Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Journey of Souls by Dr. Michael Newton
Trinity by Leon Uris

I used to read a lot, mostly horror. I recommend Clive Barker's Weaveworld. It's a great book.
I also used to read Robert R. McCammon.

Ernest Cline - Ready Player One
Andy Weir - The Martian
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game (and also Ender's Shadow)

Pick up a copy of The Kid Stays In the Picture by Robert Evans. Read the first 100 pages and I dare you to put it down!

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Have you read the new Ender prequels? They're fantastic! The second trilogy has started.

Based on Bryson, I'd recommend Daniel J. Boorstin, the Discoverers (not funny like Bryson, but incredibly interesting perspectives on the expansion of human knowledge)

Louis de Bernieres' magical realism trilogy (The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord, and the Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman). He has the best comic timing since PG Wodehouse and does magical realism better than Allende or García Marquez.

I really like classic literature more than modern stuff. Also I am able to get through a lot more titles by listening to audiobook recordings in my vehicle. I do lots of driving which includes going on 1600+ mile round trip for pinball machines. Some titles I really like are:

The Great Gatsby
The Jungle
Robinson Crusoe
Nineteen Eighty-Four & Animal Farm
Moby Dick
Lord of the Flies
Hound of the Baskervilles
Sherlock Holmes short stories
Around the World in 80 Days
Treasure Island
Huckleberry Finn & Tom Sawyer
The Red Badge of Courage
Call of the Wild & White Fang
Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit
The Old Man and the Sea

Anything from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.....Pendergast series.....

An eccentric Albino FBI agent, Solving well written thrillers that my wife is even hooked on.

They made a poor movie out of the book Relic, but the characterless are phenomenal, and not
cookie cutter, or gotcha mystery.....

NY Times bestsellers every release, they stand alone in the way they write.

Historical Fiction mixed with Adventure.....Raise the Titanic, the Merrimac found in Africa,
would be light reading, but great....Anything from Clive Cussler......Dirk Pitt Novels....

anything by P.D. James is excellent.

If you liked "IT", it's hard to go wrong with almost any of Stephen King's books. I've read 75% of his catalog so far. The Stand is probably his best. Dark Tower series is a bit hit and miss for people, but great in places (most of his other books tie in to this story somehow). I thought 11/22/63 was fantastic. The Bill Hodges trilogy is recent and not bad.

Since you're posting on a video game forum, how about "Ready Player One"? I read it recently and it's full of 80s video game references.

Most of Brandon Sanderson's works are good if you like fantasy. Wheel of Time is nice if you can handle something like 13000 pages in total and a couple rough books in the middle of the series. (Robert Jordan died near the end of writing this series, Sanderson finished it off using Jordan's notes).

I kept getting Ready Player One recommended to me and boy, I hated it. It's like an unironic version of American Psycho where Bateman takes down a cyber villain who wants to destroy the stock market. It's just a list of pop culture references draped over a collection of the worst traits in cyberpunk - at least Neuromancer is creative and moody.

Oh it's not life-changing by any means. I just picked it up seeing it in the best sellers on Amazon list. Being a child of the 80s, it was an interesting trip down memory lane. I've already forgotten most of the story including how it ended though. It had the potential to be something better than it was.

I finally read my first earlier this year, Jurassic Park. Just read it because of my past experiences with the pinball game. Not a movie buff, so never watched the movie. It was decent I guess. I picked up 2 more of his books at goodwill a few weeks back. Hoping they are better to be honest.

Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, his books are funny as heck!

Those are good choices. I also liked David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Then also, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.

I think I was just frustrated by the roteness of the narrative and the utterly blasé list of references passing itself off as clever, especially given the actual potential for cleverness and creativity shown in the premise.

Hillbilly Elegy

Command and Control Eric Schlosser

American Heiress Jeffrey Toobin

The Secret History of Wonder Woman Jill Lepore

Wild Tales Graham Nash

Society's Child Janis Ian

My Father The Pornographer Chris Offutt

The Kindness Diaries Leon Logothetis

The Burglary Betty Mesger

Of these, Command And Control is probably the best although all of them were good.

I've been meaning to check that one out, Dennis. I've heard good about it. Thanks for the reminder.

Hard to put down once you start reading it. My wife is reading it now and she is also hooked.

