h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Foundation
Stranger in a Strange Land
Armor
Starship Troopers (remember the book, not the travesty of a movie)
The Lord of the Rings

more to be added as I think of them

have fun

I read all the Dune books (except the new things by his son); pretty amazing! I also like Tolkien; no one like him - a true master. Have you read the Silmarilion? If you liked the trilogy, you must read it. The newer series by his son are also very good (in this researcher's oppinion.) I see you are a sc-fi buff. Have you read any of Samuel Delaney's works? (I think I spelled that right...) I don't know if this qualifies as "hard" sci-fi, but look him up sometime - very far out stuff!

Yes I have read the Silmarillion. It's was a great book, a little hard to get through but well worth it.

I agree about his son's books. I have them all. Basically I went through a "Anything written by or about Tolkien or Middle-Earth I must have" phase. I have a multitude of books about him and it now

While I love hard Sci Fi, I will read anything sci fi so I will definitely look him up.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting

Courtesy

I notice your favourites tend towards the established classics and would like to suggest Iain M Banks' 'Culture' novels for something more contemporary. He has a richly imagined future society, nicely executed plots and believable characters. One of the best for modern sci-fi (in my humble opinion).

Great. Thanks for the info. Could you tell me what the first book in the series is?

Also, if you are interested we have a book club at H2G2 at

http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?forum=29359&thread=33995

feel free to drop in, it's a great place for talking about all kinds of books. This is the 5th discussion in the book club, so if you want to there are some MAJOR discussions to read.

Courtesy

I think the first one was called 'Consider Phlebas' but they pretty much stand on their own so it's not that crucial where you start.

That's good to know. I hate looking up a new series, especially one where order counts and finding that I read the third book first and all

As for the classics, I guess you are correct, however Armor is definitely a new one. I also enjoyed the Thieves World books and the Myth and Phule books by Robert Lynn Asprin.

The Forever War, Enders Game, Speaker for the Dead, All the David Eddings Books, Micheal Crichton (Sphere being one of the best) etc. etc.

These are all great books.

Courtesy

Iain M. Banks is great but I prefer his Fiction novels to his sci-fi ones. Try "The Bridge". Best there is.

Fiction is great also. What does "The Bridge" deal with?

Courtesy

Hard to say really. Too complex to make a brief resume of, basically it's about a man who's severely hurt in a car crash. The rest of the action may or may not be his dreams during his time in coma. It consists of finely interwoven stories, part taking place on the absurd and phantastic bridge, part a history of growing up and growing old in scotland, part a love story of the believable and un-tacky kind. I love it, two pages into the book you'll love it too, I've read all his books and most are great, some very few are below par and this one is better than all of them put together. He mixes dreams, black humor, social realism, absurdities...you name it. The book's full of beautiful jokes that makes you laugh as hard as if you were reading catch 22, but the jokes are so complexly interwoven into the story that you can't retell them without reading the entire book out loud. Worth reading, his mantelpiece so to speak....

Great I will add it to the list

If you don't know we have a place on H2G2 called the Book Nook ... we sit around and talk about our favorite authors and books, you are more than welcome to attend.

http://www.h2g2.com/A229943

I guess I will have to read catch 22 also

Courtesy

Yes do read catch 22 too. (forget the movie, its crap..) You'll laugh hard for a long time. It's 500+ pages, you need stamina to survive that one. The humour is black and absurd. Beware though, for some ten pages or so Joseph Heller turns serious and shows you the horrors of wartime Rome. Try to get out of that one without a cold hard lump in your tummy... Highly recommended. You liked the martian named Smith, you'll love Yossarian the turkish-american.

Stamina I have

I read Foundation and Earth cover to cover yesterday (approx. 350 pages.)

I say that I am addicted to books. Some people are addicted to alcohol or drugs, me, I get a good book and it's goodbye sleep until its done

Courtesy

Yes, sounds like you'll survive catch 22. However when I mentioned stamina I meant you'll need that to survive laughing through that number of pages. You'll need to be able to catch your breath even though your entire midriff is contracted and cramped. I had serious trouble breathing. (not due to lung diseases or smoking...)

Well I knew I was playing racquetball for something. I just didn't think it would be for reading

I found I did the same thing when I read David Eddings' Belgariad novels. He spent so much time with the characters that one would do something, you would know he was going to do it because it was in character and then you had to put down the book because you were laughing so hard.

Courtesy

I'll have to run to the bookstore then, I've not read a single book by Eddings. Time to change that.

I would consider Eddings the premiere Epic Fantasy novelist of our times. It seems like every other Fantasy series that comes out is compared to Lord of the Rings. Eddings has been the only author I have read that deserved the comparison.

His first book in his first series was "The Pawn of Prophecy", I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. All his series were great.

Courtesy

When getting into comparisons to Tolkien one other also deserves to be mentioned. Stephen Donaldson wrote the chronicles of Thomas Covenant the unbeliever. The first three are comparable to Tolkien. Worth a read!

I've heard good things about T. Covenant over at the Book Nook. What is the first book in the series?

Also, if you haven't ckecked out the Book Nook then you might want to. Some great people talking about great books. Right now we are off on a tangent and are trying to flush out the casting of Dune based on specific directors. However, just bring up some books and the conversations will commence.

The Book Nook link is on my home page.

Courtesy

The first Thomas Covenant is called Lord Foul's Bane and I agree that the first three are well worth reading. The second set was a bit irritating in replaying much of the first set in a slightly different way. He then annoyed me even more by writing another couple of books which did a similar narrative trick but with a different (female) lead character. But the first set of T. Covenant are a truly excellent read.
I also go along with Corvus' recommendation of the Bridge. It was a bit Kafka-esque but with a heavier lashing of black humour. There are just so many good books out there. If only I could drag myself away from my PC long enough to concentrate on a few.