First off, I’m gonna drop some non-anglophone writers on you, so be wary of bad translations. When you get them though, you will understand why Charles Stross is pushing them in his recommendations.

Numbah one, a Russian classic: “Master and Margherita” by Mikhail Bulgakov. This is some classic shit, from a classic writer and will teach you about the weird reality that existed east of the Iron Curtain.

Numbah two, a childrens classic: “Ronia the Robber’s Daughter” by Astrid Lindgren. I read this thing a long time ago, but a recent recap by a room mate convinces it’s one of the best childrens books out there.

And as we’re already on kids lit (which is fantastic. You know it.): “Momo” by Michel Ende. You know, the guy who wrote “Neverending Story”. I like this book even better.

Oh, and check out Eleanor Farjeon. She’s English, she writes cool faery tales.

Mmmm, what else? Oh! Anything and everything by the Strugastky brothers, but especially “Hard to be a God” and “Monday Begins on Saturday”. Old school Russian sci-fi and fantasy. Must see.

And because I have to drop some Polish in every comment I make here (and at Stoney’s journal. She know what I’m talking bout): Stanislaw Lem. I think you should start with “Mortal Engines” – it’s a collection of sci-fi faery tales and it is mind-boggingly cool. Then go wherever you want, but the short stories are the coolest.

You can also check out the “Witcher” short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski. Don’t check out the books: they are shit and undeserving of the praise that is heaped upon them.

And if you want some absolute world class classics: Henryk Sienkiewicz’s “The Teutonic Knights” (his most accessible historic novel) and Joseph Conrad’s (Polish author writing in English) “Lord Jim”… or, you know, “Heart of FUCKING Darkness”.

Just finished Antonio Perez-Reverte’s “The Queen of the South” (in English translation). I usually don’t go for anything set in the last 100 years (I like my historical fiction or my hard sci-fi) but this is modern-day drug queenpin in Spain, and it’s the third thing I’ve read by him but my favourite so far (the others being “The Club Dumas” and “The Nautical Chart”). This now means I’m going to be learning Spanish to read them in their original language. This man’s writing is CRACK.

Drive, by James Sallis

Don’t know how you feel about the espionage genre, but the Len Deighton triptych of trilogies featuring everyman spy Bernard Samson is great, start to finish. There’s trilogy one, Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match. There’s triology two, Spy Hook, Spy Line, Spy Sinker. There’s trilogy three, Faith, Hope and Charity. And there’s one more book of backstory — Winter.

So if you want one book, try Berlin Game. And if you like it (I’ll bet you a bottle of cock sauce you will) then you got nine more books to go.

@Dan:

While not a fan of espionage, per se, I’ve always liked what I’ve read — as I say, good is good, no matter the genre. I’ll read romance if it isn’t utter pants.

– c.

I don’t know if you’re even remotely a Star Wars fan, Chuck. If you are I have to recomend the Thrawn trilogy (“Heir to the Empire”, “Dark Force Rising”, and “The Last Command”). I read the entire trilogy in a day I loved them so much. I know it’s not highbrow super-reading, but they’re awesome.

OUTLANDER, Diana Gabaldon.

Hard to classify by genre: it’s got elements of dramatic novels, romance fiction, sci-fi/fantasy (since there’s time travel involved) and historical fiction (since there’s time travel involved). It’s the first book of a series, but the story can stand on its own. It’s fairly obvious how much research into the chosen time period Ms. Gabaldon did prior to writing the story, and it’s a highly enjoyable read.

@Amy:

Drive. Cool. Wuzzit? Why the rec?

– c.

The Arsene Lupin short stories are pretty entertaining, and fast reads. You can usually get some decent translations from Project Gutenberg.

Also, Warren Ellis’ novel “Crooked Little Vein” was a fast little read for me.

@Maggie: Too late! Already read it. Liked it.

@Paul: Too late! Already read ‘em. Loved ‘em.

– c.

My comment got eaten. I’ll email it.

