<blockquote><hr>
<blockquote><hr>
theres always the Russians....
[/ QUOTE ]
Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Read it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Aaauuuughhh! I had to read that for a freshman English class--one of my first college classes. I kept thinking, "WTF? Why the HELL would we be reading THIS of all the literature in the world???" The prof also had us read "Darkness at Noon", so maybe he just had a thing for Russian prisons. I thought I had heard the last of "The Gulag Archipelago" until YOU posted, Danny, so thanks for THAT!
Lots of my familiar favorites in this thread! "Ender's Game" is great, and I like the subsequent books in that series, although none of them was much like "Ender's Game" (which is fine, of course.) I've liked nearly all of Orson Scott Card's other books, especially the Alvin Maker series, although most of the stories in the collection "Maps in a Mirror" were WAY too dark/gruesome for me. But maybe some of you horror fans would enjoy those.
Currently reading the last book ("Confessor") in Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series of 11 books (12 if you count the small prequel "Debt of Bones"). I'm liking it so far, but I find it a bit of a departure from a lot of the earlier books--more philosophy, less action and plot--but still entertaining so far. Prior to that, I barreled through books 1 through 11 of Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series, which I really enjoyed--although I didn't really get excited about it until some time in Book 2. I didn't know that the author had died (may the Light shine upon him) until I was into Book 10, but entries on his website confirms what others have said here: he left extensive notes, and told his family what the last book should contain, and his family has chosen an author to finish it and they seem to feel that he is a great choice for the job. I eagerly await that final book, because the series has been slowly building to what I expect will be a phenomenal climax.
I also enjoyed the Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman Dungeons & Dragons books (as well as "The Prophet of the Rose" series by them--very unusual setting and characters, and very entertaining!)
But for books in the D&D world, I enjoyed even more R. A. Salvatore's books regarding Drizzt Do'Urden and the Icewind Dale stories--MOST especially the first three books about Drizzt. What a great character!
No one has mentioned Mercedes Lackey, but I've liked nearly everything I've read that was written by just her, and most of the stuff she has co-written. (Didn't care for "A Scepter'd Isle" and for one book consisting of two stories that combined elves with auto racing and elves with child abuse themes. Weird.) I'm really looking forward to Book 5 in her "Elemental Masters" series, which has been released but which I have't yet read--"Reserved for the Cat" or something like that.
Piers Anthony has written a TON of entertaining stuff. I especially liked his "Bio of a Space Tyrant" series (sci fi), his "Immortality of Incarnations" series (semi-fantasy), and the Phaze series (sci fi & fantasy mixed)--especially the first trilogy, about Stile). I also really liked his Tarot series and most of his other stuff.
I've liked most of Asimov's sci-fi, especially the robot stories and novels. His "Foundation" series was interesting, too.
Joe Haldeman is another great sci-fi author. "Mindbridge", "The Forever War", "Tool of the Trade", "Buying Time", and "Camouflage" are all excellent, and his other books and short stories are also really good. He has a new one out, too, and I eagerly look forward to reading that.
Spider Robinson also written some great sci-fi, especially his earlier stories. "Mindkiller", "Telempath", "Time Pressure", and "Stardancer" are the best so far, I think. I also really liked his collections of Callahan-related short stories, "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon" and "Time Travelers Strictly Cash".
I've like nearly everything I've read by the team of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. "The Mote in God's Eye", "Footfall", and "Inferno" were great, and "The Burning City", "Lucifer's Hammer", and others were also good reads (although I didn't care much for "Fallen Angels".)
A friend at work turned me on to Jim Butcher's "The Dresden Files" series--modern day wizard novels. They are EXCELLENT, and they get better with each subsequent book. Harry Dresden is a very interesting character. The Sci-Fi Channel series "The Dresden Files" is based on the books (different stories, pretty much the same characters), and I like the TV series, but the books are much better (as is often the case.) I also liked Jim Butcher's "The Codex Alera" series, and those also got better with each later book, although I would recommend "The Dresden Files" over those. But I still liked them all.
I've also liked Grisham's law novels and Clancy's Jack Ryan and other military/spy novels (his solo work, not the spin-offs, of which I've only read one and it was so-so) quite a lot. I haven't read the new Grisham book yet, but I'm looking forward to that, too.
I'm sure there are many good and great books and authors that I'm forgetting, but I've saved my favorite for last: the late Robert A. Heinlein. He wrote lots of sci-fi stories of various types, and I loved nearly all of them. (Of course some were better than others, and one or two missed the mark, in my opinion.) I read my first book by him in grade school, and I still enjoy that book and nearly all of his other works that I've since then. Interestingly, Spider Robinson, who I mentioned above, is also a huge fan of Heinlein, and he recently completed a story that Heinlein had outlined (just the beginning was outlined, I believe, actually) before his death but hadn't written. It was published as a collaboration between Heinlein and Robinson, and it was interesting to read Robinson's mixing some of Heinlein's style with his own. "Variable Star", I think it's called.
OK, I'm glassy-eyed, so I'm going to stop now.
