Favorite/recommended books (novels and the like)

[fedezz]

I didn't find a thread with this topic, so I'm starting this one.
The idea is to post your favorite books or those that you feel everyone should read. Also, it's good to hear about those that inspired your work, or even drove you to do concept art for them.
I'm talking about books in wich letters and words predominate :), not artbooks, illustration technique manuals or art history books.

Here's a brief list to quickstart this thing:

"Dune" saga (by Frank Herbert)
anything by Philip K. Dick (specially "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", "The Man in the High Castle", any collected short stories, "Valis")
"Neuromancer", "Burning Chrome" (by William Gibson)
"The Lord of the Rings" saga (by JRR Tolkien)
"Nineteeneightyfour" (by George Orwell)
"The Demolished Man" (by Alfred Bester)

pff, I'm stopping here..

Let us hear yours!

[Lone Wolf]

I am a huge fan of George R.R. Martin's A song of Ice and Fire series.

The books are really long, around a 1000 pages seach, which is a good thing.

It's a great fantasy series. It's more medieval times than hardcore fantasy.

Check out his website for details, and enjoy.

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/

[Mort]

i liked the terry pratchett books. kinda monty python homor.

[tullie]

Fedezz, I agree with your enitre list, especially Dune and Philip K Dick novels, I still got pick up Neuromancer .
Mine:
Anything by Iain M Banks mainly Excession and Use of weapons.
Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit, hehe.
Rainbow Six - T Clancy
Alastair Rynolds Novels... I'll add more later, currenty getting kick off this computer..

[Carnifex]

lotr+hobbit
george r.r. martin's song of ice and fire. really good at evoking emotions. makes you scream out "that's UNFAIR!" sometimes.
terry pratchett.
deathgate cycle.
lovecraft.

terry pratchett being my all time favourite. the man's a genious.

[glikster]

The Count of Monte Cristo... the unabridged version.

All of Neil Gaiman's books: American Gods, Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, Smoke and Mirrors...God Omens which he cowrote with Terry Pratchett.

Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal

The older Tom Clancy novels...

The DeathGate Cycle

hmmm.....

[Carnifex]

ohh the deathgate cycle...is that the one with haplo? if yes,i'd add them to my list aswell. soo good.

[glikster]

ohh the deathgate cycle...is that the one with haplo? if yes,i'd add them to my list aswell. soo good.
Yep.... Haplo and his dog.

[Carnifex]

oh yeah those are great. how many books are there? so far i've only read four.

[glikster]

oh yeah those are great. how many books are there? so far i've only read four.
Dude there are 7! You have to read them all.

[CaptainInsano]

Here are some great books for you video game kiddies!

Lucky Wander Boy -
(a Chuck Palahunick (author of Fight Club and Choke) -styled bio of a man addicited to video games, and his obsession of the one game he never beat... Lucky Wander Boy).

Ender's Game (and series)
Toddlers and young teens with genius-like thinking, solving, and planning abilities are brought up to Battle School to be trained as the next Washingtons, Napoleons... and Hitlers.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
(2 poor kids growing up in the depression-era, 1930's pre-WWII New York, thier struggles with their artistic confidence, families who doen't believe in their dreams... and who become the greatest pulp-comic artists of their time).

[cotron]

I am a huge fan of George R.R. Martin's A song of Ice and Fire series.

The books are really long, around a 1000 pages seach, which is a good thing.

I second that, I get wrapped up in these books like no other. Reading the new one right now, already waiting for the next.

