(Part 2) Best products from r/books

There are far too many to describe one as "the best", but here are some of my favourites.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes is a well deserved winner of the Pulitzer Prize. A combination of history, science and biography and so very well written.

A few of my favourite biographies include the magisterial, and also Pulitzer Prize winning, Peter the Great by Robert Massie. He also wrote the wonderful Dreadnaught on the naval arms race between Britain and Germany just prior to WWI (a lot more interesting than it sounds!). Christopher Hibbert was one of the UK's much loved historians and biographers and amongst his many works his biography Queen Victoria - A Personal History is one of his best. Finally, perhaps my favourite biography of all is Everitt's Cicero - The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician. This man was at the centre of the Fall of the Roman Republic; and indeed fell along with it.

Speaking of which, Rubicon - The Last Years of the Roman Republic is a recent and deserved best-seller on this fascinating period. Holland writes well and gives a great overview of the events, men (and women!) and unavoidable wars that accompanied the fall of the Republic, or the rise of the Empire (depending upon your perspective). :) Holland's Persian Fire on the Greco-Persian Wars (think Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes! Think of the Movie 300, if you must) is equally gripping.

Perhaps my favourite history book, or series, of all is Shelby Foote's magisterial trilogy on the American Civil War The Civil War - A Narrative. Quite simply one of the best books I've ever read.

If, like me, you're interested in teh history of Africa, start at the very beginning with The Wisdom of the Bones by Alan Walker and Pat Shipman (both famous paleoanthropologists). Whilst not the very latest in recent studies (nothing on Homo floresiensis for example), it is still perhaps the best introduction to human evolution available. Certainly the best I've come across. Then check out Africa - Biography of a Continent. Finish with the two masterpieces The Scramble for Africa on how European colonialism planted the seeds of the "dark continents" woes ever since, and The Washing of the Spears, a gripping history of the Anglo-Zulu wars of the 1870's. If you ever saw the movie Rorke's Drift or Zulu!, you will love this book.

Hopkirk's The Great Game - The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia teaches us that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I should imagine that's enough to keep you going for the moment. I have plenty more suggestions if you want. :)

If you enjoyed Kafka's Metamorphosis, I would strongly recommend reading more of him. Pick up the Trial, the best translation is the breon mitchell one.

Also, pick up a collection of his complete stories.

I bit on the longer side, but if you are looking into getting into "higher" literature with long term thinking themes, I would definitely recommend Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Classic look into the title themes with very interesting characters and plot, something many books don't have. Definitely a dark theme. The whole angel on one shoulder, demon on the other is extremely apparent and pertinent to this novel. Definitely a great entrance to one of the greatest Russian authors.

A fourth recommendation since you are looking for darker themes is Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry. This is my fourth recommendation and not my first because it is very dependent on style and a bit difficult if the reader isn't used to modernist styling like stream of consciousness. At heart though, it is definitely an absolutely beautiful use of English language to describe a man's descent into chaos.

If you are looking for a general list for "best books", I highly recommend this one. Many tend to be darker on this list. I have read about 70ish books on there and I have always been delighted minus one or two books. The good thing about that list is that it includes a lot of classics, but isn't simply english centric, so you will find authors like Pessoa or Svevo which are not extremely popular in English countries, but are absolutely stunning. This doesn't necessarily answer your dark themed book recommendation, but it perhaps could be useful to yourself later.

I hope you enjoy your reading!

I would go with Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow". It can be rather tedious at times, but it's such a great summary of recent work in social and cognitive psychology that it's worth it.

Oliver Sacks, as mentioned before, is another great author. Very approachable, very interesting, yet quite informative.

I have heard that Dan Ariely is a great author. Predictably Irrational might be a great read.

Steven Pinker's How the Mind Works is also great, but I would recommend Kahneman over him.

Finally, I would recommend a classic: William James - The Principles of Psychology. It's old, and some stuff is dated, but the guy had amazing insight nonetheless. It'd be a great intro reading just to see where psychology came from.

I would stay away from Jonah Lehrer, since he was accused of academic dishonesty. His book "How we Decide" was an extremely easy read, and a bit watered down. On that tangent, I would also avoid Malcolm Gladwell. Sacks does a better job at explaining psychology and neuroscience to a general audience.

Hope that helps!

We have pretty similar tastes.

I'd start by suggesting a few more of Orwell's - Down and Out, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Homage to Catalonia.

Hemingway - There is another thread about him today, but I say go with the short stories to start. This collection is superb.

I got into Russian lit right around the time I finished all the books you mentioned. Crime and Punishment or some of Dostoevsky's many short stories could be a gateway into a whole new literature for you.

Some contemporary authors that are excellent - Margaret Atwood (start with The Handmaid's Tale), Salman Rushdie (writes incredibly vibrant and creative prose), Don Lee (I loved both books I've read from this newish author), Joyce Carol Oates (prolific and profound), Alan Lightman, Umberto Eco, Junot Diaz.

Great non-fiction - Read the rest of Jared Diamond's stuff, it's all great. The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam by Tuchmann, a classic of how bad decisions led to downfalls in civilization. A Sideways Look at Time, a mildly rambly polemic on the politics of time in modern culture. The Closing of the Western Mind, a survey on how Christianity came to dominate the west. Power Faith and Fantasy about America's history of mucking about in the middle east. A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman, who write beautifully about the natural world, and is also a solid poetess (if you're into that). And I'm sure someone is going to mention Bryson. He's good too.

What country do you live in? Are there good public libraries, or are all of the books in the native language? While you're here, consider stocking up for third grade books, too.

I'm kind of striking out. I have a lot more 3rd grade recommendation than 2nd grade, but I'm kind of doubting AR's assessments a little.

