CingularDuality

Ah, I forgot to mention one of my absolute favorite scifi books of all time. If you saw the movie, flush that crap outta your mind, because it was utter tripe.

You have to read Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. It's a fantastic novel that simply couldn't be made into a movie.

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ChIck3nL3gz

I was only talking about the Jim Pendleton series. I found his to be on the better side.

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Strag

Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949

Marine Sniper

Shooter: The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper

Spyder

Yeah, I know, but 5 isn't out yet, so it is currently a quartet, and I'm not entirely sure he'll stop there.

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El_Gringo_Grande

Kurt Vonnegut

Dark, very funny, weird science fiction.

My favorites are

Welcome to the Monkey House (short stories)

Bluebeard

Player Piano

Canary in a Cathouse (more short stories)

The Sirens of Titan
Wampeters, Foma & Granfaloons
Mother Night

Actually they are all good. These are just the ones I remember (and I read back in 1988-1991 time period.)

Aldus Huxley's "Brave New World" is very good also.

El_Gringo_Grande

And if you haven't read "Catch 22" you should. One of the funniest books out there, especially if you have been in the military.

beep

Classic- Rifleman Dodd by C.S. Forester.

The whole series of Aubrey/Maturin novels (20 of 'em) by Patrick O'Brian - British navy from 1800-1830 or so.

All the Richard Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell (approximately 15 of them).

Also by Bernard Cornwell...The Last Kingdom and the new sequel The Pale Horseman

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rs_al

Just my thoughts on some of the stuff that's been thrown out:

I loved Stephenson's Snow Crash, but I have been unable to finish Cryptonomicon or Quicksilver. He's just too much of a smart ass. I'd recommend his essay In The Beginning Was the Command Line though, in addition to Snow Crash.

I would stay the heck away from Goodkind if it's not already too late. Something about the combination of lousy writing with an author who thinks he's above writing fantasy (ignore for a minute the fact that he's a fantasy author) sort of make it unbearable after a bit. Just read some of Terry Brook's Shannara instead. If you've already read Shannara then congratulations, you've read Sword of Truth too.

I couldn't recommend George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire more. It's all politcs and intrigue, full of ruthless and clever characters.

His Dark Materials is also something to read. Ignore the fact that it's often labeled "young adult", the books are excellent. While I suppose they do have some childlike feel to them, they are also quite dark at times.

Dune is one of the best books I've ever read. I couldn't quite place my finger on exactly what makes it so, it just is.

As for my own recommendation, I would have to suggest Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Death Gate cycle. Weis and Hickman aren't the world's most prestigious authors, but Death Gate has a very imaginative setting that I have always enjoyed.

Toshido

Little known series called "The cross time engineer" by Leo Frankowski. Easy read but fun story and despite it being spread across 4 books really isn't that long a read.

Robin Hobb has a couple good series out there as well.

Tonk

terry goodkind's series called The Sword of Truth, 10 books so far, and they are very good!!!,

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aesop rock

Hmm, I was gonna read thru all these posts to make sure I didnt duplicate, but.. eh.

Fantasy:
LOTR is obvious, and essential. (tri)
Dragonlance: Chronicles (tri)
Dragonlance: Legends (tri)

Sci-fi:
Communion is pretty spooky, for sci-fi. Mostly because the author honestly believes it not a novel.
On that same note, if you ever really wanna BLOW YOUR FREAKIN MIND, just read the very short and concise "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawkings. There's stuff in here that you wouldn't make up. You couldn't make up. You SHOULDN'T make up. (props for anyone who knows what movie this nudges)

Shogun by James Clavell.
This is not a sci-fi, but it is sorta fantasy, but not really. Takes place in feudal Japan, when the first English ship arrives. The ship ends up being destroyed by a Typhoon, and the crew finds themselves in Japan, surrounded by shockingly violent, unusual people. They also learn that Portugese Jesuits have colonized this area, and have essentially closed the minds of the Japanese towards all other Europeans. I really don't do it justice, so I won't go on. I will, however, say that I have read many books in my day and this stands WAY high on the list. It came to mind instantly when I saw your thread.

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NinjaZombie

So I've been scanning the forums and haven't noticed a thread for everyone to talk about/recommend their favorite books

I'm mainly making this because I'm currently reading the book "House of Leaves" and I feel like I have to get word out about what a great read it is. Honestly, it's one of the best horror books, actually any genre, in a long time. I haven't quite finished it, it's been total quality so far.

Anyone reading/read any great books they can recommend?

Wimpinator

Aha! I knew I had seen a book thread here before:
http://www.tacticalgamer.com/general...endations.html

There are a lot of good reccomendations in that thread.

Personally I just finished a great Science Fiction novel by Jack McDevitt. I had never heard of him before but I really enjoy his work.

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ednos

Robert A. Heinlein wrote a million good books; his best is Starship Troopers.

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Karkianman101

I picked up and finished Atlas Shrugged, Heart of Darkness, and Slaughterhouse Five since around December, and am currently reading through Catch 22. I highly recommend all of them.

Though the actual quality of the writing in Atlas Shrugged isn't exactly top notch all the time, the ideas presented are strong enough such that it's the only media I've consumed where the effect on me has been so strong over such a short period of time that I actually noticed a change in my outlook. It was enough to swing me from solidly Liberal Libertarian to solidly Conservative Libertarian on several political tests.

I also reread Dune, and it really is a good book.