Recommend me a good book.

[Infra-Man]

I'd recommend If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino, which is a whimsical book about the nature of books and readers. It's not really much like Chabon's work -- the sentences are nowhere near as agile and character is secondary to the twists and turns -- but it's a good read. If you like that, I'd also recommend the less whimisical but still great New York Trilogy by Paul Auster and Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

And if you like Christopher Moore, then Tom Robbins, Isaac Adamson, and Douglas Coupland might all be worth picking up.

[Joshua Pantalleresco]

The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. Awesome science fiction that doesn't dwell too much on the science of things, yet still has enough science and wonder that makes Sci Fi great. The second half of the Cantos is really moving stuff. It's honestly worth a look.

JP

[Edman]

on the road - kerouac (unlocks the fascinating world of the beats)
a confederacy of dunces - toole (easy read, laugh-out-loud funny at places)
man in the high castle - dick (previously mentioned here, good starting point for this guy's amazing bibliography)
hundred years of solitude - garcia marquez (can get confusing with the names, but the ending is mindblowingly brilliant)
crying of lot 49 - pynchon (a convenient 120 page introduction to my favourite living writer)
unbearable lightness of being - kundera (philosophy wrapped in a love story)

and do read to kill a mockingbird. sensational book.

[ToxicTeen]

Too Good to be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends - I love reading about urban legends.
The Ulimate Hitchiker's Guide - A very funny & interesting sci-fi book.
The Darwin Awards

[Rabid Trekkie]

I agree with Buzz about Bester as an author, but I'd suggest The Demolished Man instead. Why that hasn't been made into a movie I don't understand. Great characters, plenty of cool sci-fi action, summer blockbuster pacing, and it makes you think.

[Cyke]

Currently, I'm reading Gilligan's Wake, by Tom Carson. The book imagines what Gilligan and the other castaways were doing in the 40s and 50s prior to that fateful tour.

But what really sells me on the book is how amazingly deep each of their backstories, with the book garnering parallels to Thomas Pynchon. Caricatures from a rather poor TV show are given great backgrounds and actually connects some actors to previous roles, TV shows, and important figures of the day, most of whom play significant supporting roles. Among the big ones:

--'Gilligan's' real name as Maynard Krebs, his character from Dobie Gillis
--the Skipper commanded a PT boat at a dock along with fellow skippers McHale from McHale's Navy and JFK, with a mention of Sgt. Bilko
--Thurston Howell got Alger Hiss his first job
--Mrs. Howell was a friend of Daisy Buchanan from the Great Gatsby

It's a fun revisionist novel with a great, mature insight into some legends. Seven characters that were made to be throwaway jokes on a one-shot TV show instead get some great treatment with new perspective.

[Solaris]

For type # 2 you mentioned, go with David Weber's "Mutineer's Moon." A good bit less technobabble than in his Honor Harrington books, and you won't find a finer portrayer of character and gripping situations out there. The book starts off at light speed: you begin right in the middle of a mutiny.

I love his Honor series, and it's got some great characterizations etc. too... but for someone wanting something fast-paced, immediately gripping, great characters, and not too much tech---MM is the book I ALWAYS recommend. (BTW, it was recently re-published with it's two companion books of the trilogy in one large book, titled "Empire from the Ashes." MM is the first. Oh, and the 3rd book has some awesome depiction of what musket and cannon battlefields were like (it's on a lower tech level planet). That's the only spoiler I'll give away, but the final book in the trilogy is a must-read just for that. :))

I recommend checking at a used book store, either for "Mutineer's Moon" or the 3-in-1 "Empire from the Ashes." I've seen both in used book stores. You might find them in a regular bs, but if you don't, check the used stores.

Another book you might be interested in is Anne McCaffrey's "To Ride Pegasus." It's set in near-modern times on Earth, and it's about the emergence and verification of "Talents" (people with psychic skills like telepathy, telekinesis, etc.). This first book (she went on to write many more about Talents, if you're interested) is actually a collection of four short stories... but it also gives the beginnings of the series. Again, some good characterization.

I personally prefer good characterization over anything else. Yes, a book needs to have good plot, interesting elements, not too much predictability or stupidity from the characters and plot... but if the characters don't interest me or seem too 2-dimensional, a book will lose me.

[Trey]

Just finished Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy: The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God, and would heartily recommend it.

Alternatively, classics like Frank Herbert's Dune or the Thomas Covenant novels of Stephen Donaldson never pale. Or if you fancy something more contemporary, there's Neal Asher, Jon Courtenay Grimwood - or you could check out Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson.

Neal Asher rules! try The Skinner.