I'm sorry but there are too many great compositions to list.  Instead, I will be recommending lists of books:

The List of Book Lists

Your list of science fiction novels

Here is another list of science fiction located at wikipedia's sister project, Wikisource, which is an online library of free content publications. (books not copyrighted can be read for free here).

Wikisource, Wikiversity (another sister project of Wikipedia's), and Yahoo! Chess are the places I currently spend most of my free time.

If you want a really good book, one that will make you think, try reading:

House of Leaves

by Mark Z. Danielewski

While I don't get into scifi/fantesy much, two authors with good stories are

Fred Saberhagen Berserker books

Jack Chalker.

Anything by Bernard Cornwell (the Sharpe series)

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

1985 by Anthony Burgess

Also, as many have mentioned, Isaac Asimov is great.

If you read, and enjoy, any of Orwell's or Huxley's work then check out Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.  Not technically Sci-Fi but great reads either way.

I don't know if my suggestions constitute Sci-Fi to you, I'm a heavy reader but genre work isn't my cup-o-tea.

Thanks for the help, i got Foundation last night, but il be needing another book so il be looking through everything here :P

foundation is reallly short.

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Thanks for the help, i got Foundation last night, but il be needing another book so il be looking through everything here :P

foundation is reallly short.

You should read the Trilogy:  Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation.  I suspect you will really enjoy them, and they are very easy reads. 

Get the Assassin Triology from Robin Hobbs, they are a great read!

this thread has inspired me to go out looking for a book.... anyone have any suggestions of fantasy adventures. A story like one you would play/see in games like NWN, NWN2, BG and etc? My hard drive with all my games died so i need something to keep me entertained without having to spend a day installing and fixing what was deleted.

Originally posted by tvalentine

this thread has inspired me to go out looking for a book.... anyone have any suggestions of fantasy adventures. A story like one you would play/see in games like NWN, NWN2, BG and etc? My hard drive with all my games died so i need something to keep me entertained without having to spend a day installing and fixing what was deleted.

R.A. Salvatore and his Forgotten Realms books. He writes many, many books, nearly all of which are tied into these games you mentioned. He also created the Dark Elves lore as we know it today, for the most part.

If I were you, I'd probably start with The Dark Elf Trilogy or anything that catches your eye from Salvatore. You'll start picking up similar authors and other books based on that lore without much effort once you start with that.

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Yeah, so if you're after books about those games, which are based on The Forgotten Realms, just pick up any book with the Forgotten Realms tag.. there are many.

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Originally posted by tvalentine
this thread has inspired me to go out looking for a book.... anyone have any suggestions of fantasy adventures. A story like one you would play/see in games like NWN, NWN2, BG and etc? My hard drive with all my games died so i need something to keep me entertained without having to spend a day installing and fixing what was deleted.

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David Gemmell - "Legend" a clasic that is one of the best heroic fantasy novels ever written.

For adventure fantasy that doesn't tax the brain, The Belgariad by David Eddings (aimed at a teenage audience but a fun adventure read)

A few recommendations:

This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman: A brilliant and very original sci-fi story about a girl on the run from practically everyone because of the secrets in her head.

The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross: OK. Imagine this: HP Lovecraft, Ian Fleming, and Bill Gates have a 3-way love child. That's what this feels like.

 Necroscope by Brian Lumley: Kinda the same idea as the above story. Only with vampires.

Everything and anything written by Robert Heinlein. Everything.

The Black Company by Glen Cook. Fantasy with a dark, military-minded edge to it.

Starship Troopers

Originally posted by tvalentine

this thread has inspired me to go out looking for a book.... anyone have any suggestions of fantasy adventures. A story like one you would play/see in games like NWN, NWN2, BG and etc? My hard drive with all my games died so i need something to keep me entertained without having to spend a day installing and fixing what was deleted.

Read magician by Raymond e fiest. that book is amazing

learn hebrew and read the Old Testament (TaNaKh) you will be amazed how much it was intentionally manipulated & changed into what is now the "english" OT.

edit:

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Originally posted by SgtFrog
iv actuall read the bible, quran (in arabic) and the torah (close translation given to me by some jewish dude :p)

they are all extremly intresting an ubelivebly close to each other. it amazes me sometimes that those three relegions hate each other when they are 95% the same.

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The three religions suffer enmity largely because their leaders have manipulated "scriptures" to reflect political views. Hence why it is important to try and access the original texts.

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terrantGod help me for responding to what seems like an obvious trolling.

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Exodus/Shemoth 31:18 the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God... so at least some "OT" was written since 1400BC.
The oldest copies of the OT we have are the 1947 Dead Sea Scrolls (First Century BCE copies) ps. early Hebrew consisted of 22 letters, all consonants.
Exodus 34:27 Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.

