What to read now that harry potter is over.

[Crawley]

like many of my friends i have read all the harry potter books... or rather jim dale read them and i listened on audio cds at work, but be that as it may, that era has come to an end. so i thought i'd give a suggestion for those wondering what to read now and also see what others are reading now.

i just finished Brisingr which is the third book in Christopher poalini's inheritance cycle. if you haven't heard of it you might recongize the first book, eragon, which has become a movie... didn't like the movie. the books however are great. this last one was particularly excellent. now though i have to wait for Chris to crank out the last book. until then i'm not sure what i want to read next. i don't think i could bring myself to read the vimpire books... what is it. foo, it sliped my mind. one is at the box office now.

[Mon Chat]

Have you tried "The Da Vinci Code"?

[Crawley]

nope i haven't read it or seen the movie, but i put in a reserve for the audio cd at the library.

[Meloncov]

Limiting myself to fantasy, as both series you mentioned were from that genre:

Fairly recent stuff:
Perdido Street Station
Heroes Die
Song of Ice and Fire
Neverwhere
His Dark Materials

Plus all the classics of the genre. Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Conan, ect.

[Demo]

well iv heard that J.K. will creat 2 new series in the same HP universe but i think she said she wont start that for 10 more years.
the beetle and the bard. just came out
id also recomend
The City of Ember

-iv also heard these are quite EPIC
Chanson de Roland
Beowulf
Gilgamesh
Cuchulain
Jason and the voyage of the Argo
Earthsea
Pern
Gormenghast
the labours of Hercules
Dune
Foundation
Cthulu
Deryni
Disk World
The Illiad
The Odyssey
The Fairy of Dawn
The Nebulungenlied
Carthage and Hannibal
Pellucidar
Burrough's "Mars"
Alices Wonderland
OZ
the mormon pilgrimage to Utah
moses
valdemar
dark materials
Dante's Divine comedy
1000 and one nights

[Crawley]

man i read gilgamesh. or the main gilagamesh naritive peiced together. aparently there are lots of gilgamesh naratives and they don't all agree. it was not exactly a page turner. i wanted to read it to see the references to noah and the flood and stuff. picture a whole book written like this.

i am gilgamesh the strongest of warriors, fleetest of foot and shinyest of hair. i will go up the mountain and find the great beast.

the women in the town all whisper look at gilgamesh the strongest of warriors, fleetest of foot and shinyest of hair. he will go up the mountain and find the great beast.

the godess virgana looks down from her stronghold and sees gilgamesh,the strongest of warriors, fleetest of foot and shinyest of hair. she sends down a sparrow to ask gilgamesh why he will go up the mountain and find the great beast.

etc. etc. you feel like you are reading the same line over and over. the noah part was pretty cool though.

[Venger]

Gah!
Do yourself a favour and get the HP novels narrated by Stephen Fry, soooo much better than Jim Dale.

It all depends on what you are after?

Give us a genre or something?

[Jacob Kobryn]

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

[/thread]

[Meloncov]

man i read gilgamesh. or the main gilagamesh naritive peiced together. aparently there are lots of gilgamesh naratives and they don't all agree. it was not exactly a page turner. i wanted to read it to see the references to noah and the flood and stuff. picture a whole book written like this.

i am gilgamesh the strongest of warriors, fleetest of foot and shinyest of hair. i will go up the mountain and find the great beast.

the women in the town all whisper look at gilgamesh the strongest of warriors, fleetest of foot and shinyest of hair. he will go up the mountain and find the great beast.

the godess virgana looks down from her stronghold and sees gilgamesh,the strongest of warriors, fleetest of foot and shinyest of hair. she sends down a sparrow to ask gilgamesh why he will go up the mountain and find the great beast.

etc. etc. you feel like you are reading the same line over and over. the noah part was pretty cool though.

Epics tend to have alot of repeated lines, so that someone reciting them from memory can use the time to gather their thoughts.


Though I found that Beowulf, when translated, reads surprisingly similarly to a modern novel.

[Meloncov]

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

[/thread]

Endless stream of Tolkien ripoffs for the win!


Not that Wheel of Time is without merit, but it's far from the be all and end all of fantasy.