[DavePalumbo]

"Dune" saga (by Frank Herbert)
anything by Philip K. Dick (specially "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", "The Man in the High Castle", any collected short stories, "Valis")
"Neuromancer", "Burning Chrome" (by William Gibson)
"The Lord of the Rings" saga (by JRR Tolkien)
"Nineteeneightyfour" (by George Orwell)
"The Demolished Man" (by Alfred Bester)

alright dude, given that list (two of which, Dune and Neuromancer, are among my top 3 ever), you have no excuse to not love my recomendations here and I only assume that you didn't mention them because you haven't read them yet:

"The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe (published as four novels, Shadow of the Torturer, Claw of the Conciliator, Sword of the Lictor, Citadel of the Autarch) - this one gets 5 stars from me, highest recomendation

"The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester

I know you mentioned PKD, but I'll give special notice to his two best known: Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

also, non-SF/Fantasy:
Red Harvest - Daschiel Hammet
Great Escape - Paul Brickhill
Sea Wolf - Jack London
A Book of Five Rings - Musashi

and I'd be remiss in neglecting the original Foundation Trilogy by Asimov

I've not read them yet, but I'm been recomended Snowcrash and Cryptonomicon a bunch lately, they're on the "to do" list

[fedezz]

ParkerD: Palahniuk is on my "to read" list, next to Hunter Thompson.

Davepalumbo: I've never read anything by Gene Wolfe, so with that recomendation, straight to the bookstore I go:)
I've also read "Virtual Unrealities" by Bester, that guy really blew my mind. I'll try to get that one you mention. Thanks for the info!
As for Philip K. Dick, I think "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" is a must, really wicked.

Uhh, almost forgot to mention "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, "Perfume : The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Suskind, "Hart's Hope" by Orson Scott Card, "The Earthsea Cycle" (all of them, the last one sucks, but...) by Ursula K. LeGuin...

[DavePalumbo]

"The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" is a must, really wicked.
"A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, "Perfume : The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Suskind, "Hart's Hope" by Orson Scott Card

looks like we've each got some catching up to do :wink:

not all Gene Wolfe is on the level with the Book of the New Sun, unfortunately, so don't start on the wrong foot. I think you can get books one and two reprinted in a book called Shadow and Claw, three and four in Sword and Citadel. Also, if you're looking for Hunter S. Thompson, I also quite enjoyed Hell's Angels

oh, and more nonfiction, "A Walk Across America" by Peter Jenkins

[prostate sunrise]

guess i should add..

"Snowcrash" by Neal Stephenson

..because it is bound to be in here sooner or later.

[strych9ine]

Hard-Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World - Haruki Murakami
One of my all-time favorite books.

Marabou Stork Nightmares - Irvine Welsh

Anything Palahniuk, Vonnegut, Dostoevsky, Kafka, the list goes on...

[Flake]

Iain M Banks- any of the "culture" books.
http://www.iainbanks.net/sf.htm

Orson Scott Card- "Enders game"/"Enders Shadow"

Frank Herbert- "Dune"

Greg Bear- "Forge of God","Anvil of Stars"

Richard Matheson-"I am Legend"

Tolkien- "Lord of the Rings"

Irvine Welsh- "Trainspotting", "Porno"

Anne Rice- first three "Vampire Chronicles", stop after that though, they get very bad indeed :(

David Gemmell- most of the "Drenai" books (Waylander trilogy etc)

Clive Barker- "Great and Secret Show", "Weaveworld", "Imajica"

currently reading George R. R. Martins "Song of Ice and Fire" and Dan Simmons "Hyperion" books, thoroughly enjoying both so far.

Also, anyone who likes Terry Pratchett will likely also enjoy Robert Rankin, similarly odd British type humour..
http://www.sproutlore.com/books/rankinbooks.php

[katsgod]

The Worlds Most Haunted places--Jeff Belanger

[fedezz]

How could I forgot "I am Legend". Definitely a must.

[fixx]

Someone already mentioned Tolkien and Gaiman sooo Scottish murders it is:

Ian Rankin - out of all the Rebus novels, the best are Black and Blue, Dead Souls and The Falls. Don't have to read any before, they work on their own.

Scandinavian Folk and Fairy Tales, a book of collected stories from Gramercy. Norwegian, danish, Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic. :)

[madplanet]

The Chronicles Of Amber - Roger Zalazny

The Unknown Masterpiece - Honore Balzac

Stranger In A Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein

Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs (doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but there is a shit load of imagery there)

Poe, Verne, Burroughs, Vonnegut, just to name a few.