Well, screw you too, buddy! I demand that you erase all knowledge of that book from your head, and then reread it so I can have done as you asked and recommended a book for you. Right now, mister!

Otherwise, uh…

… Wait. Didn’t we do this for you a day or so ago? When you asked for totemic literature from our bookshelves?

Try INKHEART by Cornelia Funke. It’s marketed as YA/Child Fantasy, but it’s about as YA as Harry Potter is.

Or did you read that one too?

The Blade Itself (first of a trilogy that I also totally recommend. Joe Abercrombie. http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Itself-First-Law-Book/dp/159102594X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

A… well, okay, a fantasy story, I guess. It doesn’t *feel* like it, but I suppose it is. Manages to mix some very nice characterization, good action, and epic scope with (at the same time) tendons-in-the-teeth low fantasy.

It feels a bit like a story about Conan’s much-less-lucky cousin.

I dunno. Pick it up in the bookstore and read five pages. If it doesn’t hook you, I’d be surprised, but there it is. I enjoyed the second one even more, and I’m almost dreading the third.

Have you read The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns? That was a good read for me.

Just finished “Same Kind Of Different As Me” . It’s a true story written by two men who have very different backgrounds and fortunes, but eventually share a lot of experiences and lessons. It’s difficult to describe.

Ill Wind, Book 1 of the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine. You’ll feel like you’re on a tornado on this puppy. 1st person, fast paced, twist and turns, demons, djinn, fast cars, fubar situations and more.

http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Wind-Weather-Warden-Book/dp/0451459520/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271516266&sr=1-1

Will warn you up front, Rachel is a Cliff Hanger Queen. But I promise you you won;t be able to set this 1st puppy down. I didn’t. Heh heh.

I’m not sure what you’re looking for, but a couple books I couldn’t put down:
Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. epic story about magic, music, and lost legends. First in a trilogy (others aren’t out yet)

Medallon, by Jennifer Fallon. Story about a girl and a battle vs the gods. First in a trilogy as well, but this one’s released.

@Gloria I couldn’t put down the first 6, but I haven’t grabbed 7 yet. It was a very enjoyable series though. Read all of them inside of a week.

@Doyce: I second the Abercrombie series. Just finished them (and the stand-alone Best Served Cold). Seriously good stuff.

@Chuck: Another fantasy series that doesn’t really feel like fantasy, and perhaps my favorite genre series to date: The Black Company by Glen Cook. Yes, there’s magic, but it’s more environmental than shooting fireballs out of sphincters.

The first three books the “Books of the North” are self-contained and you need read nothing more. There are however another 6 or so in the series, but they have a different voice and sometimes feel like a completely different series. Still good, but not the awesome-sauce that the first three are.

You people are fast.

@Maggie — I asked a similar question, sure. Here I’m not looking for transcendence or “books that made you who you are,” but rather, just good reads. Doesn’t need to be an author you love, but just a book you can’t put down.

– c.

novels;

Stone Junction- Jim Dodge, my fave.

Ice Harvest- Scott Phillips

comics;

the first collected volume of SCALPED (i think its called “indian country”), the PARKER adaptation, or ASTERYIOS POLYP.

Non-fiction;

Killing Yourself To Live by the other Chuck (Klosterman)

@Gloria: That book sounds very much like something I could sink my teeth into.

@Doyce: Sadly, I picked up that Joe Abercrombie book and read… maybe halfway through before it ended up as one of those books I mercilessly clipped. I liked it; I really did. He writes a *cracking* good book. But the characters failed to engage me; I kind of… didn’t like them very much? As a result, I’m very interested in the author — less so in that particular series. I don’t think it was a bad book. It just wasn’t a book for me at that time.

– c.

I’m going to dare to stretch my comic-geek funny bones a bit. For a quirky mix of satire and good cop vs. bad cop pseudo espionage check out the first volume of CHEW: Tasters Choice. http://heavyink.com/graphic_novel/15820-Chew-Vol-1-Tasters-Choice

Just a thought. Going back under my flagstone now.