Authors seem to write more for a series starting in third grade. Look into "Early Reader" and "I can Read" books, the kind coded with a number (1 through 5) in the upper right-hand corner of the book cover. They are larger than chapter books, but thinner, too.

Level 2:

1. Flat Stanley is often read in first grade, but AR lists it as 4th grade, even though most of the other books in the series are second grade. So, I guess, take AR with a grain of salt.
   
   
2. Amelia Bedelia .. the "I Can Read" books that have a number in the upper right-hand corner.
   
   
3. Junie B. Jones
   
   
4. Henry and Mudge
   
   
5. Frog and Toad
   
   
   Level 3 books:
   
   
6. Bailey School Kids
   
   
7. Magic Tree House -- I was surprised to see Magic Tree House are level 3 books. They are concisely written, easy to read books.
   
   
8. Ghostville ELementary
   
   
9. Cam Jansen mysteries
   
   
10. Jigsaw Jones
    
    
11. Song Lee
    
    
12. Third Grade Detectives
    
    
13. The Littles (a little too wordy for my taste)
    
    
14. A to Z Mysteries
    
    
15. Beverly Cleary books start around age 8.
    
    
16. Judy Moody
    
    Very important: If you are reading the book aloud to her, choose more advanced books (especially because vocabulary building is your goal). Encourage her to interrupt you when you say a word she doesn't understand. Leave the books she can read herself to be read by herself, or have them read aloud to you.
    
    You can't go wrong reading Roald Dahl books together. If you're a father, you'll especially enjoy reading Danny, the Champion of the World to her. There is a side plot, but the real story is about the wonderful relationship the child has with his father. She's probably ready for the first Harry Potter book, too (the series is filled with many wonderful messages for children, especially Harry's love for his parents and the many supporting, loving adults who want to protect Harry... no parent-child dysfunction like exists in almost all other children's books).

First, I don't really recommend mass market paperbacks, get a trade if you can, they're much more comfortable to read. The collections published by Del Rey are really good, and you can know you have some continuity (and aren't buying the same stories) because all the covers are works of either HR Geiger or the Polish (or Hungarian?) surrealist whose name escapes me. I can't remember if these are only HP Lovecraft or if they also include Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, and his other contemporaries. Purists detest Derleth because he took the Mythos in his own direction, but his stories are still very good, very different from Lovecraft (which is refreshing when it comes to his proteges and colleagues), and without his work none of Lovecraft's stories would've survived into today--he founded Arkham House dedicated to publishing all Cthulhu Mythos stories.

The Penguin Classics collections are really nice as well.

An individual book that I cannot recommend more is this one. It is a Barnes & Noble collection of Lovecraft's Dream Cycle stories, they are much longer (novella-length), very involved, and have a whole mythology unto their own. The scenery and Lovecraft's descriptions of the dreamlands and Antarctic wastes are so engrossing, haunting, and yet beautiful, it is difficult to put down. I have read very few stories with such intensely vivid imagery, and his dream cycle stories do not disappoint.

As a fellow Lovecraft fanboy, welcome to a literary world that will consume you. If you are interested, one of my firsts forays into Lovecraftian literature was The Colour Out of Space, which somehow made me physically ill while I read it one morning as a young kid (I was probably 14 at the time, spending a summer with my dad and I was regularly up till 4 or 5 am reading Lovecraft's stories and playing the wonderful MUD over telnet).

Here is a link to an online collection of Lovecraft's work. I, too, prefer books to reading online, so I completely understand.

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is a great urban fantasy story that takes place in the unseen world below London and includes some magic, adventure and a great mystery.


If you haven't read the Chronicles of Narnia try those. After you get past the Christian allegories in the first book the series is enjoyable. If you have read them check out His Dark Materials. Another great book that has been called the atheists' response to Narnia.

China Mieville's Perdido Street Station would be a good one too. Definitely darker than the fantasy in Harry Potter but well written and a great story.

The Hunger Games trilogy has been mentioned a few times and is enjoyable. It is more Science Fiction than fantasy but is a great dystopian story. Written for YAs, like Harry Potter, but enjoyable for just about anyone.They're making a Hunger Games movie now so you'll be able to say you read it back before it was cool.


Edit: Forgot to mention The Dark Tower Series. A great series by Steven King that combines fantasy, western, science fiction and some horror. That sounds like a hodgepodge but the series manages to walk the line so well you end up staying awake until 2am reading to find out what happens next.

I'll skip over the classics (Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick) as they've already been covered.

• Peter F Hamilton is incredibly good, I'd suggest starting with the Confederation Universe series. Very long, and can get a little heavy, but in my opinion, absolutely superb hard sci fi. The universe is similar in size and scope to that of Tolkien's, the science is detailed and well constructed, the space combat is awesome, and I found the characters believable and easy to empathize with. Judging from your criteria, I have a feeling that this series may be just what you're looking for.
  
  
• As others have suggested, Alastair Reynolds is an absolute stand-out in today's sci fi line-up. His Revelation Space universe is complex, engaging and has some of the best science theory I've read. He also includes a lot of biotechnology / biological themes in his work - which is a refreshing change from the nanomachines / cyborg / tech-heavy staples that seem to dominate a lot of modern sci-fi. There's an incredible sense of tension that is maintained for the entire series, more-so than any other modern anthology I've read.
  
  
• Richard Morgan is another of my personal favorites. If you want action-heavy, quality sci fi, look no further. I'd recommend starting with the Kovacs series, (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies) they're equal parts Noir / Drama / Action / Sci-Fi / Awesome. Not much space combat, but the ground combat is really, really good.
  