[StrangeAlchemist]

My favorite author by leaps and bounds is Herman Hesse. Siddatha, Demian, Steppenwolf, and Beneath the Wheel are all fantastic reads. Narcissus and Goldmund is my favorite book. I've never read another piece of literature that captures the poetry of living so perfectly.

Other great books:

Crime and Punishment
Anna Karenina
1984
Brave New World
The Doors of Perception
Heaven and Hell
The Iluminatus Trilogy
The Screwtape Letters
A Brief History of the Universe
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence
Letters from the Earth
Hegemony or Survival
Man and his Symbols
Catch-22
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

[DavePalumbo]

I'm going to post Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun again because it seems that NONE of you guys have read it! (why else wouldn't it top your lists?)

damn

[glikster]

Yeah, Foundation... I am Legend...Catch-22... Z&tAoMM...Screwtape Letters....
Excellent books.
I couldn't finish Crime and Punishment... I don't know why... I read Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno all the way through...

I'll have to pick up The New Sun and some Philip K. Dick

Some weird books that I'm still not sure if I enjoyed were Big Sur and Maldorer.

Oh, and I quite enjoyed Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

Starship Troopers was fun by Heinlein, and the Cat who Walks Through Walls... was Stranger in a Strange Land about the half alien? I forget. The messianic, free-love, eat the dead story? Cuz that was kind of fun, too.

[tullie]

Ian Rankin books are great.
Arthur C Clarke and Peter F Hamilton are excellent.
Lord of the Flies = greatness ^^.
1984 is such a difficult read.

[Inkfish]

You should definately check out the Hyperion saga by Dan Simmons
and Glamorama by B.E.Ellis awesome stuff

[tullie]

I bought Hyperion recently but haven't started it yet, I'll have to check out Glamorama. :)
The Gap Series (Stephen Donaldson) has also been recommened to me recently, so Imrecommeneding it to anyone who likes sci-fi.

[DavePalumbo]

I bought Hyperion recently but haven't started it yet...
The Gap Series (Stephen Donaldson) has also been recommened to me recently

I read both of these when I was in highschool (only the first Hyperion, I think the first 3 Gap books), and though it's possible I'd like them better if I reread them, I don't remember being that enthralled. I think the first Gap book ("Gap of Truth" I think?) was interesting for it's role swapping plot device (he talks about it in the afterword), but the sequels didn't do so much for me. Hyperion also had some cool stuff, but didn't hook me enough to read more.

[tullie]

I have read a lot of mixed reviews about the gap series, especially of the first book, ''The Real Story''. Still worth a look in though.

I recently read a Richard Morgan book, ''Altered Carbon'' (apparently quite popular) and didn't get into it at all, really really dull - but again, maybe if I gave it another chance I might like it :).

Have you read any of Jeff Noon's stuff? I gotta pickup one of his book as well.

[incolorinred]

anyone farmiliar with Haruki Murakami books?
I have read one and just started another. They are interesting reads.

another good book I just finished: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. in a nutshell, extremely good and incredibly sad.

[auto_matt]

@incolinred
i read kafka on the shore
i liked it

[Flake]

My favorite author by leaps and bounds is Herman Hesse.

Yeah, really enjoyed his stuff years ago.

It's quite "hippy/trippy" kinda stuff (or possibly just lost/gained something in translation) but it's well worth a look.

[El Brakiachi]

dark tower sereis
count of monte cristo
dune
shannarah sereis
1984 (its almost true in ways)
LOTR series

and i know this might sound gay, but the little prince has been one of my favorites for years.

[glikster]

dark tower sereis
count of monte cristo
dune
shannarah sereis
1984 (its almost true in ways)
LOTR series

and i know this might sound gay, but the little prince has been one of my favorites for years.

Little Prince rocks.

So do the Harold and the Purple Crayon books.