[corky13]

Terry Pratchett ? ;)

[Straight Edge Ryan]

Okay I'm sure the majority of people here have already read it, but

Dante's Inferno
Paradise Lost

[Venger]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7776046.stm

:D


Gave up on the Wheel of Time, I just wish he'd pick one story and go with that...
Always been a fan of the late David Gemmell.
The early stuff of Raymond E. Feist - Magician and Riftwar saga - the later stuff was pants.
Obviously The hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

[Mirana]

Venger, your link...
The men polled said they would be most impressed by women who read news websites, Shakespeare or song lyrics.
Women said men should have read Nelson Mandela's biography or Shakespeare.

WHAT? What bizarre choices!

Among the 1,500 who took part in the research were 864 teenagers.

THAT explains it. Whew. :P

Crawley, be a REAL intellectual. Read comics. ;)

[Crawley]

i guess what i'm looking to share and gain are recomended books from people who have read and enjoyed all seven H.P. books. The genera isn't as important as the pacing. i want page turners, even though i listen on audio CD while i work. it could be fiction, or non fiction. i've read probably a hundred books this year. so i might recomend a few. also i'd like to hear why you recomend it, not just a list of names. so name of the book, name of the author, fiction or non fiction, a brief description of why you recomend it and whether it is a stand alone book, short story, or part of a series. for example:

i read a great non fiction this year called "Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers" by Fred Howard. i thought i knew something about the wright brothers, but i was wrong, the book goes through their various successes and failures as they try to discover the secrets of flight that have eluded man. it's a great story and it's true. those guys had some balls. imagine being 150 ft up in the air in a wooden contraption with no stabalization that you and your brother made. it's amazing they didn't kill themselves.

[Crawley]

mirana: Hm, i've haven't read many comics, but since i do the bulk of my reading on audio CD while i work, comics can't fill that spot, though i could have one on hand for trips to the john.

Venger: i didn't know there was another version of HP audio, but i though jim dale did a good job, i'd be interested to hear the other just to see the difference. yeah the hobbit rocks. The lord of the rings moved too slow for me, but it was fun to see the parts that the movies didn't cover, like the ending.

Meloncov: i read a modern adaptation of Beowolf by michael Chriton that was pretty good("Eaters of the dead"), but i didn't like the movie that just came out. i didn't know it was all CG. my wife and i watched the first minute or 2 then turned it off. terrible.

[JBurrough]

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

[/thread]

twelve books into it (14 counting prequels, etc) Robert Jordan passed away. The final book (#13) is supposedly being written by his colleagues, but that isn't certain. Good books, but that last one may never appear, last I heard. The WoT books are a very good read though... something to enjoy on a slow week.


Songs of Ice and Fire by GRR Martin is outstanding... but Martin drags his feet, the next book (#4) isn't even scheduled for release last I checked... on his site he tells people to sit on their hands, he'll get to it 'sooner or later' that sort. Kinda sucks. Books 1-3 are gold though... character dev like no other.

For fantastic fantasy - and not the usual story of farmboy becomes king, look to Gene Wolfe. Books of the New Sun are unsurpassed. The Wizard Knight books are outstanding too.

Robin Hobb has some great sets - Shaman's Crossing, Forest Mage and Renegade's Magic are three parts to a wonderful series. Highly recommended.

Anything based in the Forgotten Realms... Elminster books, Drizzt books, the new(ish) Sembia set, the Waterdeep series... I could go on forever... lol. I have a shelf dedicated to the FR books - bit of a nut over them, great stuff.

Can't go wrong with Gaiman! Originally a comic book writer (and the first one to win 'Novel Class' awards for his work) he is pretty much in a league of his own. Stylish, creative and highly fluid - the writing moves well and keeps you interested. Neverwhere, American Gods and Endless Nights are probably his best novels. Stardust and Mirrormask are two of his works that have gone to the big screen, for very good reason. Amazing works.

Just some thoughts ;)

// JB

[JBurrough]

Oh - one last.

Don't know if you're into poetry or not - but if you want to read something that feeds you at the same time, find a book called "Talking to My Body" - the collected poems of Anna Swir.

I have other poets I favor more, but this is a book I always recommend to ladies, as Anna writes so wonderfully well in a very feminine perspective. Not that guys can't appreciate it too, I just think women would appreciate it so much more. Beautiful writing, very highly recommended.