Confessions of a d list supervillian series by jim bernheimer is pretty good

Off to be the wizard series by scott meyer

If you haven't already encountered Frank Herbert's "Dune", it is certainly a worthwhile read. I revisit it every decade or so.

I second the recommendation for "Trinity" by Leon Uris.

Riffing on your "Zen and the Art of..." reference, I might suggest Kerouac's "Dharma Bums", and Matthiessen's "The Snow Leopard."

Third vote for Ender's Game

A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett
Flight of the Horse by Larry Niven
King David's Spaceship by Jerry Pournelle
Footfall by Niven and Pournelle
The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything by John D MacDonald
The Book of Swords Series by Fred Saberhagen
The Dracula Series by Fred Saberhagen
The Odd Thomas Series by Dean Koontz
The Camel Club Series by David Baldacci

I could go on and on. I have over 600 novels by 104 different authors.

Nice thread, books are my second favourite hobby
I was quite impressed by 'The Hike' by Drew Margary. Very intense and crazy!

Also enjoyed his first book 'The Postmortal' a thrilling thought experiment: death is overcome by vaccination, how does that affect society?

Cheers
Ben

A friend of mine just wrote this, I'm about halfway through it and will finish it up at the shore next week. Also Joe Bageant! *.*

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Check out The Red Rising Trilogy....it's a mixture of hunger games, Enders games, and other dystopian future. I couldn't put them down. 4/5 stars

Mark Kurlansky (non fiction) I think "Salt" is his best
Neal Stephenson (fiction, speculative)
Robert Heinlein (fiction, sci-fi)
James Crumley (fiction, hard boiled)
James A. Michener (fiction, historic)

"The Forever War" Joe Haldeman
"Old Man's War" John Scalzi
"Moveable Feats The History, Science, and Lore of Food" Gregory McNamee
"Botany of Desire" Michael Pollan
"Ishamael" Daniel Quinn

Command & control is the scariest book I have ever read, damn.

Endurance was amazing
https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Extraordinary-Daniel-Bryce-ebook/dp/B00RYRS4XC

Ohh geeezuz, i've read literally 100's of books over the years, possibly well over a 1000. I was a voracious reader in my younger years, consumed Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit when i was in my early teens. I have found that my tastes have changed through the decades, mostly enjoyed fantasy and sci-fi earlier on but in more recent times i have read a lot of war history and other non fiction. I will get back to you with a list of gooduns

Excellent recommendation! What a great book...

(also a huge Neal Stephenson fan over here)

So my list would include these..
Stephen King - The Stand (horror)
Robert R McCammon - Stinger (horror)
Julian May - Saga of Pliocene exile (sci-fi)
Arthur C Clarke - Rama series (sci-fi)
Jean M Auel - Earth's Children Series (fiction)
Arthur C Clarke - Odyssey Series (sci-fi)
in fact most of his novels are fantastic and a special mention for - The Ghost from The Grand Banks.
Parke Goodwin - Waiting for the Galactic Bus (sci-fi)
Stephen R Donaldson - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (fantasy)
Peter Fitzsimmons - Charles Kingsford Smith and those magnificent men (biography)
Anything by Peter actually, one of my favourite Australian authors
Carole Baxter - The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller (biography)
And when i just want a damn good laugh ANYTHING by Robert Rankin with a special mention for - The Brentford Trilogy (in 7 books ) and The Armageddon series.

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I wish Everyone would read Ishmael.....

An eye opening book, Nebula winner, I believe, that starts off with a Newspaper ad....
"Student wanted, must be willing to save the Planet"

Brilliant Read!

BTW, Ishmael, is a Gorilla, the main character.

Stephen King's Needful Things is excellent :applause:I'm a huge horror fan so I have everyone of his books up until to the late 90s

Quickie, Stephen King lives on the North End of Casey Key, Florida.
Bumped into him a couple times at Publix Supermarket....Kind enough to say hello, and chat a few minutes.

If I can only get him to invite me to his house or cornfield!

Great list.

Two Years Before The Mast

Any and all Steinbeck

Michener - Alaska and Hawaii.

