Recommended Reading
 

So I looked through the first 3 pages and didn't see this thread, and I decided to make one.

The 'rules' are pretty simple: recommend a book. Or a list of books. You can also share your opinions on books. However, please do not start a heated debate about a book. Make your own thread for that.


And here's my starting list (subject to editing)

Sci-fi
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series- Douglas Adams
Starship Troopers - Heinlen (Get ready for some serious political messages here)
1984- Orwell
The Andromeda Strain- Chrichton
Jurrasic Park- Chrichton

Fantasy
The Eye of the World, book one of the Wheel of Time- Robert Jordan (The first one is good, but the series goes downhill from there in my opinion)
The Lord of the Rings- Tolkien
The Hobbit- Tolkien
The Merlin series- Stewart

Espionage
Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy- le Carre
The Hunt for Red October- Clancy
The Cardinal of the Kremlin- Clancy (If you liked these, read the rest of the Jack Ryan series. ~10 books in all)

Fiction
All Quiet on the Western Front- Remarque
Foucault's Pendulem- Eco (Only if you really like mideval history)
The Screwtape Letters- Lewis
The Da Vinci Code- Brown
Hamlet- Shakespear
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead- Stoppard (Only if you've read Hamlet)

I prefer Angels and Demons over Davinci Code actually. Angels and Demons had a constant danger and a really evil bad guy...Davinci Code felt like at a certain point Brown realized people just wanted to know about the Grail.

I reccomend The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. The seventh and final one is comin out soon.

Also, any Dave Barry book you can get your hands on (Below the Beltway for politics, Dave Barry's ONLY Travel Guide You'll EVER Need for travel, and he has a bunch that are collections of articles that are good)

everyone everyone should read Edgar Allen Poe, if they weren't made to do it in highschool, The Raven and The Fall of The House of Usher are two of my most favorite of his works.

Angels and Demons seemed a little to far fetched to me. And the subject matter wasn't as interesting.

The two books I can't recommend highly enough are The Caine Mutiny by Woulk and Catch-22 by Heller. Read them both, and observe the awesomeness.

Terry Pratchet is also a good author to read.

I recommend The Bluest Eye by Tony Morrisson. If you like that read her other books, she is an awesome writer. Maya Angelou and Zora Hurston also write similarly to her and you might want to check them out.

I haven't read much lately but I would really recommend

Fantasy:
The Songs of Fire and Ice Series - Really, really great at depicting all sides of the conflict. Based of the ( real life ) war of the roses. Would only recommend it to older readers (maybe 18+ years) gets a little graphic at points. The series hasn't finished yet but he seems to be more focused than Robert Jordan (which isn't saying much I know).

Sci-fi:
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card (and a litte less the rest of the series) - I'm still surprised how many people I run across who have never heard of the book and series. It really should be a must read (at least the first book) for any sci-fi fan of any age.

The Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov - A pretty neat premise and execution of story . Warning: Don't read any books past the trilogy, they were horrible.

Now that I've almost finished it I can strongly recommend "No Exit and Three other Plays" by Jean-Paul Sartre. Very good stuff, and I'm not even much into plays. Also, if you're into punk music, check out "The Philosophy of Punk". "High Fidelity" is a fave.

Fave book and, as such, all-time recommendation: "A Heart-Breaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers.

Definitely some good books mentioned here. That said, here's my additions:

Fantasy:
The Traveller in Black - John Brunner (If you can find it! :D)
Tales of the Dying Earth - Jack Vance has to be one of the classic masters
The Gabriel Knight series - perhaps not the best literature in existence, but good, and an especial treat if you've played the games.
The Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series - Fritz Lieber (I'm not certain about the spellings) - a really good gantasy series. Now, if I could just find all of them...

Stover i agree that R&G are dead was a quality play, especially the question game they play. And Chrono good call on Enders Game, more people should read it, one other book in the series that was also good was Ender's shadow, possibly better than Ender's game.

My addition:
Sci-fi:
Timeline by Chrichton, don't be fooled by the movie if you saw it, the book is good.
Neuromancer by Gibson, Im not very far into it but its good so far.

Murder Mystery:
The Alienist by Carr
Along Came A Spider by Patterson, again better than the movie

cant seem to think of anymore right now.