@Stringer –

Yeah, I’ve heard good stuff about ASTERYIOUS POLYP. Deep good.

Read ICE HARVEST, loved it.

Will look into other stuff.

@Everybody — Dang, you’re all like book-recommending ninjas.

– c.

One book? Hmm…

Well I am a HUGE Cyberpunk fan, and my favorite book from that genre is definitely a toss up between Neuromancer and Snow Crash, but if I had to pick one, I’d go with Snow Crash.

@Echo –

Snow Crash is one of those books I’ve read and loved many times.

– c.

Damn, Chuck, there’s just too many I would push into your hands, but here are some recent reads I think you would like:

The complete drive-in by Joe Lansdale, 3 of the best horror/sf/crime/satires ever written, and reprinted for the first time in twenty some odd years.

Patient Zero by Johnathan Maberry, another genre bender, part horror/crime/sf, extremely well written

A Choice of Nightmares by Lynn Kostoff, part Elmore Leonard, part Jim Thompson style noir

Expiration Date by Duane Swiercznyski, yet another genre bender and one of the best novels to published this year

Wake Up Dead by Roger Smith, another one of the best straight crime novels published this year

And I’d push Drive by Jim Sallis into your hands as well. It’s hardboiled poetry, one of the great novels of the genre.

For some graphic novel recommends I say ‘Preacher’ by Garth Ennis art by Steve Dillon. I also would go with two Warren Ellis selections. ‘Planetary’ with art by John Cassaday. And ‘Transmetropolitan’ with art by Derrick Robertson.

@Keith — Good choices. I own the Maberry (he’s local), haven’t read it. I’ve read… everything by Lansdale, I think (he’s one of my Writing Totems). Everything else: excellent. (Oh! And I’ve got Exp Date on order.)

@Zachary: Read alla’ those, loved ‘em.

– c.

Puh-leeze. Books are like chips. You can’t have just one.

Oldies but Creepy Eternals:
They Thirst by Robert McCammon.
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson.
Dark Visions by Maxine O’Callaghan (that’ll be hard to find and you can NOT have my signed copy!)

High Fantasy:
Jericho Moon by Matthew Woodring Stover
Hawkmistress by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Just finished Devices and Desires by KJ Parker:

Orsea was quiet for a while. “Strange,” he said. “Where I come from, we organize the things to suit the people, or we try to; it doesn’t usually work out as well as we’d like but we do our best. You organize the people to suit the things. By the sound of it, you do it very well, but surely it’s the wrong way round.”

Ziani looked at him. “I guess I’d be more inclined to agree wtih you,” he said, “If you’d won your battle. But you didn’t.”

Ziani, a weapons engineer for a country that revolves around perfection, is sentenced to death when inspectors discover that he’s made unpermitted improvements to several Specifications (which are believed to be perfect, within a specified tolerance). He escapes and starts a series of events in order to return to his wife. Pain and dilemmas of Shakespearean levels ensue. Redefines “character driven” as a terrible machine.

I was able to put it down, but I wouldn’t have been able to five years ago. I’m so much more disciplined than I used to be.

Chuck -

Drive is a kick ass neo-noir novel about a stunt driver who moonlights as a get-away driver. He ends up with a contract on his life and all hell breaks loose. It’s a super-quick read (158 ages) that sucks you in from the first line.

Here’s a linky/review: http://www.noexit.co.uk/titles.php/itemcode/313

And from Publishers Weekly:
“I drive. That’s what I do. All I do.” So declares the enigmatic Driver in this masterfully convoluted neo-noir, which ranges from the dive bars and flyblown motels of Los Angeles to seedy strip malls dotting the Arizona desert. A stunt driver for movies, Driver finds more excitement as a wheelman during robberies, but when a heist goes sour, a contract is put on his head and his survival skills burn up the pavement. Author of the popular six-novel series set in New Orleans featuring detective Lew Griffin (The Long-Legged Fly, etc.) and such stand-alone crime novels as Cypress Grove, Sallis won’t disappoint fans who enjoy his usual quirky literary stylings. Reading a crime paperback, Driver covers “a few more lines till he fetched up on the word desuetude. What the hell kind of word was that?” Lines such as “Time went by, which is what time does, what it is” provide the perfect existential touch. In this short novel, expanded from his story in Dennis McMillan’s monumental anthology Measures of Poison, Sallis gives us his most tightly written mystery to date, worthy of comparison to the compact, exciting oeuvre of French noir giant Jean-Patrick Manchette.”
http://tinyurl.com/y77b4lc

