I need a book!

[sammyc]

Martin Amis Time's Arrow
John Wyndham Kraken Wakes
Martin Millar Milk, Sulphate & Alby Starvation (not necessarily the genre you are after but I like his stuff fun & quirky, try it for a change/something lighter.)

For fantasy/sci-fi &c have a listen to BBC7 they put a lot of good stuff on there (classics & modern), & if something catches your ear you can look into the author further.

(Or.. rush into your library & grab the first thing you see; it'll probably be How to Care for your Tortoise, or Coping with the Menopause but ya never know, you could make a really great random find).

[dagwoood]

Try Cryponimicon by Neal Stephenson....

Er, shouldn't that be Cryptonomicon?

Joking aside, that is a very good read.

As has been said earlier, Dune is a brilliant book; it weaves lots of different narratives that all come together at the end.

[tigerboyce]

There are hundreds of great books out there, I can recommend a few good ones I've read recently (all fiction BTW)...

In no particular order:

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Dune - Frank Herbert (but less so the sequels)
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Watchmen - Alan Moore
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

these

[Time Bandit]

+1 for anything by Richard Feynman.

Try Six Easy Pieces for starters
or QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter


"If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you dont understand quantum mechanics"
~Richard Feynman

[i4000]

I saw someone earlier recommend Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon, if you like this sort of thing then I would recommend Neal Stephenson - Anathem, this has got to be the most gripping book I have read since The Da Vinci Code. Top stuff, if a little heavy at nearly 800 pages

[Steve B]

T'was I! I'm just getting into Crypto, and it's awesome. Being a Stephenson virgin, I have The Baroque Cycle lined up next.

[TAKTAK]

All the Terry Pratchett Discworld books.

I vote for that tenfold...

[JK Ferret]

I vote for that tenfold...

Just because your pandi is rolling in it, doesn't mean you get 10 votes.

[Saracen]

All the Terry Pratchett Discworld books.

For anyone that hasn't read one before, I'd suggest trying just one. He's got an oblique and rather zany kind of humour, and I suspect people will either love it or hate it. Me, I love it, but I've known people that couldn't stand it.

Nice bloke too. I used to chat to him periodically (and I doubt he'd remember now, because I would just have been one of the crowd and I remember him because even in those days, he was a successful author whose books I'd bought and read) back in the pre-internet days of the CIX system, on diallup modems, oh, 15 or 20 years ago. But for a busy and successful guy, he still had time to respond positively and pleasantly to the hoi poloi like me. As for these days, I'd guess that may have changed. I suspect he'd be buried in mail (electronic and otherwise) and if he still did that now (publicly), he'd never get any books written. I'd like to think he still does it, but probably anonymously. Who knows, maybe he's a member here.

[Moby-Dick]

I'd agree , having met him a couple of times - he comes accross as a very nice chap indeed

[dagwoood]

For anyone that hasn't read one before, I'd suggest trying just one. ...

I'd start with Night Watch; its got to rank up there as one of the best Discworld novels.

[Moby-Dick]

Its good - althoguth the first DW book I read was Mort and I loved it.

[dagwoood]

Its good - althoguth the first DW book I read was Mort and I loved it.

Funnily enough, Mort was the first DW book I read and it rates as one of my personal favourites. Small Gods also stands out as one of the best ones.

Anyone going to admit to reading the Tiffany Aching books?

[Funkstar]

I can't believe The Davinci Code (and the other piles of tosh that Dan Brown has written) has been recomended to many times. They are terrible!

[Salazaar]

Funnily enough, Mort was the first DW book I read and it rates as one of my personal favourites. Small Gods also stands out as one of the best ones.

Anyone going to admit to reading the Tiffany Aching books?

Weird Sisters is also a great DW book, mostly a parody of Macbeth.

[finnrogers]

Just finished reading the "Riverworld" saga by Philip José Farmer - spread over 4 books, it's about a mysterious world where everyone that has ever lived is suddenly reborn. From apemen to modern age people, over 37 billion human beings suddenly awaken on the banks of a river several million miles long. The story is all about the quest of a few individuals to discover the end of the river and the meaning of the world's existence.

Worth a read.