[brokk]

Interview with the vampire / The vampire lestat - Anne Rice
LOTR series (like that hasn't being metioned yet ;) ) and the Silmarillion- John RR Tolkien
Tree and Leaf - John RR Tolkien (this is an excellent essay on fairy tales, I highly recommend this book)
The Consolations of Philosophy - Allan de Bottain (flimsy title, huh? surprisingly its quite a nice read, the chapter on Montaigne is brilliant. At least to me ; P )
Wonderful Life - Stephen Jay Gould
Beowulf - anonymous (I think)

I liked RL Stine's books a lot when I was younger. I like fairy tale books, especially illustrated ones. I love this book (http://static.flickr.com/11/14815184_b494971dba_m.jpg) on gnomes. I wish to make books like that sometime : )

[tullie]

Forgot to add The Godfather - Mario Puzo and Bella Mafia - Lynda LePlante. Does any one know any good female sci-fi authors?

[fedezz]

Ursula K. LeGuin has great sci-fi books (novels and short stories). Some recommendations: "The Dispossesed" & "The Left Hand of Darkness".

[Midnight]

Katherine Kerr's Deverry books are quite good (especially the first series - also, Snare's an entertaining read).
I also love Roger Zelazny's Amber series.

Other ones to mention are LotR, Interview with the Vampire, and Robin Hobb's Farseer series (I haven't read her other series yet).

Mid.

[walnut]

Well Book of the New Sun goes on the top of my list too. (There Dave Palumbo, at least one person who's read it.) It seriously rocked my boat. No easy read, but it's all worth it double. Just wait till you get to the scene where Severian gets face to face with the florescent apemen! (Sorry for the spoiler).

Some other stuff i like, off the top of my head:

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
pretty much anything by Haruki Murakami and Jack Vance
Neil Gaiman too, i liked Stardust best
Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories
Tanith Lee's Flat earth series (with the lord of darkness)
and CONAN! Who doesn't like him?

[Advocate of Fate]

well, aside from everything everyone's already listed:
-the His Dark Materials trilogy, by Phillip Pullman. Amazing stories, a real strong fight against society. Labeled as somewhat of a children's series, but readable by everyone and anyone. My absolute favorite series, even trumps Tolkein.

-The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. On the surface, a moving series of anecdotes from the Vietnam War. But underneath, a whole gamut of messages about stories, truth, society, and of course human nature. One of my favorite books ever.

-Any book by Mark Salzman, including but not limited to: Lost In Place:Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia , Iron and Silk, The Laughing Sutra, The Soloist, and Lying Awake. Salzman is a nonfiction writer who cronicles the events of his life. He actually grew up in Connecticut with my father, who made it into one of his books (Lost in Place). Salzman was/is obsessed with everything Chinese, and from a young age decided he wanted to be a monk. Some truly compelling stories come out of his books, as well as some of the funniest things ive ever read. I met the guy once, hes a real nutjob, but at the same time, freaking brilliant. Very interesting reads, i reccomend them all.

[thomasaurus]

Crap, Dune and Irvine Welsh books have already been mentioned.

Um, a really great modern novel I read about a year ago, Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Well-written and makes you use your thinkbone.

[CaptainInsano]

Oh, and I quite enjoyed Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

.

I read Atlas Shrugged in one-weekend. Gripping story. Very, very good. Who is John Galt? Got me into a lot of trouble in my college days when it got me arguing with my revionist history professors and starting shit in the university newspaper as an editorial columnist! lol! those were the days. But the chicks man, they loved it! People would come up to me after class and say they agree with me.

[glikster]

Another very interesting book is House of Leaves.

Freaky read (not the most original idea...) and AWESOME typography/format/layout...

[Zaknafain]

My favorite:
Enders Game (orson scott card)

[methinksartisgud]

i recommend the lotr series obv, shadow of the wind by carlos ruiz zafon, his dark materials by phillip pullman, the wind on fire by william nicholson, old kingdom trilogy-sabriel, lirael & abhorsen by garth nix and the ragwitch also by garth nix

[hamb6960]

Anything by Koji Suzuki.
If you haven't read The Ring in it's untouched state it's quite an experence.
I know alot of people have mentioned PKD, the novels that continue the story after "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Are so good! I think the author was K.W. Jeter, I could be wrong though sorry.