[Nettle_Mountain]

Charless Stross: Accelerando, standalone book.

Written really well with sarcastic touch and wilder ideas than rest of the genre combined. Imagines our close future believably what comes to technological process & digital evolution and goes there to the 10.000 years later told as a story of one family.

I think this is honestly one crown jewels of literature form called science fiction, cannot recommend higher

[Crawley]

JBurrough: hm the library didn't have any Robert Jordan on audio CD and the only George Martin they had was "the ice dragon" so i put it on reserve.

[Crawley]

nettle mountain: because you recommend this so highly i am actually going to check out a ......real live paper book. they didn't have accerando in audio, but they did have it in print. thanks.

[Mon Chat]

have we had gormenghast mentioned? i'll start taking this thread seriously if we have.

[Kagemusha22]

What to read now that harry potter is over.

How about Tolstoy?

[Mock]

The first few books of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.

After about book 5 you start beating your head against the wall, same as WoT, but the first few books are fantastic.

[Crawley]

2 more from me.

fiction- Mutation by robin cook. he is a doctor so it is a bit technical at first, but the story builds nicely about a doctor who tries to genetically enhance his son and winds up with a monster. a new twist on frankenstein

nonfiction- John Adams by david mcCullugh (sp?) great book that lets you see the american revolution in interesting new ways.

[nonie]

The Runelords series by David Farland. The first four books are absolutely fantastic and do a really great job of creating a believable universe filled with magic the way Harry Potter does, but they're more serious. I'm not sure how I feel about the fifth, it seemed like the 4th was such a great wrap-up and I thought he wasn't doing any more, and somehow I got the feeling that he'd been finagled into writing more by someone else... Didn't feel as inspired I guess. But the first four make up my favorite series of all time. Completely new idea of magic and extremely well-thought out.

Reading the Dresden Files books now. They are also really great!

[Vulgar`]

I've never listened to a book reading on an audio CD before, must be cool to listen to Harry Potter. Whatever you do now that HP's done, stay away from Charlie Bone. The first cover of the first book will let you know where it stands immediately.

I'd recommend:

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Just for starters.

[Psypomp]

Some of my favorites.. I highly recommend all of them! (note: I'm not a sci-fi/fantasy fan, sorry)

Demian - Hermann Hesse
The Awakening - Kate Chopin
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
London and Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd
As Meat Loves Salt - Maria McCann
Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzche (hope I spelled all of that right!)

[Crawley]

Vulgar: Jules Verne rocks talk about birth of sci fi. also H G Wells (time machine, war of the worlds, Island of Dr. Moreau.) those guys mad a new genera

[tobbA]

I'm thinking of getting that childrens book by J.K. with childrens stories from the Harry Potter series that came out recently... Might not be much of a read though :P

Otherwise there are lots of good fantasy... And scifi.

For Sci-Fi I'd say everyone should read David Brins uplift series

He's also wrote an interesting comedy about how humanity in the future invents clay golems that only last for a day and which you can download your consiousness into and send it off to go shopping, go to work or see a movie and by the end of the day when it's about to go out you can download it's memories so that it's like you did all the things yourself.

Fantasy I've mostly read the usual stuff. I recommend David Eddings even if his writing can be a bit... dry, which is also part of his strength since he usually writes about the bigger picture and his stories are often more about the gods of the worlds and how they see history through their own eyes than just a chosen hero on a quest.

Terry Pratchet is allways recommended...

Dragonlance (by Margaret Weiss) is a bit cheap i guess... but it's the first fantasy series i read so I'll recommend it anyway :)

WoT is also great.

And then there's Asimov, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells...

And well... if you want a fantasy classic I'd recommend the The Wolf Leader by Alexandre Dumas :)

[FightingSeraph]

I would recommend Kaori Yuki's stuff and Fist of the North Star, but you probably don't like Manga (Japanese graphic novels). There's always Michael Moorcock if that's what you want.

[Mr.Delicious]

I've been reading the Dark Tower series by Stephen King lately and I love emmmmm :)

[Sundance]

I've been reading the Dark Tower series by Stephen King lately and I love emmmmm :)

Seconded...

Plus read King's Talisman and Black House. Talisman is in process of being made into a mini-series for 2009, Black House is a sequel 25 years later...freaking fantastic reads.

