Dune by Frank Herbert
Shining and Dead Zone by Stephen King
Limes Inferior by Janusz A. Zajdel

Anything by James Rollins and Steve Alten are great books in my opinion. These guys are
two of my favorite authors.

http://www.jamesrollins.com/

http://www.stevealten.com/home.htm

Not really into fiction, but current favourite is:

1. The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade Vol. 1 (Dan Abnett & Mike Lee)

Some of my recent non-fiction favs for the past year or so (in no particular order)

1. The Spartacus War (Barry S. Strauss)
2. The Adventurist: My Life in Dangerous Places (Robert Young Pelton)
3. River Monsters: True Stories of the Ones that Didn't Get Away (Jeremy Wade)
4. Shadow of the Silk Road (Colin Thubron)
5. The Bloody White Baron: The Extraordinary Story of the Russian Nobleman Who Became the Last Khan of Mongolia (James Palmer)
6. Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do (Gabriel Thompson)
7. McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld (Misha Glenny)

The books aren't good - they're fantastic. I read the two books that were available in English before I played the game and I still found them utterly brilliant. They are really well-written (or well-translated, whatever), so well that I had trouble putting them back in the shelf and go to sleep before I'd finished them. So I didn't. A book that everyone should read. Very funny, yet towards the end also very sad. To call it a masterpiece would be an understatement.

I'd also like to recommend Roadside Picnic by Andrej and Boris Strugatsky. Basically, it's alternative sci-fi, and occasionally - especially in the very end - the philosophising is a bit difficult to get, but still. It was also the basis of Stalker, a movie that I enjoyed very much even though I'm not entirely sure why. And yes, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is also (very) loosely based on it.

A classic of Western literature, Lord of the Flies by William Golding. A close-minded person might think it's about some boys who get stuck on an island. Get all the analogies, though, and you'll realise it's about society and the nature of humanity, which is when the book starts to make sense.

Oh, and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. I don't think that one needs any introductions, so it shall not get one.

If Orwell's "the state owns everything" approach is too much for you, how about the opposite? Jennifer Government by Max Barry is a nice read. The world is far removed from the Orwellian state - in fact, corporations are allowed to run rampant and even the police and the government have become corporations of their own, selling services to customers. The style is much more casual than Orwell's, which may or may not be a bad thing.

Some classics being banded about here!

Hitch Hikers, and don't forget Dirk Gently which I always thought was much more accomplished humour.

LoTR has to be in there too

The Wasp Factory and Walking on Glass by Iain Banks and as his science fiction books, as Iain M. Banks (for those not familiar with him its the same author but he puts an M. in for sci-fi books) most notably Use of weapons. Some of his more recent works are a bit weak though, rumor is he has been pushed by his publishers for quantity rather than quality.

Complete Sherlock Holmes.

Foucalts Pendulum by Umberto Eco is outstanding too.

On the subject of Dune, its a totally weird book, I had to read it twice before I "got it" and I have no idea why I read it twice.

Codex Alera - Jim Butcher
The Seeker of Truth - Terry Goodkind
Shannara - Terry Brooks

STALKER - I need to read 'Roadside Picnic.' The games are absolutely amazing. The movie...well, it's horribly flawed in many many ways, but I adored it in all its incredibly long-winded glory. It was simply beautiful and very effecting in an abstract, nearly incomprehensible sort of way.

Lord of the Flies - I thought that the book was kind of...well...overdone. The whole "boys as a microcosm of society" allegory seemed a little ham-handed, for one thing, and the plot itself wasn't very gripping to me. Then again, it's been a good many years since I read it, and I've changed a lot in my literary tastes since then.

yeah i've been wanting to read that book ,vause I agree with u - that movie is AMAZING! and om not sure why either:) one of the best though

I like lots of books. I generally prefer doorstoppers - I want there to be room for characterization and world-building, so that when I put away the book I am still convinced the world described within exists, to a certain degree. Favorites include:

-The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan (finished by Brandon Sanderson)
-A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin
-The Dark Tower, by Stephen King
-Harry Potter, by J. K. Rowling
-The Bas-Lag Cycle, by China Miéville (Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council)
-Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson

There are many more, of course. I am currently reading Malazan Book of the Fallen (currently at book nine, Dust of Dreams), by Steven Erikson. Very melodramatic; the anthropologist-cum-author really likes to deep into stuff like the human condition and theology and what-have-you. I don't get most of it, and the poetry is nonsensical to a brute like me, but I very much enjoy the fresh perspective he brings. The history of the world spans millions of years (although the most significant events only started about 320 000 years prior to the series), with time being a recurring motif. And stuff.

There's a lot of reflecting on how the landscape has changed over the millennia, and idle observation of interesting features. Despite the series not actually having a very tangible plot, preferring instead to explore the ramifications of the events unfolding with most viewpoint characters merely being powerless spectators, it manages to feel very interesting and novel.

I strongly suggest reading it, if you can stand the constant angst; Steven Erikson's strengths arguably do not include writing (although he is a master at writing emotional moments), but the series is fascinating, and very intelligent - reading the first book, Gardens of the Moon, is like being dropped into the middle of an ongoing doorstopper series, and over the course of the cycle little exposition is given, leaving the reader to puzzle out just what the heck is going on. Just don't give up when you reach Midnight Tides, the fifth book; the complete change of setting and storyline is jarring, but the book is arguably the best in the series (actually, the second book, Deadhouse Gates, which really ought to be called Chain of Dogs, is the best) and provides a lot of world-building.

Anyhow, just sayin'. Malazan.

There are a number of other books I'm very fond of, but I think I'll leave stand-alone titles for a different post to avoid making this one too long.
Alright, a short comment on these two. I've been looking for the former, but haven't been able to find it yet. I'll look harder; I've seen it recommended a lot (especially in the Swedish version of PC Gamer).

Not really a fan of Lord of the Flies, myself. Gripping read, but I don't agree with the underlying philosophies (I believe that people are, well, people) and as such the holes in the plot were just too much for me to really be able to recommend it.

Oh, yeah. Planescape: Torment. Modern literary classic in game format.

yeah thats true, a lot of games are new types of litterature. just finsihed GEmini RUe, indie adventure game which i can really reccomend, just got my teeth intro lcuas asrts classics the dig nad loom. longet journey is another master piece in story and there's certainlky a lot more which i cant come up with now

George Orwells "1984".
James Herriots "vets might fly".

I bought mine from Book Depository. In fact, that's where I buy almost all of my books. Shitloads of stuff being sold at reasonable prices, free and (most of the time) fast shipping - what's not to like?