[Salvagedumpage]

Enders Game
Enchantments
Redemption of Christopher Columbus:PastWatch
Harts Hope
Lost Boys
Worthing Sage
David CopperField
The five people you in heaven
Tuesday with Morris

[squidmonk3j]

1) Everything ever written by Hunter S. Thompson. The Gonzo Letters ROCK!

2) some kinda off-beat recommendations, these are the kinda books you'll immediately want to share with all your friends - guaranteed !!:

John Kennedy Toole - A Confederancy of Dunces
...his only book. Incredibly funny.

Luke Rhinehart - The Dice Man
...a man decides to let his life be dictated by a pair of dice. weirdness follows.

Richard Adams - Watership Down
...a bunch of rabbits need a new place to live, adventure follows:)

Robert Hamburger - REAL Ultimate Power
...in the same vein as Winnie the Pooh. Just sadder. And more funny.

Hagakure - The Way of the Samurai
...good advice in these whimisical times.

Saul Williams - ,said the shotgun to the head
...poetry that's actually pretty cool.

Cynthia True - American Scream, The Bill Hicks Story
...because you need to listen to Bill Hicks :)

3) crucial literature for Comics Creators / Storytellers:

Joseph Campbell - Hero with a Thousand Faces
...basically all you need.

Robert Mckee - Story
...learn the formula, then improve.

[darth massacre]

I honestly can't remember the last fiction I read....well, actually I could....It was Tom Clancy's Rainbow SIX. Most of the time I read military history and if anyone is interested in real life drama on the battlefield (more "fun" than what Tom Clancy could muster) here are a few interesting ones:

- The Stephen Ambrose Collection (6 books in total including Band Of Brothers, Citizen Soldiers and D-Day)

- Not A Good Day To Die - Sean Naylor (best military fuck up in the last 5 years....proving the infinite stupidity of Generals and showcases the toughness of the Al Qaida fighters as well as the coalition ground commanders in Afghanistan)

- Blackhawk Down - Mark Bowden (Best political fuck up leading to a military fuck up in the 90s....yes its Clinton's fault....I've read it over 20 times...its still Clinton's fault.)

- Rogue Warrior - Richard Marcinko (the life of SEAL Team 6 founder)

- Point Man - James Watson (Marcinko's SEAL pointman in Vietnam)

- Bravo Two Zero - Andy McNab (biggest Fuckup of Desert Storm)

- Jarhead - Anthony Swofford (Most realistic take on an infantryman's life leading up to war)

- Commandos - Douglas C Waller (How the special forces really kickstarted Desert Storm and one of the most detailed insight to Green Beret, Delta Force and Navy SEAL training and selection)

- SIX DAYS - Jeremy Bowen (the Six Day War in the middle east...or... how the Israelis pounded the Arab coalition into submission in 6 days despite being outnumbered 10-1...well they struck first.)

Interestingly, Tom Clancy's non fiction titles are a lot better to read. He's researched extensively and provides information in lay man's language. Fighter Wing, Armoured Cav, Submarine and Shadow Warriors were all easy to read with great amount of information. I haven't read the rest...he wrote about 10 or 12 non-fic books.

Sometimes real life events are more dramatic than fiction.

[young paddy1]

Jeffery Deaver: the blue nowhere, the vanished man
Peter F Hamilton: Pandoras star+Judas unchained and the Greg Mandel Trilogy
Neal Asher: the polity books, (The Skinner, The Line of Polity, Gridlinked etc.)
Robert A Heinlein: just grab anything but especially Friday and Job
All the Terry Pratchett Books
Neil Gaiman: American Gods, Good Omens done with the bloke above
John Wyndham: gotta catch'em all

[Snarfevs]

I'm reading Snow Crash at the moment - it really rawks.

