Recently finished all the current
Song of Ice and Fire books. Looking forward to the next one. Before that I read:
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - The book the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games were loosely based on. A strange story and I think I was expecting more but enjoyable nonetheless.
Wasp Factory by Iain Banks which I greatly enjoyed.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut which was short but pleasant. So easy to read.
Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin - My introduction to Martin, I liked even the most foul characters but then he is good at that. It's about vampires and steam boats.
I've not read many stories that span multiple books for some reason. The exceptions besides
Song of Ice and Fire include:
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (and
The Hobbit)
Dune by Frank Herbert (but not any of his son's)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently series by Douglas Adams
The Dark Tower by Stephen King
All but the last hold a really special place in my heart. The last was fun while it lasted but my memory of it isn't so vivid.
I went through a phase of reading lots of dystopian or apocalyptic novels. The ones that stood out to me:
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Island by Aldous Huxley
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
The Death of Grass by Samuel Youd
I also have a soft spot for Hunter S. Thomson but for some reason haven't read
Hell's Angels yet.
Rum Diaries and
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are both great.
I get the feeling I'm missing something.
Right now I'm reading
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. I'm struggling some with having 42+ characters introduced at the same time all with Japanese names. Then again I don't think English names would help much.
I dont read a lot of books but i liked The Alchemist.
I'd imagine you mean the one by Paulo Coelho? If so it came highly recommended and I got given a copy but it didn't do anything for me. I grew up around people pushing the same message and I guess I was just sick of it. From what I understand I'm a freak for not liking it
.