I know this may be going back a way (and with you being who you are, you’ve probably already read it) but lately I have been wanting go back and read Clan Novel: Setite. Kathleen Ryan wrote it, and I thought it was by far the best of the series. I’ve always been really, really critical about the V: tM novels (I think Prince of the City and the Masquerade of the Red Death were the only previous ones I enjoyed), but I really dug the story about Hesha.

Then again, it could have just been that I dug Kathleen Ryan. I freaking adored all her chapter openings in the old Mage 2nd books. And I dig Setites.

Setites are good people. Once you get to know them.

For graphic novels, I’d give “Unwritten” by Mike Carey a try. Admittedly, it’s an ongoing series, but the first collected volume just came out and it’s really, REALLY good. The last issue scared the everliving crap out of me. And it was based off of Winnie the Pooh.

Also, Goebels and Frankenstein’s Monster.

You’ve not read good fantasy fiction until you’ve read City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer . . .

Perhaps, you already know this. Hints of noir, metafiction, just a sliver of Lovecraftian madness and Poeish gothicness . . . but done in an inimitable style.

Here is a link . . . http://www.amazon.com/City-Saints-Madmen-Jeff-Vandermeer/dp/0553383574/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271519516&sr=8-1

That’s what I get for typing earlier in the morning before tea… it’s Arturo Perez-Reverte, not Antonio.

Also — full of love for Simon R Green’s “Nightside” books. They’re like popcorn, and if you read quickly you’ll go through the series in a week or two, but I absolutely can’t put them down once I get one in hand.

I have a new translation of Crime & Punishment in my bag for an upcoming road trip. I have hopes it’s as good as I remember.

The last book that impressed my pants off was White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi.

Hmm. While I can suggest no shortage of *good* books, I’m actually going to suggest a pulpy read: “Child of Fire” by Harry Connoly. It’s on the horror/action end of urban fantasy, it started strong and kept going enough to be done in two sittings. Also, It delighted me by having horrors out of time and space that were palpably horrible, not abstractly Lovecraftian.

I picked it up to kill time waiting for the new Dresden, and now I’m annoyed to have to wait for the sequel in august.

-Rob D.

I think that I have to recommend Kushiels Dart by Jacqueline Carey as one of those books that stick to your hands. Possibly too much, but that’s what wet naps are for.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND BOOKS, I RECOMMEND SERIES. Mostly because I read too fast for single books to interest me overmuch.

>>Bartimaeus Trilogy – Jonathan Stroud. First book: The Amulet of Samarkand. British alternate universe with magicians in control of the government, though not like Harry Potter at all.

>>The Last Apprentice – Joseph Delaney. First book: Revenge of the Witch. Dark, spooky, excellent for reading around Halloween in particular.

>>Keys to the Kingdom – Garth Nix. First book: Mister Monday. A little bit juvenile, but fast reads, and deliciously engaging.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The first book in a long time that I couldn’t put down, and it’s got one of my favorite first sentences ever.

blink, blink.

Wow. You go see KICK-ASS for a couple hours, and you people come back and… well, appropriately enough, kick ass.

Ye gods and little fishes.

Nice work, people.

I’ll pore through these. Thanks!

– c.

@Rob D:

I’m surprised, actually, that nobody has yet recommended I try the Harry Dresden books. You recommend them, I presume?

– c.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Soviet satire that is slightly obsessed with bizarre decapitation methods. I recommend the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation, as the earlier translations either used a censored version of the original manuscript, or half-assed it and missed a lot of the word play.

