New to reading

Gaz

Would you believe up until last October i had never read an entire book , apart from in school. Im 25 by the way.

Anyway, Last October i left Ireland to go travelling around the world for 15months or so , now over the last 8 months ive been on so many 10 or more hour train , plane and bus rides that to pass the time I started reading. Just something i could never get into before.

So far i have read the following,

All 5 Harry Potter books
The hobbit
Lord of the Rings
Trainspotting
Porno
Angelas Ashes
T'is
A child called It

Ive really enjoyed these books but i have no idea what to go for next , I cant say i prefer one style over the other , so im looking for some recommendations please.

nesf

For fantasy think

Light: David Gemmel
Epic(ish): Raymond E. Feist
Heavy(ish): Stephen Donaldson

Sci-f
Anything by Asimov or Arther C. Clark. Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" Trilogy is good if non-sensical in parts, or perhaps "Dune" by Frank Herbert or "Use of Weapons" by Iain M. Banks

Books that I love:
"Dead Air" by Iain Banks
"Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimon
"American Gods" by Neil Gaimon
"Magician" by Raymond E. Feist
"Foucalt's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco

Non-Fiction:
"Stalingrad" by ?? (name escapes me at the moment)
"A brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking

Hope thats a help/start/something

RE*AC*TOR

Read the Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemmingway. It a short book, but written magnificently - you'd read it in a few hours.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a book everyone should read - my favourite book.
The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien is the funniest book i've ever read. Pure Genius.

echomadman

I always loved John Steinbeck novels, for a relaxing read.
As you've covered a few of the fantasy mainstays, you might enjoy Terry Pratchett aswell, have a look around in the Discworld forum here on boards for reccomandations.

My tactic was always to wander into second hand bookshops and read a lot of blurb and buy any random book that seemed interesting.

eclectichoney

for a good non fantasty bit of fiction you could try anything by:

paul auster (unusual, quirky, well written, good plots and insights)
don de lillo (again the same aplies)
donna tartt's the secret history - fantastic read, so fast paced - steer clear of her second book the little friend, not anything as good

fragile

Give one of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett a try, chances are you'll love it and want to read the entire series

gogo

Originally posted by echomadman
I always loved John Steinbeck novels, for a relaxing read.

Great recommendation - start easy with 'The Pearl' or "Of Mice and Men' and then 'east of Eden' and The Grapes of Wrath'. Great great books, whatever your in the mood for steinbeck has it covered.

Manach

For general thought provoking science - try any collection of eassys by Stephen Jay Gould.

Micro1

For some excellant fantasy try Robin Hobb or George RR Martin. Excellant reads.

LoneGunM@n

I'd highly recommend Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum & John Grisham .... IMO they write great page turners .... but note that they aren't to everyone's tastes!!

RicardoSmith

The Terry Pratchet books are great entertainment. I don't like them all, the ones with the Guards and Death (hes a character) are the most amusing I reckon. The ones about religion, and other "serious" topic are a little too much.

If you are looking for some adventure type books try Wilbur Smith. No great literature but a good read.

"Stalingrad" by Antony Beever? Bit serious but very good. The Berlin book is great too. Learnt a lot from those books.

Personally I'm in to a lot of War stories, avation books etc. But I like decent fantasy/scfi books too. If you liked Lord of the Rings, you'll probably like the Stephen Donaldson books, Thomas Covenant series. Odd but interesting.

I love the old Biggles books. The WWI ones.