  
• If you haven't read Robert Heinlen's original Starship Troopers (Don't judge it by the movie; seriously) I'd highly recommend it. Not much you can say about it, except that the movie cut entirely too much of the thought provoking content out.
  
  
• John Steakley's Armor is superficially similar to Starship Troopers, but it's far more weighted on the psychological trauma of war; the action is almost ancillary - in fact, where Starship Troopers tends to glorify war a touch, Armor tends to question the validity and purpose of war in an advanced society.
  
  Finally:
  
  
• I'm not going to say anything other than: "Do yourself a favor and read Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash."
  
  Seriously. No space combat, but without doubt one of the most entertaining fiction I've read in any genre, and a superb example of dystopian sci-fi. For god sakes, the hero - Hiro Protagonist (I know, right?!) - is a Hacker / Samurai that works for the mafia. Delivering pizzas. Trust me on this: Go with it, you won't be sorry.
  
  Hope that helps and wasn't a Great Wall of Boring Text :-)

The best book I've read in recent years.

Ready Player One

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

Dhalgren is an insane look at a dystopian future. Very long, often hard to read, but quite good. If he liked House of Leaves and also likes Sci-fi, I think he would enjoy Dhalgren. It is hard to read in places but that adds to its appeal.

Treason by Orson Scott Card was quite good, and I'd never heard of it before my boyfriend recommended it.

These are both sci-fi and sociological in nature.

I would second Murakami novels in general.

The Name of the Wind is a fantasy novel that I liked a lot. It was recommended to me by my brother, who then gave it to me last year for xmas.

My favorite book in a long time which I'm currently reading is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. It doesn't have much to do with anything but it keeps me entertained. Definitely check it out.

Second favorite is A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Both are rather obscure of meaning but have a fun precedence (this possibly more comical than the other)

If you are looking for a semi-serious book I recommend The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. It does have to do with an ex-military doctor but it is hardly the focus of the book. It follows the creation of the Oxford American Dictionary, but it isn't quite what you'd expect. I don't believe I could give you in depth analysis for any of these nor if you'd like them. They are my favorite books (minus Calvin and Hobbs) and are worth a read.

No particular order:

Blind Descent by James M. Tabor. It is a great book about cave exploration and the race to discover the worlds deepest supercave.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Are you interested in the universe and how it all happened? This gives some pretty insightful answers.

From Eternity To Here by Sean Carrol. A really interesting view on the nature and concept of time and how it relates to the us and the universe. It can get a bit deep from time to time, but I found it fascinating.

Adventures Among Ants by Mark W. Moffet. It's about ants. Seriously. Ants.

The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. A first hand account of the ill-fated Scott expedition to the south pole in 1911-1912. Even after reading the book I cannot imagine what those men went through.

Bonus book: The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan. Human intelligence and how it evolved. Some really interesting stuff about the brain and how it works. A very enjoyable read.

Don't feel lame. I went on a really long kick where I was reading a lot of franchise books - Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, Stargate, etc etc. Sometimes they're terribly written, but sometimes there are really good stories with some great character development.

I'm not really familiar with the other two books but from what I looked up of them (especially considering the Halo + Ben Bova) I think you'd like Ender's Game.

It's technically YA fiction, but it's good enough that you'll often find it in with the regular science fiction. It's also a series so if you like the first one that'll give you a few more to read.

In the classic Science fiction category The Foundation Series is worth looking into as well.

Let's see. Maybe The Sky People too. It's not exactly classic literature, but it's a fun romp in space - a what if there was life on Venus & Mars and it was dinosaurs and prehistoric humans sort of thing. Although not classic science fiction it has that same feel because it takes a stab at what type of life might exist on our neighboring planets.

I haven't read Edgar Rice Burroughs, but he might be up your alley too.

cracks knuckles I have no idea if these have audiobooks. I'm sorry if they don't. Most of these are only three books long or shorter, sorry.

Sandman Slim and the sequel. It wasn't my favorite book, BUT it sounds a lot like what you're looking for. And it was fun.

China Mieville's Bas-Lag series (Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council. Three (~500 pg) books long, fantastic world building, twisty plots and great characters.

The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson (Quicksilver, The Confusion and The Confusion of the World. Three books long, but you could kill a small animal by dropping one of those books on it. These are good, but his stand-alones are better (Snow Crash and Diamond Age for sure).

Most of Stephen King's stuff has the kind of sprawl you're looking for.

Dune, at least until God Emperor (#4).

Honestly, I think if you liked John Grisham, you'll like The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo books. I think I'm making that leap based on the last book in the trilogy. They're definitely entertaining.

Not the Middle East exactly, but if you want a GREAT perspective on the Middle East and Central Asia you MUST read, The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk.

This an excellent long view of history for those areas. You will not be disappointed.

I actually found that reading the pertinent sections of the Ulysses guide before each chapter helped.

I liked the Molly section of the book. But otherwise Ulysses really seemed to me to be essentially a written collage or mix tape, in that Joyce strung together so much of what he'd studied and called it a book. Which I don't mean as a slur against mix tapes or collages.

Did reading Ulysses give me insights into existence, as any great work of art should? Hard to say, though that last section was pretty good--not because of what all Joyce did, but because of the sheer disconnect between Bloom and Molly.

Probably I'd recommend reading at least half a dozen other books instead. Heck, Shantaram was more important to me than Ulysses.

The combination of Shantaram, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and A Fan's Notes taught me a lot more than did Ulysses, and they were far more fun, interesting, and quick to read.

This is the collection I ended up with. It doesn't have everything, but it has all of the best stuff. EDIT: plus these Gollancz collections are the prettiest. There are a couple of Conan ones that I highly recommend.

