Recommended Me a Novel...

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Having aggressively consumed everything on my shelf, I'm looking for a fresh new book to read. I want something...

Fun.
Interesting.
Not painfully long.
Not boring.
Meaty.
In English.
Grammatically correct.
Either dark or with a really good reason not to be.
Not by Stephen King.
That I haven't read.
Not very cheesy.
Probably not involving Conan the Barbarian.


Thanks in advance!

[Xyk]

The Stranger by Albert Camus.
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

The hithchikers guide series.

[Gnoman]

Try The Clan of The Cave Bear. It's about the Ice Age.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

The Stranger by Albert Camus.
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

The hithchikers guide series.

The first three are too old, and the last I've already read.

[Gaelbert]

Nemesis by Isaac Asimov
One of my favourite books.

[Gnoman]

I preferred Nightfall.

[Lord Seth]

The Dresden Files series. The first two books aren't as good as the later ones though.

It might qualify as "painfully long" I guess, though, as there's a fair amount of books in the series.

[Dr.Epic]

Treasure Planet

An old one you probably read (who hasn't), but still a great book that I only recently read.

[Brewdude]

Tales of the Dying Earth, By Jack Vance.

[Mystic Muse]

Treasure Planet

An old one you probably read (who hasn't), but still a great book that I only recently read.

Wait, there's a treasure planet book? I thought that was just a futuristic retelling of the story of treasure island?

[aart lover]

the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. about the darkest book i can think of that isn't by Stephen King. very interesting as long as you've got a decent vocabulary:smalltongue:. certainly hooked ME when i started reading it.

[Maxios]

The entire Discworld series :smallcool::smallcool:

[Amiel]

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman; it's a showcase of what Neil Gaiman is (actually) good at, writing short stories.

[falco]

The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch. It fits every single one of your points, except possibly "That I haven't read."

Also, the Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny, which probably count as painfully long taken as a whole, but the individual books are pretty short.

[Bhu]

Anything by Christopher Moore

[Temotei]

I enjoyed the Night Angel Trilogy. I hear Black Prism is pretty sweet, too, though I haven't read it. The trilogy and the lone book are by Brent Weeks, both.

[thegurullamen]

The Dresden Files series. The first two books aren't as good as the later ones though.

It might qualify as "painfully long" I guess, though, as there's a fair amount of books in the series.

Seconded. And I love the first two; blasted through them faster than any non-Dresden book since.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Humorous scifi with its darker moments.

[Knaight]

The novels of A Song of Ice and Fire are all glorious. They may be considered too long. Fevre Dream is a good alternative.By another author, and much lighter -though still dark if one really looks at what is going on below the surface and what one can expect to emerge from the situations as they are left- is The Journey of the Catechist. Its very unique in some ways, and as such worth reading to see if it is to your taste.

I must stress a particular book however, moreso even than those listed above. Its by a reasonably well known author, but not one inevitably brought up. Nor is it the most liked of his books. It simply has a good chance of being the best. The Lions of Al-Rassan is one of the best books I've ever read. At its very simplest it could be called the story of two good people who end up on the opposite side of a war, but that disregards many of the characters within and many of the stories of which the greater narrative is made.

[Giygasfan]

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman; it's a showcase of what Neil Gaiman is (actually) good at, writing short stories.

See, I have to disagree here. American Gods and Anansi Boys are both (in my opinion) wonderful modern fantasy, and Good Omens, by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is probably one of my favorite novels.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

See, I have to disagree here. American Gods and Anansi Boys are both (in my opinion) wonderful modern fantasy, and Good Omens, by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is probably one of my favorite novels.

Yes, Gaiman is good at writing novels, but I REALLY like his short stories.

PS. I'm checking out the stuff all of you recommended.

[Lord_Gareth]

The Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix is awesome (begins with Sabriel), as is his Keys to the Kingdom series (beginning with Mister Monday).

[Yrcrazypa]

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker was a good read. Short though, I read the whole thing in about two hours.

[Aidan305]

Name of the Wind — Patrick Rothfuss
Good Omens — Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
American Gods — Neil Gaiman

[Asheram]

Gardens of the moon - A tale of the Malazan book of the fallen.
By Steven Erikson

I won't tell you the plot... It's almost impossible without spoiling. But it's good, and it's grim. One of the darkest books I've read.

[The Glyphstone]

Howbout The Dark Half or The Regulators? They're by Richard Bachman, who is definitely not Stephen King.:smallsmile:

[pita]

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman; it's a showcase of what Neil Gaiman is (actually) good at, writing short stories.
But Smoke and Mirrors is a much stronger collection.

The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch. It fits every single one of your points, except possibly "That I haven't read."
Just wanted to second this one.

Gardens of the moon - A tale of the Malazan book of the fallen.
By Steven Erikson

I won't tell you the plot... It's almost impossible without spoiling. But it's good, and it's grim. One of the darkest books I've read.

