Best Books you've read

[alva]

The Alpha Centauri Instruction Manual

didn't we just have a similar thread? ah well
See if I can ad one or two that arn't mentioned yet

Sharpe Tom - Wilt (series)
Cruz-Smith - Gorky park (and follow ups)
Ben elton - Stark (and others)
? - one flew over the cuckoo's nest
Vonnegut - Gallapagos
Colin Wilson - parasites of the mind (and others)

[Zero-Tau]

Originally posted by jdd2007
hitchikers guide to the galaxy is the worst book i have read. such crap is not fit to be published, much less sucked up by millions of fans.

Could you please explain one thing to me?

If the book is pure crap, how did it get millions of fans in the first place?

[Eli]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy (plus a prequel AND a sequel: Antarctica -> Red Mars -> Green Mars -> Blue Mars -> The Martians) is excellent IMO;

There is a prequel and a sequel?
/me throws away Heinlein and starts looking for Antarctica.

[Clear Skies]

Originally posted by Lord_Davinator
who is Terry Pratchett? never heard of him... and you don't mention any of his books

Pratchett is Britain's best-selling living author. His Discworld series are some of the best books on the face of the Earth. The Colour of Magic is the first one, but you don't have to start there. Interesting Times, Thief of Time, Feet of Clay, they're all fantastic.

Asimov's Foundation series rocks, as well as anything by Mercedes Lackey or Stephen Lawhead. Michael Ely's Alpha Centauri trilogy are hard to get hold of but well worth a read.

[Lord_Davinator]

Originally posted by Thrawn05


Heir to the Empire
Dark Force Rising
Last Command - Timothy Zahn
Really the only good Star Wars books out there. Even the Dark Hourse comic versions are great. Worthy to be considered SW Ep. 7, 8, and 9.

I always thought the Star wars books on Hans Solo were really good... I know A.C.Crispen(hope I got the spelling) wrote a series on his early days which were rather nice... The title of the books slip my mind

[Hobbes]

"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac
"My Name is Asher Lev" and "the Gift of Asher Lev" by Chaim Potok
"Lord o' the Rings" by Tolkien
"Great Expectations" by Dickens
"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
"The Last of the Just" by Andre Schwarz-Bart

[Jethro83]

The Hobbit - J.R.R Tolkein
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - J.R.R Tolkein
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - J.R.R Tolkein

Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn
Dark Force Rising - Timothy Zahn
Last Command - Timothy Zahn

Tomorrow When the War Began - John Marsden
Third Day the Frost - John Marsden
Burning for Revenge - John Marsden

The Time Machine - H.G Wells
War of the Worlds - H.G Wells

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Clear Skies
Pratchett is Britain's best-selling living author. His Discworld series are some of the best books on the face of the Earth. The Colour of Magic is the first one, but you don't have to start there. Interesting Times, Thief of Time, Feet of Clay, they're all fantastic.

...or Moving Pictures or Hogfather [my favorite]--

The Hogfather goes missing on Hogswatch Eve and his place is taken by DEATH (you'd better be good ) There's one scene when DEATH discovers there's a fake Hogfather down at the mall, getting Hogswatch wishes from the children, so DEATH ousts him and takes his place.

DEATH: AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?
10-year-old: A sword.
DEATH: AND WHAT DO YOU SAY?
10-year-old: A really big sword!
DEATH: THAT'S RIGHT. HERE YOU GO.
Mother: Wait a minute! You can't give a sword to a 10-year-old!
DEATH: WHY NOT?? IT'S EDUCATIONAL.
Mother: But she'll cut herself.
DEATH: YES. THAT'S THE EDUCATIONAL PART.

[Demerzel]

Just a few off the top of my head that no-one has mentioned yet

Iain M Banks Sci-fi stuff is all good but especially "Excession" ( his fiction under Iain Banks is great too ).

Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series

William Gibson's "Neuromancer" amongst others

Robert Rankin for his completely bonkers but extremely funny surreal comic fiction.

More pure fiction based,

Alexander Kent's "Bolitho" series

Dick Francis for his plethora of quality mystery books

I'll leave out my classic recommendations like Dumas or Dostoyevsky or peeps will think I'm being pretentious

[alva]

I'll leave out my classic recommendations like Dumas or Dostoyevsky or peeps will think I'm being pretentious

Nah, we know you are, without mentioning these

[Demerzel]

heh, then I'll mention them then - Dumas & Dostoyevsky

[Odin]

Fiction

1. Lord of the Rings trilogy- Tolkein
2. 2001: a Space Odessey- A. C. Clarke
3. Dragonriders of Pern series- Anne Mcaffrey
4. 2010: Odessey Two- A. C. Clarke
5. Julius Caesar- Shakespeare


Nonfiction

1. The Variety of Life- Colin Tudge, an excelent book for biology buffs. Changed my view of living things and and the way they should be classified.
2. Dnosaur Heresies- Robert Bakker, ATTACK OF THE WARM BLOODS!
3. Desent of Man- Darwin
4. Origin of Species- Darwin
5. A Brief History of Time- Stephen Hawking

[Anodyne]

Salman Rushdie - The Satanic Verses

Yuvan Shestalov - Ugorskaja kolybel (the cradle of the ugrians... don't know if it's translated in English

Timo K. Mukka - Maa on syntinen laulu
Timo K. Mukka - Laulu Sipirjan lapsista
Alas, his works haven't been translated either.

Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez - Cien años de soledad (one hundred years of loneliness)

[Graag]

Oh, and Diary of a Madman by Gogol,
The Idiot by Dostoyevsky
Lolita by Nabokov (sp?)
Pratchett rules

[Joseph]

Tom Clancy
Most of his books not all.

Dale brown
Most of his also

plus others