This is another good one. It's a collection of stuff that edited, reworked or completely rewrote for other authors, so there's a lot of his voice in it, only with a wider range of styles and themes.

I've had mixed success in dealing with Amazon recommendations. My interest in Perdido Street Station led me to The Etched City, but my interest in the Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld's Laish led me to a Krupp's coffee maker. The Etched City is an excellent book, but I never figured the coffee maker thing out.

By the way, I think you'd really like those first two.

It is good but I almost got annoyed by the amount of nostalgia/references it makes. I kind of wonder how much I would have liked it had it not thrown around all the references. It was entertaining though. I think I liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson better to be honest (except the ending).

Bonus for some: I got the audio book from audible read by Wil Wheaton...so if you're a nerd that might be your cup of tea.

Yes, Diamond Age is such a great spiritual successor to Snow Crash. Where Snow Crash has that frantic pace and hyper compressed events, Diamond Age takes its time and describes every molecule of the beauty in the book's events. These two works are such great testaments to Stephenson's skill because it's obvious he worked really hard to make them describe similar themes, but also compliment each other.

Have you seen the new covers? I like them, they do a good job of presenting them as companion pieces.

Snow Crash

Diamond Age

Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

Both cover some of the same concepts as GG&S, but in a much more rigorous fashion. Both are better reads with a less self-congratulatory tone and much more interesting information. GG&S is a kids book compared to these works, which is fine because GG&S is a great introduction to these sorts of concepts. Now you can get down to reading the good stuff.

A Brief History of Time, by Steven Hawking is a classic. I found it to be a little dense and difficult at times (I'm no expert in physics), but it's a pretty cool overview of some deep science questions (e.g. where did the universe come from?) for non-scientists.

James Gleick's biography of Isaac Newton is also quite good. My calculus professor recommended it.

I also liked The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios.

He is the MASTER, I mean it, of the short story. I would say his short stories are much better than his novels. I'm about halfway through his entire short story collection right now ([The Finca Vigia Edition] (http://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Short-Stories-Ernest-Hemingway/dp/0684843323)) and I love it so much. With his short, simple, to the point language it's quite obvious he would do his best work in a shorter format, in my opinion. I have only read two of his books, those being "The Sun Also Rises" and "The Old Man and the Sea", both were phenomenal and I feel like his terse prose brought the novel and especially the short story to new heights.

I absolutely love Snow Crash. Very humorous writing without becoming pure comedy. Great plot. Awesome concepts.

Realize that it was written during a certain period, for certain readers.

The person who was interested in this book in 1922 would have likely read Joyce's earlier works and been familiar with Stephen Dedalus. He/she would likely have been familiar with some Latin (the Mass was still conducted in Latin then). ...would have understood the history of Irish and English conflict. Ideally (and Joyce did not expect this) he/she would have been familiar with Dublin.

All of this means that Joyce basically skips the entire common (and expected -by-the-reader) concept and writer's device of exposition.

Which makes for a confusing ride if you aren't an Irish catholic living in Dublin born at the turn of the 19th century and who has read all of Joyce's previous works. And especially because most of us come at this book due to its reputation and being lauded as a Modern Masterpiece. ...we don't usually choose to read it because we have read his other books and loved them, but because it is required reading, or because we have heard so much about it, that we give it a shot. This means we come to it unprepared.

But sheesh... who ever prepares to read a book? Well, we would prepare ourselves if it were a foreign language, or in a technical field we knew little about, or was perhaps Shakespeare in the original English, or Beowulf in Old English, or the Canterbury Tales, etc. etc.

Lots of books require a little more effort than we are often prepared for. The reward is in reading them in their original sense rather than in a sanitized easy-access version. This is one of those books, that's all.

Sure, I'm exaggerating a bit. But let's look at merely the FIRST PAGE (This is the page that convinced me I really wasn't quite the reader that I thought I was, when I picked this book off the shelf for the first time with false bravado).

What the hell is Buck Mulligan doing and saying? What's with the frigging Latin, and can I buy a footnote clarifying it? Well, no, you can't. You're supposed to know it's basically the Catholic Mass, in Latin. Hell. My mother, who had no desired to read Joyce, basically laughed at me when I showed her and she plucked it all out. "It's the Mass!" she said, whacking me in the back of the head.

Where are they? what the hell is this gunrest crap? Barbicans? Towr? WTF? ...well. Martello Tower. What other tower is there on the bay in Dublin? sheesh. everybody knows that

Why's he wearing black, and saying he can't wear grey pants? Jesus. I'm two paragraphs in and sinking fast. ...well, his mother died. When someone was wearing black then, it wasn't a fashion choice. You automatically assumed the person was in mourning.

And so (to beat this to death), Joyce doesn't trip over himself explaining this stuff. The characters do not think to themselves for the purposes of letting us in on things, or for explanation's sake, they simply think the way you do, to yourself. You don't use full sentnces, or explain to yourself what you already know.

So you aren't going to get a line from Joyce that says:

"Buck Mulligan, a guy who is kinda fun on the surface but is really just a blowhard ass, and who is taking from Stephen what he can get (lodging, beer money, and intelligence-cred, among other things), comes from the stairwell getting ready to shave, but first goofs around by pretending he's a priest and so (blasphemously) holds up the shaving cream in a bowl like the sacraments held aloft by a priest, and says "Coming to the altar of God", only in Latin."

This is why the book benefits from a little view behind the curtains. Because as u/danuscript says, except for Joyce, no real all-knowing reader exists. There's also no reliable narrator running consistently throughout who can hold our hand.

It's essentially unfolding in little vignettes seen though others' eyes, or from an uninterested narrator (objective as possible).