The greek nt (New Testament) was fabricated from mostly anonymous authors (i.e. ALL four records of the Gospel [Matthew, Mark, Luke, John] are anonymous, none authored by the person mentioned in their Title,) and intentionally misrepresents Yeshua the Christ's teachings with the dogma of saul (aka Paul, btw saul was Neither a Prophet from G NOR a Disciple of Christ... yet corpus paulinum [the foundation of the cartesian-eucledian rcc] is taught as "scripture" in christanity's nt)

Part of the reason i suggested one review "scripture" (!! the most important literature one can read in their lifetime, if , BIG if they intend to spend eternity with/near G!!) was so they have direct exposure to source material. Because that leads to the realization how over time those "scriptures" have been molested by man/ religious-political leaders to control mankind.

mohamud heard "voices" for 23 years and since he could not read nor write this Recitation (aka Quran) was passed down for those descendants of Ismael that had their birthright stolen by the jews.
Like the 950bce jew religion schismed into OT redaction sects (Jahwist [Judah] and Elohist [N Yisrael], both of which abandoned G and suffered enslavement punishment as a result.) Similarily the 700ce moslems schismed into two sects (Sheite and Suni) as did the 1500ce christains (catholic and protestant.)

Being able to evaluate how these groups manipulated "scripture" goes a long way to understanding the conflicts between and within these religions.

Mankind has a bad habit writing it's on "scripture" and passing it off as Devine Scripture.

Originally posted by billie

learn hebrew and read the Old Testament (TaNaKh) you will be amazed how much it was intentionally manipulated & changed into what is now the "english" OT.

iv actuall read the bible, quran (in arabic) and the torah (close translation given to me by some jewish dude :p)

they are all extremly intresting an ubelivebly close to each other. it amazes me sometimes that those three relegions hate each other when they are 95% the same.

Originally posted by billie

learn hebrew and read the Old Testament (TaNaKh) you will be amazed how much it was intentionally manipulated & changed into what is now the "english" OT.

God help me for responding to what seems like an obvious trolling.

The guy's looking for entertaining sci-fi or fantasy fiction to read. No, despite whatever your take on religions are, religious texts do not count.

Also, duh. Of course it has been changed. Also, you can't read most of the Old Testament in its original form. The Hebrew peoples spent a long time with only an oral tradition (no writings), until probably somewhere around 300-500 BC. The events they refer to were told and retold many times prior to that. So there's no way of even saying if even the oldest written copies of the Talmud/Torah realisitically reflect the original tellings.

My favorite Jack Kerouac book is proabably Desolation Angels. He is my favorite author.

I like fantasy, horror and science fiction.   But I'll recommend a damm good 'mainstream' book.    The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Think I got the last name wrong).    Its about a father and his young son trying to survive in a post apopolyptic* world.  Its very  bleak but its very good.  It won the pulitizer prize a couple of years ago.   Also being made into a movie coming out later this year.  

Its almost a zombie book without zombies if that makes any sense. 

Originally posted by terrant

A few recommendations:

 

This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman: A brilliant and very original sci-fi story about a girl on the run from practically everyone because of the secrets in her head.

The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross: OK. Imagine this: HP Lovecraft, Ian Fleming, and Bill Gates have a 3-way love child. That's what this feels like.

 Necroscope by Brian Lumley: Kinda the same idea as the above story. Only with vampires.

Everything and anything written by Robert Heinlein. Everything.

The Black Company by Glen Cook. Fantasy with a dark, military-minded edge to it.

 

I got the Atrocity Archives on my book shelf.   Haven't read it yet.   So many books and I'm not a voracious reader.   Sigh.

  Still going to heavily insist on American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I finished it the other day, and it's a pretty damn good read.

Has anyone read Neuromancer by William Gibson?  It was like reading anything by James Joyce - unreadable. It was like oil and water or something - cyberpunk and me just do not mix well at all.

Originally posted by declaredemer

Has anyone read Neuromancer by William Gibson?  It was like reading anything by James Joyce - unreadable. It was like oil and water or something - cyberpunk and me just do not mix well at all.

I have not, but i remember a friend having similer fealing about that book.

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Originally posted by SgtFrog

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Originally posted by declaredemer

Has anyone read Neuromancer by William Gibson?  It was like reading anything by James Joyce - unreadable. It was like oil and water or something - cyberpunk and me just do not mix well at all.

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I have not, but i remember a friend having similer fealing about that book.

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i love Neuromancer but i rarely recommend it as it is not so approachable. But if you want an unreadable Gibson novel then grabe "the difference engine" which he wrote with Bruce Sterling. I really wish i had never actually read that book.

If you want an approachable cyberpunk book pick up "Snow Crash" by Niel Stevenson

I am not sure if this was already said, but right now I am reading "The Dark Tower" serie from Stephen King and I must say I am really enjoying it !