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I second the Phillip K Dick (also check out Man in the High Castle) and Looking Glass Wars. I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned A Song of Ice and Fire yet. Excellent series, if you have the time. Here's my list:

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Another Country by James Baldwin
Go Tell It on the Mountain, also by Baldwin
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison(?)

I always forget about A Song of Ice and Fire, because I assume everyone has heard of it from the TV show I realise that probably isn't true though.

And I can't believe I forgot about Ken Follett!!  His "A world Without End" (the sequel to Pillers of the Earth) is also very good even if it does have a few annoying characters :s

People who say "OMG I LURVE GAME OF THRONES <3 <3" but then you find out they never read the books are the most annoying people ever.

Can't that be said about any show/movie that was adapted from a book?

It's like people who are like "God, I can't stand Harry Potter/The Neverending Story I-III/The Golden Compass/A Wrinkle in Time/Inkheart/The Chronicles of Narnia/(insert other examples here), it/they make no sense whatsoever."

And when you ask if they read the books, the response is usually A: No, or B: There's a book?  (In the case of Neverending Story, The Golden Compass, and a few others).

People always fail to understand that a good book, such as the above mentioned, the Ender series, and whatnot always are saturated with character/world/plot information that they're not going to translate completely to film.  In the case of Harry Potter, for example, many things were explored lightly, and then cut in later films (Quidditch being part of the first 4 films, then cut completely later despite the importance of it in 5)...or they were cut completely (Ron becoming a Prefect, Hermoine forming S.P.E.W and that playing into the House Elves being part of the battle of Hogwarts, Winky being caught with Harry's wand and being let go, etc...)

Likewise, in the case of The Golden Compass, there were characters that were changed/altered (her father/uncle still being very much in love with Mrs. Coultier, his kidnapping of Roger to power his device), plots such as the importance of Dust were minimized, and so on.

Some movies were more successful in the closeness of the books (I thought The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe was very close to the book), some movies were quarter-to-halfway there (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was as close as Willy Wonka and the Charlie Factory was, but neither of them were completely true to the story), and some fell incredibly short of being true to the story (As much as I love the Neverending Story I, I can see why Michael Ende was furious with it.  I imagine he was foaming at the mouth with II and III since they essentially could be considered making fun of his stories with how messed up they were.  Also, two words: Ella Enchanted).

That's why I always tell people to read the book if they didn't like the movie, because the book is almost 99% of the time better than the movie.  And if you say you don't want to read the book because you "don't like to read" or just want to wait for a better movie to come out...then that's really your own fault, and you're missing out on a great experience.

I'm going to give this a bump with another recommendation:  Dune by Frank Herbert.  It's the best sci-fi I've read in a long time, and Herbert has a way of talking so naturally about the supernatural and deeply complex, as if he's been there before.  I can't wait to start on the next book in the series.

If you haven't read dune yet I highly recommend that you get on that immediately... It's one of the sci-fi books that really defines a genre...

So today I read What Would Judy Say? Be the Hero of Your Own Story, written by Judge Judy, who I have to admit I like watching on TV, and is available as a free e-book. The book is more geared toward women, but I still thought it was a good read...it basically uses experiences through her life to give a guide on how to be independent, to realize the things that you want to do, and to get ahead in life and in career, including a ten-rule summary. I thought it was fascinating, considering that this was someone that started a career in law when it was still massively male-dominated and women were expected to do other things.

The book is free, but it is requested at the end to give a donation to Stand Up To Cancer, which I did ($10).

Today I read Cold Hard Truth On Men, Women, and Money: 50 Common Money Mistakes and How to Fix Them by Kevin O'Leary. I'm a huge Shark Tank fan, and I personally believe in most of Kevin's ideas when it comes to personal finance (less so in his ideas of business and capitalism), and I had already read his other book which I really enjoyed, so I gave this one a read. To be honest, I wasn't as into this book...the advice was sound, but when I read a book like this I like for it to be backed up with many examples from their own lives, which I find interesting. Otherwise it comes off as dry, in my opinion, and that's how it kinda felt to me...still, it was interesting enough for me to read through it at least.