So, grab the Gifford annotated volume (the bigger thicker one HERE ). But realize you don't need EVERY notation here to understand it. And some are speculative. really, does the yellow color of the dressing gown warrant three paragraphs? A lot of folks have read in more than joyce may have intended.

Also, try the "New BloomsDay Book". It is is an excellent synopsis, with as much exposition as is needed to understand the meat, and what is happening.

Last... the book is NOT meant to be a one hit wonder. It's not a beginning/middle/end thing, which is read once, and whose 'climax' is some great revelation or surprise. It's meant to be re-read. You would then understand the subtle unsaid things (e.g. which occur in interactions between people, which hinge on these), and you'll understand what's happening which you will have missed the first time through.

And skip.

There. I said it. Bogging down? Eyes glazing over? Try skipping a bit, or reading the first and last line of the medium-sized paragraphs. No shame in it.

If you find that you like the language, are getting the story (with help), and are glad you waded in, then you'll likely be back for a second read, and that can be the one where you focus, and delve, and read each line.

Took me three times, frankly, to make it through.

But I was aware that it wasn't Joyce's failings. but mine, which kept stopping me.

There really is a there there.

Read 1984 for the dystopian aspect, for sci-fi pick up Isaac Asimov as mentioned by the_thinker.. And if you want a good, fun and captivating read, pick up Chuck Palahniuk's works, I'm a big fan of those. Try Survivor, Lullaby, Choke, any of those are amazing

Necronomicon: the Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft was probably my best buy, ever. It's a beautiful book with all the best stories (in my opinion). If I were you I'd start with that. You can't go wrong!

Upvote for The Lost City of Z!! Loved loved it.

Charles Mann's 1491 is wonderful.

It depends on what you're interested in, really.

"The English Passengers" is the latest book I read that I can recommend. I've loaned it to half-a-dozen people this year and they all really liked it.

The "Flashman Papers" are also really absorbing. "Flashman and the Redskins" was the one I stumbled upon first and I enjoyed it so much I ended out reading the whole series.

While not a fiction novel, if you want a book you can't put down, try Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game.

Apologies if these have been posted already, but I'd highly recommend Simon Winchester's work, particularly The Professor and the Madmad and Krakatoa.

Well researched, well written and thoroughly enjoyable.

It caught me off-guard too. A buddy who also reads and loves Suarez's work, IM'd me one day asking if I got my copy yet, assuming I had pre-ordered. Needless to say I was on Amazon within 5 minutes.

If you liked Daemon and Freedom, check out Ready Player One.

I ain't so good at book descriptions but here's some stuff I really enjoyed -

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi: http://www.amazon.com/The-Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585

The author would argue with me about this being SF - Atwood prefers the term "speculative history" I believe - but the entire Oryx and Crake trilogy is very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Oryx-Crake-Margaret-Atwood/dp/0385721676/ref=la_B000AQTHI0_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397411558&sr=1-2 the first book in Oryx and Crake, followed by Year of the Flood and Madaddam

it might be based on the fact that The Book of The New Sun is the greatest fantasy/Sci/fi Novel written since Tolkien. (IMO, of course)

But his other work can be hit or miss. I've found the short stories to be good as is the novel Peace. But if you haven't read Book of the New Sun...1st of all I'm Jealous, and second of all don't even bother with his other works until you've finished it.


Shadow & Claw--1st Book Of The New Sun

I always recommend starting with the Penguin Classics collection The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, which is a handsome, accessible edition of his best short fiction. My favorites are "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Rats in the Walls," and "The Color From Out of Space."

Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

9/10

Physiology

A beautiful, sightful summery of Kahneman's research about the way we think, which led to him and his partner, Amos, to win a Nobel Prize in economics in 2002.

Amazon

THHGTTG is one of my favorite series of all time. It will always be funny to me.

I suggest reading Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a great Biography on Douglas Adams (specifically regarding THHGTTG) written by none other than Neil Gaiman.

This is an awesome collection for a pretty good price if you want to check it out.

1. Foundation - Isaac Asimov
   
2. 9/10
   
3. Science Fiction
   
4. The first book in the series properly known as the cornerstone of all science fiction. Absolutely incredible as are the next 3 (that's as far as I am). Great characters, writing, twists, fascinating plot, little bit of philosoophy, just incredible all around.
   
5. Amazon also on nook/kindle with good formatting.

Colour out of Space by Lovecraft

In fact this entire collection: http://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Stories-Penguin-Twentieth-Century-Classics/dp/0141182342 is fantastic.

Maybe some Edgar Allan Poe? Start out short with some of his stories. You'd probably like The Cask of Amontillado, it's awesome.

And then there's always The Shining

I would recommend you purchase the Bloomsday Book. It was very helpful for me to read this while I was reading Ulysses. The book doesn't tell you how to interpret Ulysses, but it helps you to notice more of the references/inspirations/jokes in the story. Google books has a brief preview that you can use to see if it seems useful for you.

1. The Name of the Wind- Patrick Rothfuss
   
2. 9.5/10
   
3. High Fantasy, Literature
   
4. Beautifully written and gripping. A true adventure story full of mirth and woe.
   
5. Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

I haven't read that myself, but based on the description and notes elsewhere in the thread I might recommend these:

• the Newton's Cannon series by J Gregory Keyes - probably more serious than Chaos Walking but not nearly so grave as Game fo Thrones (did you like Game of Thrones?)
  
• Just about anything by Terry Pratchett
  
• Early Piers Anthony like A Spell for Chameleon, The Source of Magic, or Castle Roogna
  
• The Expendable series by James Alan Gardner (not the same story as the recent movies)
  
• The Red Lightning series by John Varley
  
• Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein
  
• Snow Crash and Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
  
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
  
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman

This is the translation that finally "broke" The Trial for me. Prior to that, I had a love/hate relationship with Kafka. After reading Mitchell's translation, it's tilted heavily in favor of love. Schocken has a good paperback edition here.