Asimov - Read the entire Foundation/Robot series in chronological order

Any and all Dune

I also really like everything by William Gibson, Neuromancer is the classic there but they are all good

These are the two scariest books I have ever read. True stories. If these 2 books don't make you practically faint from sweat you have nerves of steel.

Into Thin Air

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors

The Stephen King book that got me the most: Misery. The part where she.... you know, she.... AAGGHHH

I could barely stand to read it. Well, I'm not saying it here. No spoilers.

A Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones is book one) by George R. R. Martin.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Frsnkenstein by Mary Shelley

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I love this book series and I'm currently on my second read through, but I personally don't recommend anyone start these unless Martin finishes the series. "The Winds of Winter" is years behind with a "possibly 2018" release date. Then after that he still has "A Dream of Spring". I don't think he'll ever finish them.

I cast another vote for The Dark Tower - King's magnum opus. Though by no means exhaustive, a few must reads (for me) are as follows:

The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)
Anything by Vonnegut (Breakfast of Champions at minimum)
Walden (Thoreau)
Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky)
Cathedral (a collection of short fiction by Raymond Carver)
Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)
A Clockwork Orange (Burgess)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde)
Waiting for Godot (a play by Samuel Beckett)
Leaves of Grass - Deathbed Edition (Whitman)
Marry Me (Updike)
The Stranger (Camus)
Shakespeare's Hamlet

What other interests do you have?

Is the book for R & R?, Knowledge?, Non-Fiction?

BTW, I love this thread and seeing what you guys are reading or have read.
I have now about a dozen books to add...Thanks!

Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror
Anything by Douglas Adams(Hitchhiker's Guide and Dirk Gently at the top)
The Laundry Files series by Charles Stross (BOFH meets Cthulhu Mythos)
The Polity series by Neil Asher
Another vote for Stephen King. IMO, the best opening for a novel was from the Gunslinger, and the best ending was from It.
Clive Barker's stuff from the 80s and early 90s. (Scarlet Gospels was just meh for me; "The Great and Secret Show" is a masterpiece, IMO)
Neil Gaiman. <--- Everything from this man, but "American Gods" and "Anansi Boys" are books I keep rereading
My all time favorite fantasy book is a little riff on LotR, except with cats, "Tailchaser's Song" by Tad Williams. I reread this on a yearly basis.
God's Demon by Wayne Barlowe
William Gibson's cyberpunk books(Neuromancer, etc)
The Death Gate series by Weiss and Hickman
The Wheel of Time series by Jordan
Last but not least(since I could just post all of my favorites from goodreads all day):
The Dresden Files by Jim butcher

General Fiction
I'm currently reading "An Association of Small Bombs" by Karan Mahajan
The Martian by Andy Weir
Night Film by Pessl

Nonfiction
The Invisible Gorilla - Chabris, Christopher
Hot Zone - Preston
Shadow Divers - Kurson
Pretty much all of Richard Dawkins' books
Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin (and the sequel, the name of which escapes me right now)

I have a lot more to add, but that's from the top of my head.

I forgot about that one! Fantastic!

Absolutely

Hemingway is always a good read

Sun Also Rises
A Farewell to Arms
For Whom the Bell Tolls
To Have and Have Not
Old Man and the Sea
short stories

Moby Dick, by Herman Melville.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Good Omens! How could I forget...

His parents run in the same Mennonite circles I used to be a part of. I had the chance to meet him once but it didn't pan out... Great books though.

I think Sci Fi is well covered here....its almost endless.
I personally choose what I call Plausible Sci Fi...I grew out of wanting to read and start
a new vocabulary of names and planets and weapons.

Ive enjoyed Time Travel.

Time after Time
Time Camera
Time Police series, Poul Anderson.

The Gladwell choice is interesting, where you want to see something from a different angle.

Would your choices include Historical....The New stuff on Columbus, Pompeii, Turn of the century?
or more sociological, current views on ideas?

I tend to read into "different views" books quite a bit, but stay away from Aliens, Conspiracy stuff,
but thats a whole different read....

Anyone have books along Gladwells Genre I can add to my list?

Absolutely! 'The ocean at the end of the lake' is a fantastic book, of course 'Anansi boys' and 'American gods'
If you like Gaiman and Stephenson (i read through 'Seveneves' in about three days) you will love Drew Margary!
Cheers