Absolute must read book is Carl Sagan - Cosmos

[oracrest]

Well, Ill just recomend one book... err one author rather:

Robert E. Howard

original creator of Conan. If you can find any of his conan writings, they are really awesome storytelling. Some of the most original fantasy that I have come across. And he wrote them in the 30's, pre-tolkien, so theres none of that tolkien rip-off/homage that almost everything fantasy has after LOTR came out.

Its a shame the character got so dumbed down and muddied with comics/movies/other writers. The original stuff is damn good, by Crom!

[squidmonk3j]

....and if you like robert e. howard, you should check out howard lovecraft. they operated in similar circles. cthulhu f'tagn!

[wakizashi]

lots of good suggestions in this thread. ill admit i have not been a big reader since high school, but im trying to get back into it. im currently collecting a bunch of philp k dick books. im currently reading "a scanner darkly" it pretty cool so far. i also like ann rices vampire books but, as already mentioned, they go down hill. then of course theres the obvious stuff everyone seems to like,(although im suprised no ones mentiontioned hitchikers guide to the galaxy) tolkens LOTR books, conan, war of the worlds, lovecraft, i think the rest of you covered the remainder of my list. also,
I realy dig books about philosophy and such, so ive got to add two of my most recent reads to my list. "the art of war" by sun tzu and "the tao of jeet kun do " by bruce lee. bruce lees talk of formlessnes and "circles with no circumferences" is something i defenatley found interesting. im also looking for "a book of five rings" by musashi. ive heared its interesting. im not shure if you guys consider graphic novels to be on the same level, but id hate to exclude Alan Moores "V for Vendetta" and "Watchmen" from my list. oh yeah, i also realy enjoyed tim burtons (somewhat) childrens book "the Melancholy death of oyster boy"

[Dead Road 7]

I never got into fantasy books and stuff.
My favorites novels are:
-A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
-Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
-One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
-Pretty much anything by James Joyce or Franz Kafka or James Baldwin
-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by the great Hunter S. Thompson
-Also, if it's by Kurt Vonnegut, it's amazing

[Thunder Doom]

Brave New World :]

[JERI]

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The New Adventure of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
The Island of Dr. Moreau - H.G. Wells
The Art of War - Sun Tsu
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
The Analects - Kong Tsu
A Time to Kill - John Grisham
King Lear - Shakespeare

[Jabo]

Thought it would be nice to bump this thread.

Here's another Dan Simmons fan. I've read all of his Sci-Fi sagas, being close to finish reading his latest named "Olympos". People always mention the Hyperion books, but there's also the Endymion books that I like even more. They continue the Hyperion story and have some nice twists. Simmons is one of those who pose questions and don't answer them in the end, which is a nice thing on one hand, but it can be distracting and frustrating on the other. Also, there are always more than 2 plots side by side, he uses to switch plots on the climax of excitement. In the first to sagas, he keeps the suspense up, but Ilium and Olympos are kinda hard to read. He is often building up his stories on old greek or shakespearian literature and I think he has overdone it in the latter two books. I don't like them too much. He also has 5 plots running side-by-side, too many to really pay attention to. Nevertheless, he's my favourite living writer. There aren't many good space-opera authors out there, I've read some others but they are all more or less crappy. He's a... the diamond in that field.

So here's a list:

- Dan Simmons (Hyperion I+II, Endymion I+II, Ilium/Olympos, Worlds and Time Enough - different short stories, should be read before reading Ilium)
- Tolkien (of course)
- Frank Schätzing (haven't read his new one, but "The Swarm" was a blast. Epic, well-founded and very exciting. Not for people who like water. You won't like it afterwards)
- Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (now sold as Blade Runner)) - didn't finish it yet, wanted to get Olympos done first.

[Flake]

Well, since the thread is bumped now, I'll suggest Ken Macleod as another good sci-fi author. Funny, and kinda remniscent of Iain M. Banks' work.