Free your tastes from the cage of other people's opinions and pretensions. Try young adult fiction like Harry Potter and trashy romance novels. Try anything by E.L. Doctorow. Or try some nonfiction. Anything by Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Pinker...

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394322770&sr=1-12&keywords=blink
http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113514/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394322814&sr=1-1&keywords=spark

Sci Fi, ok cool. Here are a few very entertaining Sci-Fi audiobooks (you can actually find some of these free).

Infected by Scott Sigler, with a sequel titled 'Contagious'. If you search for Scott Sigler online, you will be directed to his website, and can go through itunes to get the free podiocast.
http://www.amazon.com/Infected-Novel-Scott-Sigler/dp/030740630X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1311807514&sr=8-3

Robopocalypse
http://www.amazon.com/Robopocalypse-Novel-Daniel-H-Wilson/dp/0385533853/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311807626&sr=1-1

For fantasy, I highly recommend 'The Name of the Wind' by patrick Rothfuss
http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicles-Day/dp/0756405890/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311807743&sr=1-1

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
http://www.amazon.com/Warded-Man-Peter-V-Brett/dp/0345518705/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311807801&sr=1-1

For Horror I recommend
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
http://www.amazon.com/Darkly-Dreaming-Dexter-Vintage-Lizard/dp/0307473708/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311807869&sr=1-1

Serial Uncut
http://www.amazon.com/Serial-Uncut-J-Konrath/dp/1456401580/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311808020&sr=1-1

For the taste of apocalyptic greatness I recommend
World War Z
http://www.amazon.com/World-War-Oral-History-Zombie/dp/0307346617/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311808107&sr=1-1

One Second After
http://www.amazon.com/One-Second-After-William-Forstchen/dp/0765356864/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311808128&sr=1-1

I have other audiobooks that touches multiple categories. For a nice series, there are two I really love. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King, and The Dresden Files series.

Dava Sobel writes about science in history, and she's fantastic. Longitude, in particular was great!

I also really like Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary

I can really recommend two collections;

• The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway -you find it on [amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0684843323) - a collection of his amazing short stories, with background information of his life seen in context with his writing. So you learn a little Hemingway while reading
  
  
• slightly different genre, but I cannot recommend reading original Sherlock Holmes stories enough. You can buy complete Sherlock Holmes relatively cheap, or just start with any of the most known stories.
  
  Furthermore, if you want to add a little style to your bookshelf, buy one of these. they are basically all great reads!
  
  
  

If you like that book, I highly recommend Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game. A page-turner history of that spy-vs-spy era.

No.

I adored the earlier Dune books, and was excited for the prequels.
The new writing style is very odd, and you can tell when the authors each wrote alternate chapters. Neither of them seemed to grasp the same grand scale and ancient feeling that FH did to the originals. The settings, characters and plot lack any of the mystery, excitement or depth that the originals had. Notwithstanding the Dune universe setting, they aren't great sci-fi books either.

I read the first with mounting despair, I read the second and abandoned the series. I didn't buy the third or any others. Perhaps they improved an astonishing amount in each subsequent release, but it wasn't worth finding out for me.

For ancient world and conflict sci-fi that introduces deep ideas and has interesting prose, try: Gene Wolfe and his Book of the New Sun series: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Claw-First-Half-Book/dp/0312890176/ref=pd_sim_b_6

I also like the epic scale of Dan Simmons - Hyperion and Ilium series are good, though quite unlike Dune.

Since I have no idea what kind of books you like I made a short little list of books I generally recommend to people for any reason. All linked to amazon so look for a review or synopsis there.

Let the Great World Spin

The Great War for Civilization

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

Oil!

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

Theodore Rex

Lincoln:A Novel

If the author is any good at all you'll pick it up from context without having to think too much about it.

If you like that sort of thing, check out The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. He uses some really wonderful and obscure vocabulary to begin with, and is inventing an entirely new world at the same time. Half the time you're not sure if he made up a word or if you just don't know it yet.

If you're at all interested in Science Fiction, I'd try picking up "Foundation" by Issac Asimov. It's a series, but the first book is a good stand-alone as well. I find Asimov is easy to read and really sucks you into the story - probably due to the fact that almost all of his narrative occurs through dialogue.

I love music, so my favourite one was Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. A history of electronic music which gave me a real in-depth appreciation of the electronic music scene now.

I also really liked A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and Flatland (not exactly non-fiction, but extremely interesting).

At the Mountains of Madness is my favourite, but it's a longer text and it might not be the place to start, you'd better get used to his style with shorter stories first. Personally I really liked The Colour out of Space. The first book I bought was this one.

Definitely read his short stories. I've got this compilation, and I love it.

I second /u/mbocchini's recommendation. Thinking, Fast and Slow is a fantastic overview of the growing (both in size and influence) field of behavioral economics from one of the most prominent psychologists of the past half century. It's written in a very accessible manner with little technical discussion, although the footnotes will source you to the academic papers and articles should you decide to dig deeper.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

Amazing read, will probably change the way you perceive the world around you. :)

A Brief History of Time made me brain hurt but was a fascinating read. If you do read it, I recommend taking it in in 1 chapter segments.

Armor John Steakley. Sooo good. I wish they would make it into a show on scifi (: I know i know people are scared of that but scifi can do good shows too.

Simon Winchester is really good. I enjoyed Krakatoa and The Professor and the Madman.

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. The weird steampunky style of New Crobuzon would look amazing on screen. I think Guillermo Del Toro could do a fantastic job with it.

