Care to recommend a sci-fi/fantasy novel?

[koovan]

Amazed that no one has yet mentioned either Iain M. Banks with 'The Player of Games' a good place to start in his 'Culture' novels and Philip K. Dick whose most famous novel is arguably 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' the inspiration for the Blade Runner movie.

[999]

And of course H. P. Lovecraft, to whom I intend to introduce myself.

Edit: I came across a very immersive Lovecraft poetry reading set to dark ambient music, here.

[i.n.s.a.n.e]

Hey,

Not sure I can contribute, as I've mostly read stuff translated, but here are some good books I can recommend (all sci-fi but The Witcher):

George Orwell - 1984
George Orwell - Animal Farm
John Wyndham - The Day of the Triffids
Andrzej Sapkowski - The Witcher


Books I have on my list:

Kim Stanley Robinson - Mars trilogy
Kim Stanley Robinson - Antarctica
Kim Stanley Robinson - The Wild Shore: Three Californias
Stephen Baxter - Evolution
Kathleen Ann Goonan - Light Music
Joe Haldeman - Forever Peace
Margaret Atwood - Oryx And Crake: A Novel
Ursula K. Le Guin - The Dispossessed
Ursula K. Le Guin - The Word For World Is Forest
Robert Sheckley - The Status Civilization
Ngugi Wa Thiong’o - The Devil on the Cross
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
Robert J. Sawyer - Calculating God
Joseph Heller - Catch 22

[corwiniii]

I will agree with a couple, with the caveat that I listen to audiobooks and don't read them, which makes a big difference IMHO.

Song of Ice and Fire - really great. Each book changes the story a lot though.
Mistborn - really great. I was sad when it was over. I wanted more of the story. I need to pick up more books by Sanderson.

Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny - A new one I don't see on the list. I think the series is great. The first book is Nine Princes in Amber. They are highly immersive but very quick reads.

A different level, I enjoyed the Georgina Kincaid series by Richelle Mead. It's more of a Twilight series meets Forty Shades of Grey or something, but I admit this is my guilty pleasure.

Finally, not sci/fi at all, but the Millennium Series was pretty good too. A bit all over the place, but I enjoyed it.

And this thread is great, I need more ideas. I wasn't a big fan of Wheel of Time at all though.

[hooby]

SciFi:

I'll second Frank Herbert - Dune. This ranks very high on the list of my most favorite books ever.

I wonder why "William Gibson - Neuromancer" hasn't been mentioned yet. It single-handedly invented cyberpunk. This is not as high up my most favorite list, but a very influential book, that surely should be mentioned here

Fantasy:

I'll second Robin Hobb here. Her Farseer trilogy is extremely captivating.

And I'd like to recommend Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Mists of Avalon (or the whole quadrilogy - although the other three aren't quite as good as the first one).

Historical:
Noah Gordon - The Physician. This I greatly recommend, if you like feeling "culture shock" towards the past.

[The Madman]

Thats quite the list thats been compiled. I think we should all take some time, pick a new author(new to us), grab a book and read it. We're all pretty like-minded on these forums, so I'm sure anything would be good for joo brainz!

[Harlequin]

If you are looking for fantasy I can only say that Steven Erikson's A Tale of the Malzan Book of the Fallen is pretty much dominating the genre because it's so good. I hear the first few Novels of Song of Ice and Fire are good but as the story "progresses" (it doesnt actually progress it simply continues) it loses in quality. LotR is pretty good but from a present point of view the characters are fairly simple and shallow. Of course many archetypes were created in that book don'T get me wrong but again from a current point of view the book is characters are fairly simple (Gollum is an exception).

[jiaco]

Originally Posted by 999

Ladies and Gentlemen. Your recommendations so far:
(By page number)
...snip...
Thank you all.

No, thank you, that is most excellent.

[i.n.s.a.n.e]

This one looks really great, I am now dealing with a guy who put it on e-secondhand bookstore. Man, it's seems almost impossible to find in Czech Republic..wish me luck! =)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dispossessed

Also notice the strange structure of the book described on the wiki, interesting. =)

[jiaco]

I also prefer hard books but did you see this:

http://libcom.org/library/dispossessed-ursula-le-guin

at the bottom is a link to download in pdf