[Demo]

Larklight ........by Philip reeve
a really awsome steampunk/pirate/ Space adventure novel with asowme illistrations its kind of a young adult book but id say it is worth more attention
thirs also supposed to be 2 more books comming out this year if not out already

[Crawley]

Mr Delicious: i also read the gunslinger series. it was a pretty good way to pass the time. i read talisman and black house too, which intersect the gunslinger novels. /// Spoiler///// i wasn't crazy about the ending of the dark tower///////
i have started reading fiction again, but i'm still going to hold off reading more
Stephen king for now. when i had my psychotic break back in may/June i was all about trying to make contact with higher dimensions, so his stuff still hits a bit too close to home.
i went to the library today and saw "Avenger" by fredric forsyth(sp?) on the shelf. that was an awsome book by the guy who wrote "day of the Jakel".
another series that was kind of fun was the "artimis fowl "by ion colfur(sp?) i think there is a new one of those out that i haven't

[Seafarer]

I would highly recommend Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. The best book I read this year. They series also branches out covering different characters within it. The Obsidian Chronicles by Lawrence Watt-Evans are a trilogy of fantasy books that I liked very much as well.

[ChaoticKnight]

I would highly recommend Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. The best book I read this year. They series also branches out covering different characters within it. The Obsidian Chronicles by Lawrence Watt-Evans are a trilogy of fantasy books that I liked very much as well.

Yeah Ender's series plus Bean's series (Ender's shadow, shadow of the hegemon etc)
Plus a new book in the Ender-verse just came out. :X

[Seafarer]

Yeah Ender's series plus Bean's series (Ender's shadow, shadow of the hegemon etc)
Plus a new book in the Ender-verse just came out. :X

Ya, I just got done reading Ender's shadow myself. I have a friend who has read them all who is directing me in which I should read next. Their are so many!

[Crawley]

I read Shadow puppets without knowing it was part of the ender series. i haven't read ender's game yet (once again foiled by the library not having it on audio). i'm reading Daniel X (james patterson's new alien hunter book)right now. we'll see how it turns out.

[Cthogua]

Epics tend to have alot of repeated lines, so that someone reciting them from memory can use the time to gather their thoughts.


Though I found that Beowulf, when translated, reads surprisingly similarly to a modern novel.

We're also talking about a story that was written in a loooooong dead language no where near resembling english, probably translated through several other languages before finally landing in that particular translation. I imagine most, if not all the linguistic subtleties are completely lost. Think of how many different ways there are to say any one particular thing in english...now what if you replaced every instance of that particular meaning with exactly the same verbiage...it would sound a little silly as most bad translations do. Also Gilgamesh, in its parts, was probably an oral legend before it was ever written down and like Meloncov said they tend to repeat things in order to establish a rhythm like a chorus, and allow the speaker some room to entertain/remember the rest of the story. I'm certainly not a linguistic anthropologist though so that's just my thoughts on the matter.

As far as book recommendations go though...
City of Saints and Madmenby Jeff Vandermeer It's weird, wonderful, and totally non-Tolkien.

[Zaxser]

If you like fantasy/ harry potter, some ideas spring to mind.

The Wizard of Earthsea (Kind of the inverse of Harry Potter, WAY better books than movies)
Anything by Cynthia Voigt
Anything by Niel Gaiman
Good Omens
A good third of Stephen King books. The first two thirds of the dark tower series, the talisman, It, several others.
Some Dean Koontz


I could probably start an enormous Flame war with the fool list
Sci fi classics are
Dune
Ender's Game
Anthem
The Foundation Series (both Asimov's and Heinlen's)
1984
Brave New World
Also, I'm partial to Greg Bear.

[Moai]

Yeah Ender's series plus Bean's series (Ender's shadow, shadow of the hegemon etc)
Plus a new book in the Ender-verse just came out. :X

A new book? Zounds! Off to the library with me!

Dave Palumbo recommended The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe, in another one of these book threads. I've read them, and I also recommend them. It's a very far-future science fiction series, set on an Earth where the sun is fading. It has one of the most fascinating protagonists of any story I've ever read, a member of a guild of torturers and executioners. The books are also far and away some of the most well-written I've ever read. They're very literary, though, not easy reads by any means.