Hi tmhodge, I got the book rather cheaply from Amazon (here) and, well, the picture is from my study room ;)

I highly recommend this edition, it's a ridiculously massive (880 pages!) & luxuriously bound book with dozens of HPL's stories and fantastic woodcut illustrations.

[Edit: Official 3Quarks4MasterMark endorsement & woodcut scan added]

Snow Crash by Stephenson is something of a modern classic, and a very fun read. I highly recommend it!

I should have been clearer. I'm referring to a kind of commentary. The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses

Chapter by chapter it summarizes the theme and the plot. It's admirable that you want to read it on your own. However, unless you're a Joyce-scholar who somehow hasn't read Ulysses, you're going to find that you need support.

I would strongly recommend having this: guidebook by your side, its pretty cool to be able to understand what the hell is going on :)
(makes me think of that Marx brothers scene where Chicos trying to con Groucho into buying all those horse racing books)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Trial-Translation-Based-Restored/dp/0805209999/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1375019502&sr=8-6&keywords=The+Trial

I had to read The Trial a few semesters ago for one of my classes and this is the version we used. I would be more than happy to send you it if you would like just send me a PM.

For the love of what ever deity you worship, do NOT read any product descriptions for second foundation since some publishers(http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Novels-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0553382578/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345604106&sr=8-3&keywords=Foundation as in this publisher of this version) put a major spoiler for Foundation and Empire in it.

1491 was a great read that examined the technology and cultural developments of the Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans. One of its main conceits is to tear down the myth that they were simple people in touch with nature, when they actually actively worked to alter the landscape to fit their needs. It was one of the first history books I found so engrossing that I couldn't put down.

Collapse has a wider scope; it examines dozens of societies that have existed throughout history that for one reason or another "collapsed". It shows how combinations a society's choices and external forces caused the failure of Viking settlements in Greenland, the extinction of the people of Easter Island, to the failure of modern countries, like Rwanda. Each chapter is about seventy or eighty pages and fairly self-contained, so you can pick it up and jump in where ever you like.

I liked The Scar by China Mieville. It is the second book in a series; you do not need to read the first book to enjoy this one! If you are looking to start from the beginning, Perdido Street Station is the first book.

Forever Peace - Haldeman

Book of The New Sun/Book of the Long Sun - Wolfe (this is a very rewarding story, but it requires commitment)

Never Let Me Go - Ishiguro

The Sparrow - Russell

Please be aware that these are all fairly dark. Maybe I'm soft, but The Sparrow was one of the roughest books I've read, from a psychological perspective.

I was in the same position last year, i didn't know where to start. So i bought this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Necronomicon-Weird-Lovecraft-Fiction-GOLLANCZ/dp/0575081562/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341264327&sr=8-1
It's a collection of most of his works and contains all of his more famous stories. It starts with a few of his short stories and as the book progresses the material gets longer. It was a really easy way to ease myself into his works.

Some of my favorites:

• Noir - K.W. Jeter
  
• Macroscope - Piers Anthony
  
• Armor - John Steakley
  
• Protector - Larry Niven
  
• I Robot - Isaac Asimov
  
• Neuromancer - William Gibson
  
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
  
• The Fall of Reach (Halo) - Eric Nylund
  
• Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
  
• Cachalot - Alan Dean Foster
  
• Islands in the Net - Bruce Sterling
  
• Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
  
• Reality Dysfunction - Peter F. Hamilton
  
  I tried to get as many different authors as possible in there. Many of those authors have plenty of really good books you shouldn't miss.

I'd recommend 1491 by Charles Mann over Guns, Germs, and Steel. It tries to answer the same questions regarding the apparent gap in technology between new world and old world peoples without resorting to geographical determinism--which, to me at least, felt like a bit of a stretch. 1491 is a good source for learning about science/technologies that fell by the wayside as new world clashed with old world (textile technology, using fire to shape one's environment, etc.).

I recently re-read The Trial, and I adored Breon Mitchell's translation, which is "Based On The Restored Text," meaning it contains passages the previous versions did not.

The translation is very contemporary. I found it remarkably easy (and fun!) to read.

The publisher, Schocken, also put out versions of The Castle, Amerika, and The Complete Stories (which would obviously include The Metamorphosis, A Hunger Artist, In the Penal Colony, and my personal favorite Kafka story, A Report to an Academy), but their translations were not done by Mitchell and I have not read them, so I can't comment on that.

Book six? You're stronger than me - I got through the first three before giving up. I've not heard anything that makes me want to go back and try again. A couple of other fantasy series suggestions (with links to the first books):

• The Malazan Book of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson
  
• The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss

There is only the one book. The movie only used the book as a premise and went off on its own. Anyone who has read the book pretty much doesn't like the movie. I don't think the 2nd and 3rd made it to theaters...
If you like bug killing adventures, look at Armor. If you like a more engrossing story look at Ender's Game.

Did a quick Google search and found this on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Trial-Translation-Based-Restored/dp/0805209999/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1407778965&sr=1-4

I've seen them at every Barnes & Noble I've went to as well.

1. The Name Of The Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
   
   
2. 8.5/10
   
   
3. Fantasy
   
   
4. Hadn't been so captivated by a fantasy since A Song Of Ice And Fire, definitely one of the best fantasy autors out there, especially for his maniacal attention to every detail of his story.
   
   
5. Amazon

Armor by John Steakley. I was remembering bits through it, but it wasn't until close to the end that I fully remembered reading it. It was just as good the second time.

[1491] (http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059) by Charles Mann. Talks about how amazing the Americas were pre-Columbus.

The Windup Girl, a joint hugo/nebula winner, might be just the thing.