@Rick:

I loved the Setite novel, actually. Didn’t love most of those, but Setite was killer.

I assume that Kathleen Ryan is not the same as Kathleen A Ryan, crime writer?

http://www.blogger.com/profile/10809993168019150186

– c.

Man, I love that this is so wildly across the board in recommendations. JUST AS I DESIGNED Moo hoo ha ha.

…ahem.

@Yvonne: You should be assured that I’ve read They Thirst (many a time) and The Keep, but Dark Visions… mmm. Need to look into that.

– c.

“One Dimensional Man”, Herbert Marcuse.

Brad:

Diggit. But wuzzit? Why that book?

And thanks for the suggestion!

– c.

I think I we talked about Bird by Bird. It’s funny, you might like it and it goes SUPER fast. It’s a bathroom reader.

The last book I couldn’t put down was Jim Hines Stepsister Scheme. I don’t know that it’d be to your tastes, but you never know. (I’ve liked other books since, but that’s the only one I’m actively ignored my children to read in a long time.)

I’ve heard mixed reviews of STEPSISTER SCHEME — the premise is killer, though. Might need to get my hands on a copy.

Bird by Bird — we might even have that floating around the house.

I have Tim Pratt’s one Marla Mason novel — Blood Engines? Is that the first book? — on Kindle-for-iPhone, and love it, but it’s a pain in the dicktip to read on an iPhone. Need to buy that one. I think I found Pratt through you somehow, @Filamena?

– c.

Chuck: If you’re looking to be hooked fast, DO NOT start with the first Dresden Files book. Or the second, or the third. Start with the seventh. I know, craziness. But while the rest are increasingly good (though the first two are the worst in terms of writing quality), Dead Beat has the most bang-for-buck. It starts off at a run, and only gets better. Also, given Butcher’s Rowling-esque need to reintroduce all other characters and major backstories, you won’t be missing out on any of the important details.

As for a book I love that i think you should read, I’ll go with Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. It’s a rough, horrifying, semi-historically accurate recounting of the Glanton Gangs “adventures” along the Texas-Mexico border in 1849. Violence, philosophy, scalping, raping and pillaging. Very intense, and very worth it.

Noah

If you can find a copy, Hellspark by Janet Kagan is well worth your time. SF with good characters and, particularly, great job of describing cultures and how they interact.

If you can’t find it, though, the lastbook I devoured in one sitting was Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book.

Oh shit, or Perdido Street Station, by China Meiville. I’m almost done with this one, and it’s kicking my ass. Maybe not perfect for “grabs me in 50-100 pages” but once it gets going, the payoff is phenomenal.

Noah

Graveyard Book, got it.

And start with the… seventh Dresden Files book? Really?

Huh.

I’ve heard nothing but awesomeness re: Blood Meridian.

– c.

(Read and loved Perdido — the setting is what grabbed me there.)

A non-fiction book for a change of pace:

The 48 laws of power
By Robert Greene

A thick book of rules for the ebb and flow of power and interpersonal dynamics. With neat stories from the pages of history to illustrate points. Concatenates a number of political and strategic treatises from Alinsky, Machiavelli,Confucious, Sun tzu, and Clausewitz into a single volume. Ought to be re-titled: The Ventrue How-To book.

The kind of book you want to re-read once a year and get new insight from it.
The kind of book you end up loaning so often, you need a second copy.
The kind of book you end up gifting to every friend and relative you like.

Yeah. It’s that good.

Isn’t Greene also the “Art of Seduction” dude…?

– c.

(Investigating this stuff now.)

@Kieran –

CHEW sounds awesome. Or, to pun, delicious.

Mmmm.

– c.

@Paul:

BLACK COMPANY got a lot of attention from friends when I was a kid; not sure why I never read it (not always a smart one, me).

– c.

I know you asked for one, but since I’m pretty sure you won’t like either suggestion I’m making it a twofer:

- ‘The Dictionary of the Khazars’, Milorad Pavic
- ‘The Solitudes’, John Crowley

These books utterly consumed me when I read them, but I’ve rarely found anyone else that could get into them. Still, ya never know.

