy stories—with a goat.

I laughed out loud when I got to that portion of the series and it has kept me hooked through the first two books so much that I just move on to the next when I get the time.



I will also second everybody recommending David Weber since he can make things I dislike reading about addictive.



Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series is something I warmly recommend as well. The books take place in the future with many of them featuring the cultural clash between "magic" and high technology from outside. The ideas and background work are things I like a lot, the start of novels quickly draws me in, though the characters tend to feel a tad flat. I especially liked the opening of "Winds of Darkover" (part of the "A World Divided" collection).

[isukianime]

Military Fiction

W.E.B Griffin - if you like military fiction his early books are really good. the last few books have been unfortunately lackluster.

Tom Clancy - his early books are excellent. the newer ones i couldn't get through.

Fantasy

Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth Series. Even thought the series "legend of the seeker" is based on this, the books are way better than the tv show. Well the first 3 anyways. Didn't like the 4th one too much. on book 5 now.

Raymond E. Feist - the first book of the riftwar sage is really good. the second if still good but i lost interest in his books after that.

[Ixarku]

I just started reading the Old Man's War by John Scalzi and will recommend it for keeping up a very good flow and being highly entertaining.

Coincidentally, I've got "Old Man's War" and "The Ghost Brigades" sitting in my 'waiting-to-be-read' pile.  I may hit those next after I finish Peter F. Hamilton's "The Temporal Void".

[Sosseres]

Coincidentally, I've got "Old Man's War" and "The Ghost Brigades" sitting in my 'waiting-to-be-read' pile.  I may hit those next after I finish Peter F. Hamilton's "The Temporal Void".

That should probably do nicely since they are totally different kinds of space opera. I also like Hamilton, even if he sometimes feels a tad heavy.

[Ixarku]

I'm a pretty big fan of Hamilton.  I think he's finally starting to hit his stride.  His Greg Mandel books weren't bad.  Nights Dawn was better, with a lot of great ideas, but I think a lot of his characterizations were weak -- partially the consequence of having an ensemble cast of characters.  In the Commonwealth Saga, he found a better balance between the grand story arc and the struggles of each character, and I think in the Void trilogy he's honed his characterizations even a bit further.

Of course, the real point of interest in Hamilton's stuff is his world-building and his portrayal of how technological advances affect the societies he constructs.  But, in the Void trilogy, my favorite part is actually the fantasy story within the main story (ie, the Waterwalker's story).  I'm actually more interested in the Waterwalker than in the main narrative!

[Soryon]

Ernest Hemmingway - The Sun Also Rises
Richard Adams - The Plague Dogs
Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner
John Grogan - Marley and Me
Ira Glass - The New Kings of Nonfiction (this is a collection of short stories)
Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment

just a few off the top of my head that were really good.

[GregD]

A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami

House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski (I've heard it compared as a "tame" Pale Fire, so I would check out Pale Fire as well if you like HoL.)

Misery - Stephen King

A lot of Terry Pratchett.

Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller (Very, VERY funny book.)

I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting.

[Killbasas]

Glen Cook Black company series.
Davif Gemel Druss the Legend series (actually the whole Drenei saga)