The Jupiter Theft by Donald Moffitt is another very well-written and entertaining science fiction book.
Up the Walls of the World by James Tiptree Jr. is another goodun.

I also love short stories. Arthur C. Clarke, Harlan Ellison, and Isaac Asimov have some great collections.

Checking out the list of winners and nominees of the Nebula Award (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_Award_for_Best_Novel) is another great place to find good sci-fi/fantasy books.

[PlayPlaya2]

I was reading The Seventh Tower a few years ago. A very original series.

[FourTonMantis]

Can't believe there's been no mention of Philip K. Dick for sci-fi. That man was transplanted into his time from the future I swear it.

Also I've been reading some Upton Sinclair. Really good muckraker; a lot of his stuff is about the working class around the Industrialization Era. Really pays a lot of attention to detail. Also, a more modern author I've read recently is Michael Chabon. His sentences are so articulate and unique; haven't really read anything quite like it. The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by him is about two comic book artists in the twenties through to the fifties and sixties. Chabon really knows his stuff. He mentions Burne Hogarth!

[Crawley]

i'm listening to part one of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens now. instead of time traveling into the future it is a time travel into the past. very good so far. i didn't realize it came in 2 parts, so now i've got to return to the library for part 2.

i finished ice dragon by G R martin, it was short, only one cd. it made for a good snack.

also finished daniel X by james patterson this week, which was tolerably good. didn't care for the main characters vernacular, it will aparently be an alien hunter series.

[Crawley]

Also Garth Nix has a series of books. i have superior saturday on reserve. keys to the kingdom i think is the name of the series. there is one for each day of the week. it's not a bad way to pass some time.

[Ridz]

ha i was going to say enders game and enders shadow, then i got to the flood of posts about it.
so...

whitethorn by bryce courtenay. or anything by him really.

[Kamikazebob]

Frak Herbert's - Dune
Neil Stephenson - Snow Crash
William Gibson - Neuromancer
Stephen King's - The Dark Tower
My four personal favorites. I dont care how pretentious the last choice is or how much people hate King, I love the series.

[SlinkyDice]

Read

Twilight

Now

[Psypomp]

Garth Nix is good, I really enjoyed Sabriel.
Aah! I've always wanted to read Neuromancer! But it's such a pain (for me, at least) to get a hold of..
Blackwood Farm is the only Anne Rice novel I've read, and I really liked it, for what it was. For more gay vampire stories, read Poppy Z. Brite, whose writing style I like much better.

[Meloncov]

I read Shadow puppets without knowing it was part of the ender series.

Ender's Game itself is dramatically better than any of the sequels. The Speaker series keeps the philosophy but looses the exciting plot, while the shadow series keeps the plot but looses the philosophy.

[Kamikazebob]

Read

Twilight

Now

I'd post something logical if I could stop from laughing.

[Brightdreamer]

If you're looking for YA trilogies/series...

Everworld series (K.A. Applegate) - Four teens from our world end up in an alternate dimension constructed by gods... human and alien. An interesting and fast-paced series that was, alas, doomed by poor sales, though Applegate got enough warning for a semi-decent wrapup in Book 12. Out of print, but worth checking libraries for.

The Lost Years of Merlin (T.A. Barron) - The start of a series about Merlin's youth (which I haven't read all of yet), I found it a good read.

Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer) - A young Irish genius, heir to a criminal dynasty, masterminds a plot none of his nefarious forefathers ever dreamed of: a plan to steal fairy gold. The fairies in Colfer's universe are a collection of intelligent beings that were driven underground (literally) by the proliferation of destructive humans, endowed with not only magic but with technology centuries beyond our own. The first three books are great fun.

The Floating Island (Elizabeth Haydon) - The start of a series, this follows the adventurous life of young Ven Polypheme, a Nain boy in a fantastic world peopled with a variety of sentient races and nations. A great, immersive read that takes fantasy conventions and manages to make them original and lively. The Nains, for instance, start out as the basic dwarf/gnome idea, but become their own distinctly realized race as Haydon develops their culture and backstory. (This is set in the same world as Haydon's adult series Symphony of Ages; I enjoyed Rhapsody, the first book, immensely, but seem to find myself bogged down halfway through the second book... could be my wandering attention span, or it could be that the story's getting a bit too mired in plot-prolonging contrivances.)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (Rick Riordan) - Percy Jackson, a struggling student with a history of trouble, learns that his long-lost father was a Greek god. If that wasn't enough of a shock, he learns that not only is there an ancient threat about to be unleashed upon the modern world, but he may or may not be the key to the survival or downfall of Olympus. A clever modern update of Greek mythos that isn't too clever for its own good.

