For Gawd's sake recommend something for me to read!

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Non-fiction

The Story of Civilization by Will Durant is very enjoyable and it's fairly long, so it will take a while. Sold in several volumes, it's affordable if you buy it as you read instead of all at once.

Dark Nature by Lyall Watson is much more brief and also fascinating: it is a study of the biological/genetic underpinnings/origins of what is sometimes thought of as "evil."

The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking is an engrossing work and will either inspire your campaign design or frustrate you when you fritter away the next thirty years trying to reconcile D&D's mnagic system with quantam theory. Note: If you're a physicist, you read A Brief History of Time when it came out. If you're not, don't bother - it's just too much to digest without illustrations or in a linnear narrative.

Who's Afraid of Schroedinger's Cat? (I don't remeber the editors' names off-hand) is a fun and fascinating collection of essays on a variety of scientific topics dumbed down for laypeople.

America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart is hysterically funny.

National Geographic Magazine

EDIT: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Funny and edifying!

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Fiction

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. You've got just enough time to read the first five books before the sixth comes out on the sixteenth of this month. Campaign inspiration and a compelling read. It was not, by the way, originally intended soley for young readers.

Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart is far and away the best novel, fantasy or otherwise, I've read in a long time. It does take liberties with the Judeo-Chritian mythos, though, and there is a LOT of expicit sexuality throughout the series, so if that's something that you find offensive, avoid this book and it's two sequals.

Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen by Garth Nix. This is another fantasy series. I'm not familiar with all of Nix's work, but I have read things outside of this series with which I was most disappointed. This trilogy, though, is wonderful. Sabriel is probably the weakest novel of the series, but it's still quite good and worth starting with. The magic system in this series is fascinating and the characters are endearing. This series is intended for young readers, though, so more sophisticated readers may find it somewhat pedestrian.

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and Ender's Shadow Series (2 different, though related series). Science fiction. Simply great in every way. These series start off in the relatively near future and meander off into the distant future, Compelling characters and suprising plot twists, without sacrificing verisimilitude.

Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series, beginning with Seventh Son. This one is fantasy and takes place in post colonial America - except with magic. It's fun, but the story tends to thin out a bit at the seventh book.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston. This novel is written largely in African-American Vernacular English, which some readers find problematic, but is a heart-wrenching story of one woman's journey to achieve self-determination. This really is a must read, even if Oprah Winfrey does think so. ( Since I last read this book, Oprah made it a part of her "Book List," a virtual guarantee of bestseller status and that I won't read it. I like to be able to pretend that I am not a part of the crowd.)

The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino is an amazing story of a young man who genuinely lives outside of society's strictures and yet still manages to succeed in life. Another must-read.

Candide by Voltaire. The ultimate travelogue/adventure (and it's alluded to in a Bloodhound Gang song, so it must be good!)

Lafcadio's Adventures by Andre Gide is another sort of adventure/travelogue that explores moral relativism and society's demands in a comical way.

Which reminds my of Albert Camus's The Stranger, another head trip, and really, about one afternoon's reading, as the novel is so short. That one's alway worth re-reading.

I almost forgot! Stephen King's Dark Tower. Honestly, I haven't finished this one myself, yet. I read the first four books, bought the fifth, and just haven't gotten around to digging up the first four to reread before starting the next one or considering getting the last two. I love what I've read so far, and while King's ending's tend to be the weakest points in his books, I have it on good authority that this series ends well. It's his grand finale, and it took him his whole career to write, it ought to be decent.

Those are all of the really great reads that spring to mind at the moment. Enjoy.

 

[bolen]

Stephen Baxster

I really liked Voyage - an alternate history where we go to mars by the 1980's

he also has a future history which is cool and collected in Vacuum Diagrams.

In my mind he is Heinlein of our generation

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Similarly, something I thing ought to be required reading for adult gamers - Grunts by Mary Gentle. The whole war between dark and light, told from the orc's point of view.

ACK! (vomits)

I HATED that book. Even if it is supposed to be a parody, it's still bad. I yelled at the guy who loaned it to me, and he just laughed.

I have to second Terry Pratchett and Glen Cook (who has a new series starting, out in hardcover now!). I'm not quite so fond of Tad Williams as I used to be, but Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn and the Otherworld books were really good. The War of the Flowers was kinda eh.

Now, for stuff I've liked...