If you enjoyed Vonnegut and Lovecraft, you should try reading The Book of the New Sun, which is a five book series by Gene Wolfe. This series is much better than I had any reason to expect from looking at the cover. It reads like H.P. Lovecraft if he weren't repulsed by everything and actually cared about dialog, and is easily the most rewarding re-readable book I've ever read twice. The language is opaque (the narrator will just assume you know what a balicothere is) and riddled with weird approximations to what is actually going on (because the narrator is probably not being 100% honest), but if you can get into it (it starts a bit slow), the latter half of the series is phenomenal. This author ruined most other science fiction for me.

No More Mr Nice Guy by Robert Glover. Also: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

I must give that companion a look. I used the Bloomsday book and found it very helpful.

I really liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson...

Ready Player One; you're welcome.

43, less than I would like (oh... sorry, M), hard science fiction, Iain M. Banks, any of the Culture series (favorites in that are Use of Weapons, Matter, and Surface Detail)
For recommendations, I have a soft spot (because he earned it) for Charles De Lint. One of the best urban fantasy authors out there. Some others are The Name of the Wind, and the Mistborn cycle (first book here).

If you're in Europe, have a look at this. I bought it as an all but newbie to Lovecraft's writing, having only read a few of his short stories.

Lots and lots of book for that price, and a very comprehensive tour of Lovecraft indeed. There's a follow-up called Eldritch Tales which I might give a look next time I go shopping for books.

I would suggest getting into some Lovecraft stories and see what you think about them. HP Lovecraft is usually called the father of modern horror, and for good reason when you read through some of his more famous (and some of his less famous) stories.

I'd say the easiest collection to start with is The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (Penguin 20th Century Classics)
Here's a link for it

If you like that then it's fairly easy to get into his other works, but be aware he is a bit long-winded.

It is hard work, though. I found these two books extremely helpful:

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Bloomsday-Book-International/dp/0415138582

http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Annotated-Notes-James-Joyces/dp/0520253973/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410914627&sr=1-1&keywords=ulysses+annotated

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Link text: Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

• UK: amazon.co.uk
  
• Spain: amazon.es
  
• France: amazon.fr
  
• Germany: amazon.de
  
• Japan: amazon.co.jp
  
• Canada: amazon.ca
  
• Italy: amazon.it
  
• China: amazon.cn
  
  
  This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).

Based on those interests, he might like 1491 or maybe Guns, Germs and Steel, I mean, not to be quick to judge, but my stereotypical image of someone that likes gardening and southern shit would probably be turned off by YA fantasy/action fare and would probably be willing to tackle a harder book that is more close to his interests. AskHistorians has a monster book list but I'm not really familiar with which of those listed are accessible.

Ready Player One. www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448

Ready Player One.
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448/

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, if you like genre fiction.

http://www.amazon.com/Perdido-Street-Station-China-Mieville/dp/0345459407/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396255614&sr=1-1&keywords=perdido+street+station

I prefer Howard over Lovecraft, however they were actually quite good friends when it came to writing, exchanging letters and admiration between each other. However both died a tragic death, strange?

Anyways for those who are keen on reading the works of these two authors there is a book series that collected their short stories into a book and provided them.

I will simply link to Amazon so you guys can take a look on the books there.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Necronomicon-Weird-Lovecraft-Fiction-GOLLANCZ/dp/0575081562/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377609248&sr=8-1&keywords=lovecraft

I'm a big fan of the Penguin paperback collections of his work, put together by Lovecraft expert S.T. Joshi. They're affordable, portable, and contain everything.

http://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Stories-Penguin-Twentieth-Century-Classics/dp/0141182342

http://www.amazon.com/Thing-Doorstep-Stories-Penguin-Classics/dp/0142180033/

http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Witch-House-Stories-Classics/dp/0142437956/

"You are what you do when it counts."

-Armor, by John Steakley

I read this book around age 15, and trust me when I say that this is a heavy read, from an emotional perspective. This simple phrase was one of those things that stuck with me, and I've found new depth in it over the years. I chanted it to myself before I proposed to my wife. I've used it when talking to a friend facing death, and another who was ready to commit suicide. It definitely stuck with me.

Perdido Street Station?

Perdido Street Station.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

A Breif History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash

Get some absinthe and crack open a copy of Hemingway's short stories.

By the way, I'm currently reading this book after absolutely devouring the first.

Patrick Rothfuss.

I have this one.

How about this?

http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

The Windup Girl

I second the Neal Stephenson suggestion, and I've got to add Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. It's as much a sendup to "nerd culture" as it is an exploration of trans-humanist themes, but it's written with much attention to detail. I couldn't put it down.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Necronomicon-Weird-Lovecraft-Fiction-GOLLANCZ/dp/0575081562 is what I have, and really, I could do with a slightly more abridged version, there are a bunch of stories inside I don't really care to reread. His work is fairly uneven I would say and certainly his genius doesn't show in all stories.

Which by no mean means you shouldn't get as complete set of his stories if this is what you want. Just pointing out that it might not be worth it.

More of a hard sci-fi than GRRM's stuff: The Windup Girl

Unfortunately it isn't available as an ebook anymore.
Click the link under "Tell the publisher" and try to change that

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0886773687/ref=kinw_rke_rti_1

If you should ever like to pick it up again, and for everyone who reads this outside of a class, I really recommend a guide through the book. Any honest appreciation of Ulysses hinges on the demand it makes on its reader; the immensity of its achievement is outside the realm of most folks. I know that sounds snobby as hell, but Joyce was a literary genius, and I was a snobby English major.

The Bloomsday Book helped me immensely. Realistically, you should posses an encyclopedic knowledge of Catholicism, Literature and Irish history. If you lack that, turn to this guy.