Pit Dragon trilogy (Jane Yolen) - The formal penal colony on Austar makes its fortune on dragon fights. A well-realized world and a classic story.

I second recommendations of Orson Scott Card's Ender quartet (with the caveat that only the first could really be grouped as YA), and the first two books of the Bean quartet (I felt he really dropped the ball on the third one.)

I also second recommendations of Garth Nix's Seventh Tower series; nicely different, with some great imagery.


If you're venturing toward adult books...

Dragonriders of Pern series (Anne McCaffrey) - On an alien world, human colonists genetically modified native species to create dragons in order to fight Threadfall, a destructive organism that threatens the world of Pern. Notwithstanding the world-betraying atrocities wrought on the series recently, the original trilogy (and the Harper Hall series) are still classics for a reason, and if you've never visited Pern, you owe it to yourself to drop by.

Temeraire series (Naomi Novik) - Starting with His Majesty's Dragon, Novik crafts an excellent alternate-history adventure series, in which sapient dragons act as aerial battleships in the Napoleanic War. The first book sets the stage, and subsequent books take it beyond the European theater to explore the relationships between dragons and humans throughout the world - some nations treat them as beasts, while others worship them as ancestral reincarnations - and how that relationship can alter world powers.

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy (Tad Williams) - Probably my personal favorite epic fantasy, with all the basic ingredients you'd expect, but presented in a way I enjoyed. (Tad Williams also wrote my favorite talking-animal book, Tailchaser's Song.)

I've read and enjoyed many, many more, YA and otherwise, but I'll spare you the full rundown...

[Elwell]

Pit Dragon trilogy (Jane Yolen) - The formal penal colony on Austar makes its fortune on dragon fights. A well-realized world and a classic story.

There's a fourth Pit Dragon novel coming out next year (with a cover by yours truly).

[RyerOrdStar]

Ghaa must read my favourite series of all time:

Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony

and The Belgariad and The Mallorean by David Eddings

The first is fantasy/scifi mix and the other two are super high fantasy.
I personally don't like the ones by Leigh Eddings done later, nor did I fall in love with The Tamuli or The Elenium as much as the first two, but they're options.

Much better than that Twilight filth..and I'd go for it over Harry Potter any day.

[Shybird]

Another to chime in for Dark Materials triology

Reading list links for 'If you liked Harry Potter try..'
http://www.multcolib.org/kids/booklists/harrypotter.html
http://www.slco.lib.ut.us/booklists/like_harry_potter.pdf

These will mainly be young adult books though

Off the top of my head I can think of

Dark Angel triology (No, nothing to do with Buffy)
Artemis Fowl series
Abhorsen series
Last Unicorn
Howl's Moving Castle
Skellig
Holes
Inkheart triology
The Tale of Despereaux
Stardust
Watership Down
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Alchemist
A Prayer for Owen Meany


And there is a fourth Pit Dragon book coming out? I read those when I was little

[Zaxser]

Read

Twilight

Now

Oh absolutely.It's an incredible piece of literature everyone should read. I also recommend The Eye of Argon. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheEyeOfArgon?from=Main.EyeOfArgon)

[Brightdreamer]

There's a fourth Pit Dragon novel coming out next year (with a cover by yours truly).

There is? Great!!! :D (I always thought that third book felt like a partial setup for a fourth...) And it's nice to see a great cover artist signed on, too!

Hartsong - Oh, yeah - The Inkheart trilogy... great fun. Anyone who loves the magic of books, reading, and writing is obligated to read the trilogy - preferably before the movie comes out. (It could be good on its own merits, but it looks like they chopped up the first two books and tossed them in the blender, poured in some artificial filler, and hit the Mix button to create a Hollywood-flavored shake.)
Speaking of Cornelia Funke, I also enjoyed Dragon Rider. It feels almost exactly like an elder-day classic children's fantasy story, but in a good way; if one of the minor characters hadn't had a laptop computer, I would've guessed she'd written it thirty or more years ago.