Malazan is the frickin definition of painfully long. It's great, but I'm on book 3 and it's entirely "WHEN DOES THIS END!?!?"

My own personal recommendation is The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, which may be a little long for your tastes, but I love it.
If you want something a little shorter, maybe John Dies At The End by David Wong or Neuropath by R. Scott Bakker. Two completely different books, both not too long, both easy reads, both among my top 10 favorite books of all time.

[The Big Dice]

How about Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks. Or Hyperion by Dan Simons. Or pretty much anything by Niven, Niven and Pournelle or Niven, Pournelle and Barnes. James Barclay's Ascendants of Estoria are worth chacking out. As is just about anything by Stephen R Donaldson. Heinlein has a huge catalog of books, as does Asimov. Phillip K ****, John Wyndham or Moorcock. The list goes on and on.

[The_JJ]

I can second a lot of the above, but I'd also throw on the Black Company, or really most Glen Cook.

Also, Dune.

Also, lots of things people have already said up there, particularly the Big Dice. Hyperion is awesome.

[Melayl]

Other than adding another voice for The Dresden Files, I'd also recommend pretty much anything by Mercedes Lackey and Patricia Briggs.

[Lord_Gareth]

Other than adding another voice for The Dresden Files, I'd also recommend pretty much anything by Mercedes Lackey and Patricia Briggs.

I must strongly recommend against Mercedes Lackey; she's hack fantasy at its hackiest and most generic, and her writing style is both dry and mechanically weak.

[The Glyphstone]

I must strongly recommend against Mercedes Lackey; she's hack fantasy at its hackiest and most generic, and her writing style is both dry and mechanically weak.

On the other hand, she's one of the most prominent successful fantasy authors who feature psionics alongside/in place of arcane/divine magic in the same fashion that D&D does, so she gets points for that.

[Lord_Gareth]

On the other hand, she's one of the most prominent successful fantasy authors who feature psionics alongside/in place of arcane/divine magic in the same fashion that D&D does, so she gets points for that.

I dunno, she's boring enough that the psychic fanboy [Me] failed to notice.

[blackjack217]

The Lost Fleet

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Please describe books when you recommend them so I don't have to look them up. When I look them up, I give in to the temptation to read the plot on Wikipedia and it spoils the whole experience. I have very little self-discipline, please respect that.

[Knaight]

On the other hand, she's one of the most prominent successful fantasy authors who feature psionics alongside/in place of arcane/divine magic in the same fashion that D&D does, so she gets points for that.

On the other hand, the Deyrini series does the same thing far better.

[The Glyphstone]

On the other hand, the Deyrini series does the same thing far better.

The existence of filet mignon doesn't make sirloin steak taste worse objectively, only by comparison. And sirloin steak can be darn tasty. (insert analogy where Lackey is compared to burned, rotten hamburger instead of steak here).

[Lord_Gareth]

The existence of filet mignon doesn't make sirloin steak taste worse objectively, only by comparison. And sirloin steak can be darn tasty. (insert analogy where Lackey is compared to burned, rotten hamburger instead of steak here).

Nah, she's more along the lines of steak-flavored soy.

[snoopy13a]

Please describe books when you recommend them so I don't have to look them up. When I look them up, I give in to the temptation to read the plot on Wikipedia and it spoils the whole experience. I have very little self-discipline, please respect that.

Look them up on amazon or barnes and noble's website. You'll get a basic overview (essentially what you would read on the inside of the dust jacket/back of a paperback) and reviews without spoilers.

[Douglas]

Dark, hmm? How's this for a dark beginning:
You know that Great Prophesied Hero that will Save The World that's such a huge cliche in epic fantasy? He came along 1000 years ago. He failed. The remaining blasted ash-covered landscape is now ruled in an absolute dictatorship by the tyrannical immortal Lord Ruler. Oh, and that 'ash-covered' bit? That's literal. The first line of the book is "Ash fell from the sky." The story focuses on a poor abused street urchin, definitely not a great hero, who gets recruited by a band of thieves with unusual talents to help in a plot to steal the Lord Ruler's treasury.

That's Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

[VanBuren]

The Stranger by Albert Camus.
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

The hithchikers guide series.

Which reminds me of The Man Who Was Thursday.

[JonestheSpy]

The Kraken, the latest novel by the amazing China Mieville. Amazing stuff that puts the Urban in Urban Fantasy. Cults, a Trekkie magician, a witch cop, spiritual union organizers, a crimelord Tatoo, freelance familiars, Londonmancers, and more. Mievillie has an amazing imagination and is a master of the English language. Check it out.

[Shyftir]

If you haven't read Michael Moorcock's Elric series. Go out now and buy them. They are a must for any fan of dark fantasy. Just remember whenever Elric starts to feel cliche its because other people copied Moorcock.

Before Sephiroth, there was Elric; before Drizz't there was Elric. Before Lestat, there was Elric. Or perhaps all of them are Elric.


Also thumbs up for The Dresden Files & A Song of Ice and Fire.