Also Walter Jon Williams "Praxis" trilogy is entertaining space opera.

[DMickey]

Im happy this was bumped, gives me a reason to go out and buy some books i've never heard of that sound amazing.

Couple books I really enjoyed
Douglas Coupland's Generation X, Jpod, Hey! Nostradamus, almost anything by him.
Chuck Palahnuik's books are great, if you have to read one I really enjoyed Diary and Choke
As mentioned by a lot of people Kurt Vonnegut, breakfast of champions, slaughterhouse five, sirens of titan, etc..
Joseph Heller - catch 22
Also I recently just finished two Mitch Albom books Tuesdays with Morie and 5people you meet in Heaven, they're short but I really enjoyed them.

[HugeHarHar]

Notes from Underground -Fyodor Dostoevsky
On The Road -Jack Kerouac

[lefran]

heres a few i like :)
Across the nightinggale floor, grass for his pillow ( i havent read the third yet) by Lian Hearn (otori trilogy)
The curious incident of the dog in the night time- mark haddon
The lovely bones- alice sebold
Memoirs of a geisha-arthur golden ( but then again most people probably have already read it)
His dark materials- phillip pullman (trilogy)
The dan brown books- even though theyre predictable theyre still worth a read
And you cant go wrong with harry potter!
Even though 3 ive mentioned are 'teenage', theyre still good, i read them when i was younger and i still re read them

[Jabo]

So I read the rest of Olympos some days ago. Man, these two books suck. Can't help it.

*BUMP N EDIT*

Began reading Dick's "Blade Runner" (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep). Funny to see what Scott made out of that book for the film, which is a masterpiece and SO in my top5. The book is good, although I guess the english original is better, the translation seems silly and often wrong. Also not too big, it usually takes me some months (a year, maybe) to finish a 1000p novel. This one is light. Like it.

Oh, and here's something I DID NOT LIKE:

Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space. Nothing in this book, I mean NOTHING left an impression in my mind. It's third-class space-opera, it isn't even space opera. Just sci-fi, but not really well executed. The plot is flat, characters are too simple (there's no sympathic character, which is a no-go) and the ending is unsatisfying. I can't understand why his books are listed in the top-area. Has someone here read his novel Chasm City?

[TechLoveAffair]

I second the Dark Tower series. Pretty much anything by King is great. Skeleton Crew has some of the creepiest short stories I've ever read, 'The Raft' disturbed the hell out of me.

S. D. Perry's Alien and Alien vs Predator novels are suprisingly good reads, right on par with the movies.

[OBX]

dark towers are great. certain ppl will like and certain will hate. 4th book of that series was kinda slow and hard to read. Ive seen this as typical of king, he builds up a story with soo much potential that u dont see it ending for another 2000 pages but he somehow just sums it up and cuts too many corners and ends it in 500. (anyone read the stand?). either way the universe he created was too cool! badass jedi-esque cowboy gunslinger! kings strength is definatly the short story.

anyhow, by far my favorite book series is "the warlord chronicles" by bernard cornwell. the best arthurian adaptation i have ever read. so well done. he takes all the aurthurian stereo types and breaks them. makes them believable and real.

Hyperion by dan simmons is excellent stuff too. uber mind fuck. awsome futuristic universe and i love the names he uses for all his futuristic creations.

[alkali]

The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass-Phillip Pullman

The Bear and The Dragon, Red Storm Rising-Tom Clancy

The Tristan Betrayal-Robert Ludlum

oh yeah, the LOTR was pretty good too.

[walnut]

For those who like Howard and Lovecraft, there's another great author who came from the pages of the Thirties' pulp mags, namely Clark Ashton Smith. His writing was better than Lovecraft's and more exotic than Howard's and i hav'nt read anything yet that surpasses the man in sheer dark and melancholic atmosphere. The images he calls up in your mind, it's frankly amazing. Definitely worth discovering. There's an anthology from Gollanczc in the Fantasy Masterworks series if you're interested.
And lord Dunsany rocks too btw.