[Taboo]

The Grapes of Wrath

a tale about warring tribes of wizards and elves over a sacred vinyard that holds its share of magical secrets!!!

[Taboo]

Read

Twilight

Now

http://www.newporkcity.net/npcforum/images/smilies/daffy.png

[timpaatkins]

The Idiot Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky
The Process Kafka
The Dark Tower Stephen King
Catch 22 Joseph Heller

[aylap]

My personal favorite fantasy book is The Cleric Quintet by R.A. Salvatore. It's based in the Dungeons and Dragons world, so if you've played D&D you'll see familiar things in the book, which is particularly fun to me. And there's a monk that punches someone to LIFE. It's a truly awesome book, in my opinion. :D

[Crawley]

i thought twilight the movie was pretty good. made me reconsider. perhaps the books would be worth a read.

[Presence]

I have to agree with nearly all the posts here but one I have not seen mentioned yet is War of the Ancients, it is based in the wow universe but written by the venerable Richard A Knaak.

I gave the cover a bit of an eye roll but the book is turning out to be incredible.

[QETALIVAN]

Well, sadly enough I found most of the fantastic novels(say 70%) are pretty predictable, and I just enjoy them because of its Aesthetic points...you know...castles, dragons, wizards and so. But the real fantasy..the real sense of wonder, only a bunch of authors can reach it. And even these writers dont get it everytime. I found more of this SENSE OF WONDER in Science Fiction. Not the hard one, but in many others, so this is my advice for fantasy lovers: read some CIFI.

I really like this saga(i am in the second book):

-The Engines of God (Jack McDevitt) (not space opear, near future,a bit hard cifi but very epic and fun for arqueology and history fans) five books so far. I like it because it surprised me. It began slowly in its rithm and became, well, different.....but what I liked more was having no idea what was going on, so I advice you to read it without further information.

[ChaoticKnight]

There's a fourth Pit Dragon novel coming out next year (with a cover by yours truly).

Well, now I have to bust out my old book boxes and search for em to prepare for the new one!

[Alison B.]

The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper is really awesome, as is the Wizard of Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin. I also recommend anything by Diana Wynne Jones, I especially like Witch Week. I should try audio books more often. I can't find the time or energy to read. D:

Edit:

I totally for got The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. IMHO one of the best Merlin stories.

[Crawley]

just finished nicholas nickleby by dickens, first thing i've read of him, you don't get a real sense of his wit from watching endless renditions of "A Christmas Carol"

also read AirMan by Colfer(the guy who did artimis fowl series) it was pretty fun.

next up is the davinci code on audio

i've been reading Dragon Rider by Funke at night to my boys and they are enjoying it.

[Crawley]

well finished up davinci code this morning. it was pretty good aside from getting slapped in the face repeatedly by dan brown for my silly belief in Christianity. a little less pontificating would have been nice. can't beat an albino monk assassin though.

started Ender in Exile. i wish the library has Ender's Game. oh well.i might have to check it out in paper.

i'm also up to the book of duteronomy in the bible. i've been going back through it since my reality break. going crazy has shaken me. but i still see no more convincing way than Christianity.

[Renegade89]

Anything by Jorge Luis Borges his stories are fantastic!.

Anything by Isaac Asimov

Anything by Terry Pratchett, always incredibly fun to read.

Anything by Edgar Alan Poe

The Conan books by Robert E. Howard

I would say Lovecraft´s stories, but they may not be for everyone, rather pessimistic and cynical.

Im starting with the Dark materials saga and maybe the dark tower , long time wanting to read them due to recommendation but never got to it, so ill do it before uni starts again.

I also read a while ago the first couple of books of the Geralt of Rivia saga by Andrzej Sapkowski which i found entertaining.

[Crawley]

Just finished the Golden Compass which was pretty good, i guess i'll reserve the next one in the series,

about to start Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

[Dave_]

Neil Gaiman

yeh

[Crawley]

ok, so i finished Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and boy was i surprised. It's absolutely nothing like the common notions of frankenstein. it was great. the beginning was through me off at first as it seemed to be the wrong book, but from there a gripping story of conscience and moral delima unfolds. you gotta read this early sci fi masterpiece.