David Gemmell: Pretty much anything he's written, but especially Legend, Echoes of the Great Song, and the Stones of Power books...which go from Arthurian fantasy to post-apocalyptic Western Gunslinger novels, in the same universe. One warning, a lot of his characters and plots look alike.

John Ringo: He's a pretty good writer of military SF. The Legacy of the Aldenata books are pretty good (Gust Front, the second book, being the best), and the Prince Roger books he writes with David Weber are also quite cool. The Collapse novels are okay, too.

Thomas Harlan: He writes funky fantasy/SF alternate history with strong Lovecraftian undercurrents. His two series are the Oath of Empire (lasting Roman Empire with magic), and the Sixth Sun (Japanese-flavored Aztec starfarers), both of which are quite good.

Also, read the Robert E. Howard short story collections. There are four out so far... The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, The Bloody Crown of Conan, Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, and Bran Mak Morn: The Last King, with The Conquering Sword of Conan coming this fall. They're all quite good, though I like the Solomon Kane collection the best, given that the later stories have continuity.

Brad

 

[Seonaid]

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Fantasy, billed for children, but excellent. There is much in it that kids wouldn't fully appreciate. Read the trilogy in sequence, as it makes more sense that way and the second two aren't quite as good as the first, unfortunately.

"Seafort saga" by David Feintuch. Military sci-fi. It's heavy on references to homosexuality, which gets irritating (how many times can you make the same point in one chapter?), but it's good otherwise. He also wrote The Still, which is fantasy, but also has the homosexuality problem. (Problem in that he's heavy-handed with his "this is okay" treatment, not I'm against homosexuality.)

I strongly second Jacqueline Carey, Nickel and Dimed, Endur's Game, and Stephen Brust (though I would go with To Reign in Hell).

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman.

Sorry, Seonaid. I have to disagree. There were some engaging points to this series, and after The Golden Compass, I was hooked, but there were just too many holes in the story and in the world where it takes place for me to feel satisfied. By the end of The Amber Spyglass, I felt kind of cheated, and now, the more I think about this series, the more annoyed I become with it. Iorek was a great character, as where many of them, but the world was internally inconsistant.

This is a good series from which to steal some campaign ideas, most notably the armored bears and the three artifacts after which the three books are titled, but for just pleasure reading, I have to say I don't think they qualify. If someone else had taken Pullman's ideas and written the final novels, that might have been a better story. I just feel underwhelmed with Pullman's writing.

Based on your other recommendations, Seonaid, I have to reiterate my recomendation of Garth Nix's Sabriel.

 

[Sulimo]

I rather liked Masters of Rome by Colleen McCullough. Also the Egyptian stories by Christian Jacq.

 

[MonsterMash]

How about some... deep light fare for summer reading?

Similarly, something I thing ought to be required reading for adult gamers - Grunts by Mary Gentle. The whole war between dark and light, told from the orc's point of view.

I enjoyed Grunts

Anything by Terrry Pratchett.

Little predictable there
Terry Pratchett is reliable for a fun read.

Neal Stephenson is good, though the recent books occasionally get a bit overwhelmed by the research content - the Baroque Cycle is pretty good (and long enough to keep you going for a bit) Quicksilver, the Confusion and The System of the World make that up - I did find it made me think about playing an RPG in that era.

 

[Tetsubo]

EXQUISITE CORPSE by Poppy Z. Brite

One of the best horror novels that I ever read. I think her entire body of work is excellent.

 

[Tanager]

One series I recently finished was Peirs Anthony's Incarnations Of Immortality collection. (snipped)...

The name of the nature book eludes me.

Being A Green Mother IIRC. I have to agree with Rackhir, the first book (On A Pale Horse) was good but the rest of the series didn't live up to it. For the Love of Evil wasn't all that bad though.

Here (in no particular order) are a few non-fiction books I've enjoyed:

Cities and the Wealth of Nations, Jane Jacobs.
The previously mentioned Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond.
The Language Instinct and Words and Rules, both by Steven Pinker.
The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene.
Neanderthals, Bandits and Farmers Colin Tudge.
How to Cone the Perfect Blonde, Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham.


A few non-genre fiction:
American Psycho, Brett Easton Ellis.
Word, Coerte V.W. Felske.
The Club Dumas and The Flanders Panel, Arturo Perez-Reverte.
Coyote Blue, Christopher Moon.
Lolita Vladimir Nabokov.