–
Patrick

Oh man. I can’t decide between Robert Parker’s Potshot, and Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch. Potshot was fantastic, bringing back a ton of favorite characters and giving them a chance to be badasses… and hey, it’s based on the Kurosawa film Seven Samurai. Most of Parker’s stuff is hard to put down, but Potshot was especially tough to pry out of my hands.

Night Watch, to me, has so far been the high point of Pratchett’s work, it’s one of the few books I can endlessly reread.

Name of the Wind. I think I’ve mentioned it to you before, but I also read it above. So good. The wife and I are chewing through your agent-mate, Butcher’s Codex Alera. Not high and tough, but well paced and addictive.

K

Night Watch is awesome.

I believe I have heard good things about The Solitudes.

And that makes two for Name of the Wind.

Cool.

Thanks, Glocko Pop Peeps.

– c.

Some graphic novels I couldn’t put down:

Atomic Robo by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener — A robot made by Tesla who fights various monsters & blows up lots of things. Zombies, giant bugs, a Vampire Dimension, walking pyramids, and lots of heart. Very smart writing. There are currently 3 volumes of this comic.

Mouse Guard Fall 1152 and Winter 1152 by David Petersen — This is technically a children’s book and reads really quickly. However, the story strong and awesome. It’s about brave mice who wear little capes, foil plots by fellow mice, and fight crabs, snakes, and weasels. Has legend and scope. The art is also gorgeous.

Phonogram by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie — Two volumes of this were published. About how the world of music is magic. In the first volume, a phonomancer must save his Britpop goddess, who has also cursed him.

Agents of Atlas by Jeff Parker — Two volumes of this so far. Yes, it’s a “mainstream” comic, but very 1950s kitsch and humorous. About secret agents who’s team includes a love goddess, Uranian, talking gorilla, killer robot, and a peeved Atlanian led by a secret agent who only remembers the 1950s. There’s also a dragon advisor. While stories reference larger universe, they always explain everything you need to know and keep new readers on the same page as fangirls/boys.

I disagree with the ‘start at the 7th Dresden’ suggestion. What I love best about the series is the slow progression Harry has by doing what he felt is the right thing for someone and each time he does, it snowballs into bigger and bigger piles of steaming poo he has to deal with, and each ‘do good’ slowly expands into more and more problems for those he cares about. so start with the first and watch in glee as he can’t do anything right.

As a married man, I’m sure you’ll see the parallels.

But for my one suggestion, I would say Angry Candy by Harlan Ellison. Since our tastes have always been similar, I’m sure you’ve read it though

Angry Candy — huh, no, I have not read that.

And yeah, our tastes are probably incredibly parallel, ain’t they? I’m on it.

Also: yeah, I don’t think I’d feel comfortable starting Book 7 in a series. Feels… strange.

– c.

Wait. What?

Nobody’s mentioned Heinlein yet?

Okay. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is a great sci-fi yarn that also inspired me to write due to it depicting all worlds as being the product of some writer’s imagination. It’s born out of an earlier, shorter work of his, The Number Of The Beast. Stranger in a Strange Land is a great fish-out-of-water (alien-out-of-space?) story. And Starship Troopers just loves to take the piss out of fascist meritocracies.

For harder sci-fi, I really enjoy Niven & Pournelle’s The Mote in God’s Eye. There’s also a little novel Niven wrote with some dude named Steven Barnes called Dream Park. They’re both gripping reads.

The trick with the Dresden Files books (vis a vis Start At Book X) is to remember that the first few books are him finding his feet as an author; the first book was a class project; the second was fully written before he got the publishing deal. So it’s around books 3 and 4 that I think the benefit of working with a publisher and editorial squad really start to feed back in and you can see the writer grow alongside the character. I’ve heard people say they love the series from go (I did); some say start at book 4 or 5, and if that hooks you, go back and fill in the earlier before going ahead; others say start deep into the series when Jim’s got full command of his powers. I think the point, though, is that it’s a series to be evaluated as a series rather than by a component part. If you grab one of the ones that strikes you as weak, there’s a solid chance there are many others in it which won’t.