Ermagerd, ermagerd, ermagerd.

I just finished binge-reading Robin Hobb's Fool's Quest, the 16th book in the Realm of the Elderlings universe, and the second in the latest trilogy.

The book is a love letter to every dedicated fan, right up until she ends it on a fucking massive cliff-hanger! Words cannot express...

I know it's a shameful way to end the book, but by god, it worked. Next year August can't come soon enough.

And this is how you sell books.

Spent last year binging on Proust. Spending this year binging on newer releases I missed out on. Would recommend using Goodreads to find something akin to your likes; it's helped me out a fair bit.

Currently working on the Gentleman Bastard series, Scott Lynch as something enjoyable. Would recommend if you're into a grittier sort of fantasy; he's quite good at atmosphere. And his cursing is better than mine, I'm jealous.

I've been reading The Dark Elf Trilogy as of late, by R.A. Salvatore. The trilogy is one of a few trilogies that follow the story of a drow (dark elf) named Drizz't Do'Urden. Originally I started with book 1 like a year ago, but I got some spare cash last month and went to buy the other 2 books. However I couldn't get them separately at the time. They were only selling the 25th anniversary edition, which had the entire trilogy, so I bought that instead. Quite a fortuitous buy if I do say so myself. The Forgotten Realms is a fantastic series of books, despite the fact that I have only read one trilogy. Next in line is The Icewind Dale trilogy, which I expect will be just as good, if not better than, what I've already read. I highly recommend any of the trilogies in the series if you like fantasy books or are a fan of such games as Baldur's Gate & Neverwinter Nights.

RATING:

Glad this topic is getting active again.  After finishing the Dune trilogy and reading about Frank Herbert and the other sci-fi writers of the time, I've decided that I'm going to read every joint Hugo/Nebula award winner.  Next up is Ender's Game.

Totally forgot about this topic. Thanks (again) Laurentus for sparking it back up. 

It's convenient as well, because I just last week finished a book I really enjoyed, even if it was kind of a lighter read from what I normally dive in to. It was "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir, as I say not what I'd normally read, but I got it as a gift from someone, so I thought I should give it a chance and I was pleasantly surprised

It's easy to compare "An Ember in the Ashes" to "The Hunger Games" for some reason, I think it is that they are both classes as "teen fiction" but having read both I would say Ember is superior in many regards, though I suppose it is subjective.

I really enjoyed the themes and setting (it being a semi-fantasy setting) both of which are very rarely explored in books of this genre, I also found the characters far more relatable and real than I usually encounter. It seems to take great effort in nothing being black and white in the grand scheme of things, which I always like as a concept.

Anyway I may just be regarding it so highly due to it defying my initial expectations, but whatever the reason I will definatly recommend this

On a side note while I personally haven't listened to the audio book someone I know has and they said the performance was excellent, audio books aren't always my thing but I can imagine that could be a big plus for some people

Robin Hobb's work actually appeals to people who normally don't like fantasy, because the emphasis is on the characters, not the overall plot. You'll find the characters both despicable and lovely at the same time, and there is never a truly "evil" character. The protagonist in 8 of the books is a callous assassin who often kills without remorse and doesn't restrict this killing to so-called "bad guys", and yet you can't help but root for the bastard as he does his best to protect his kingdom and his family from ever increasing danger.

Spent last year binging on Proust. Spending this year binging on newer releases I missed out on. Would recommend using Goodreads to find something akin to your likes; it's helped me out a fair bit.

Currently working on the Gentleman Bastard series, Scott Lynch as something enjoyable. Would recommend if you're into a grittier sort of fantasy; he's quite good at atmosphere. And his cursing is better than mine, I'm jealous.

Proust is an over-descriptive, rambling madman. Never could get into him.

Proust is an over-descriptive, rambling madman. Never could get into him.

Book snobs are fun.

They also have their use.