And never forget that it’s popcorn reading, written to be popcorn reading. Urban fantasy rollercoaster territory.

I’m in the “start with #1″ camp on Dresden. Keep in mind, though, that it has a very different tone from the rest of the series. The first one is noir, the rest are just urban fantasy.

I’ll recommend the Age of Unreason series by Greg Keyes. It starts with Newton’s Cannon. It is a decidedly alternate history of the 18th Century starring, among others, a young Ben Franklin. The series as a whole is a bit uneven, but the characters in it are strong.

I’m sure you’ve run across Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko. If not, give it a read. Again, urban fantasy, but set in Russia, and very dark. I don’t know that the characters will grab you, but the plotting had me. It’s a “wheels within wheels” book.

I also always recommend To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust. It is Paradise Lost, retold from Lucifer’s point of view, and with modern fantasy novel sensibilities. Lots and lots of good stuff in there.

If you have dismissed Anita Blake, I suggest you give it another look. The whole series is currently dismissed as supernatural porn. It has become that (because Hamilton recognized that that’s what sold boatloads of copies for a lot less work). But the early books are really very good. I think the series peaks around Circus of the Damned, and you’ll want to stop with Obsidian Butterfly. Just, really, don’t read anything past that.

I was going to suggest the Watch books, but I admit that it takes a while to get going (which seemed against what Chuck was looking for in his casual reading).

@Eddy:

Wuzza? What are the Watch books?

– c.

@Lugh:

Dude, love anything Greg Keyes has written.

Seriously.

– c.

WHEN THE SACRED GINMILL CLOSES, Lawrence Block – http://bit.ly/cvJqsN

Hands down, the best book in his Matt Scudder series.

Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch, etc. Russian modern fantasy. Someone earlier expressed surprise that they weren’t recommended earlier, and while I loved them, they do take some time to get going.

@Eddy -

ooooh. Got it. Anything like the films? I saw the first film and found it… visually exciting, and narratively a confuzzled brain-bomb.

– c.

The movie was… yeah. It’s a bit of the second book, and about one-third of the first book. There’s a LOT going on that the movie doesn’t capture, but it does take a little patience to watch the situation unfold. The first books links together, but the movie is missing a few bits.

Boneshaker is the last book I read that couldn’t be put down.

Boneshaker is the last one for me, too.

The Diamond Throne by David Eddings. First book of his Elenium series. Gets going right from the start. I like his Belgariad series better, but it takes a little longer to get flowing.

Let me put you on the wild side.

Check out Toni McGee Causey’s book:

http://www.tonimcgeecausey.com/charmed1.php

This is an excerpt. Yeah, I know it’s romance, but it has punch. But I read everything. Yeah, I’m a sadist that way.

Read the excerpt, and you’ll want more.

Okay, so you might think the title is suspense-lite, like I did, but whew, I could not stop reading this one. Murder, drugs, love, visitation from the dead in dreams, family mix-up, hidden money, and more surprising to me, the lead character is a young woman and the author is an older man. Oh, and there are actually a few really good positive messages about belief and trust and doing good in the world in Her Mother’s Diary by David Curry Kahn.

I’ve generally found Jim Butcher’s books (the Dresden and Alera series) to be hard to put down. They have an anti-social habit of pinning me to my chair for the last 200 pages — which would find me at 5:30 in the morning creeping into bed with my fuming (now ex-) wife.

On the graphic novel side, these are probably on your radar already: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and the Watchmen. My preference is Miller’s work which has so much going on in it that I can re-read it incessantly and still find new insights.

For a more contemporary Graphic Novel, I was pointed in the direction of Ragmop by Rob Walton recently. I’ve only just started, so I can’t speak to full awesomeness, but I love the writing so far. Rob’s also a local, so I feel compelled to give the shout-out.

The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy

“Hawkspar” and “Vincalis the Agitator” by Holly Lisle.