[JD ATLANTA]

Inferno by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle, if you can find a copy. A retelling of Dante's novel, but from the perspective of a science fiction author who dies and goes to hell. Interesting, funny, and moving.

The sequel is crap.

Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber are amazing. At least the first series. The second series is crap. Amber is hard to summarize. Just trust me on this - anyone who loves fantasy must read these books.

Or read outside fantasy for a while. December 6 by Martin Cruz Smith is about an American con-man who grows up in Japan, and the days leading up to Pearl Harbor. And it's funny. The culture is probably a bit more foreign than Middle Earth. Smith hasn't written a sequel, but I'm sure it wouldn't be crap. He also wrote Gorky Park, about a detective in Moscow, and it was excellent. The first sequel, Polar Star, is even better.

[Mewtarthio]

But Smoke and Mirrors is a much stronger collection.

Seconded a thousand times, though the OP did ask for a novel...


Dark, hmm? How's this for a dark beginning:
You know that Great Prophesied Hero that will Save The World that's such a huge cliche in epic fantasy? He came along 1000 years ago. He failed. The remaining blasted ash-covered landscape is now ruled in an absolute dictatorship by the tyrannical immortal Lord Ruler. Oh, and that 'ash-covered' bit? That's literal. The first line of the book is "Ash fell from the sky." The story focuses on a poor abused street urchin, definitely not a great hero, who gets recruited by a band of thieves with unusual talents to help in a plot to steal the Lord Ruler's treasury.

That's Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

If you'd rather have more than a blurb to go on, let me add that Mistborn features some amazing action scenes as well as one of the best consistent magic systems I've ever read. Sanderson manages to pull off the "mysterious magic thingy that nobody knows what it does" trope without it feeling like a Deus Ex Machina. That is pretty impressive, to say the least.

[The Unborne]

Inferno by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle, if you can find a copy. A retelling of Dante's novel, but from the perspective of a science fiction author who dies and goes to hell. Interesting, funny, and moving.

The sequel is crap.


That's pretty hilarious though expected based off the source material. Are you sure it wasn't intentional? XD

[Vaynor]

If you want short, dark, and interesting, check out Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century by Patrik Ouředník. It's about 120 pages, and exactly what it sounds like (also, it's written quite well in my opinion). Definitely worth checking out if you like history at all.

[Asheram]

Malazan is the frickin definition of painfully long. It's great, but I'm on book 3 and it's entirely "WHEN DOES THIS END!?!?"


d'Oh! I missed that part of the request.
Yeah, the Malazan book series Is Long... about 10.000 pages long over ten books.
But damn... It've got some of the most heartwrenching and heartwarming moments in any book I've read.

[Dmatix]

As others said, the Dresden Files books are a great read. Highly recommended. You might also want to try The First Law books by Joe Abercrombie- A fairly dark series, but nevertheless a very fun, and quite meaty, read.

[shadow_archmagi]

Dark, or with a really good reason not to be


Recommend Neil Gaimen's Neverwhere. It's about a magical fantasy world just beneath London, except that it's made entirely of the homeless so it's still a pretty grim place.

Good Omens, likewise, is pretty dark, because the world is ending, and the only thing standing between the Earth and total annihilation is a lot of sarcasm.

Also, while it isn't a novel, the book Lost to the West is one of the best histories I've ever read. It's a history of the Byzantines, and it's very well written and casts the Byzantines as being completely insane.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Dark, hmm? How's this for a dark beginning:
You know that Great Prophesied Hero that will Save The World that's such a huge cliche in epic fantasy? He came along 1000 years ago. He failed. The remaining blasted ash-covered landscape is now ruled in an absolute dictatorship by the tyrannical immortal Lord Ruler. Oh, and that 'ash-covered' bit? That's literal. The first line of the book is "Ash fell from the sky." The story focuses on a poor abused street urchin, definitely not a great hero, who gets recruited by a band of thieves with unusual talents to help in a plot to steal the Lord Ruler's treasury.

That's Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.
:smalleek:


The Kraken, the latest novel by the amazing China Mieville. Amazing stuff that puts the Urban in Urban Fantasy. Cults, a Trekkie magician, a witch cop, spiritual union organizers, a crimelord Tatoo, freelance familiars, Londonmancers, and more. Mievillie has an amazing imagination and is a master of the English language. Check it out.
That sounds cool. I'll check it out.


If you haven't read Michael Moorcock's Elric series. Go out now and buy them. They are a must for any fan of dark fantasy. Just remember whenever Elric starts to feel cliche its because other people copied Moorcock.

Before Sephiroth, there was Elric; before Drizz't there was Elric. Before Lestat, there was Elric. Or perhaps all of them are Elric.


Also thumbs up for The Dresden Files & A Song of Ice and Fire.
I dislike Drizz't and Lestat, but I'll check out Elric.


Inferno by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle, if you can find a copy. A retelling of Dante's novel, but from the perspective of a science fiction author who dies and goes to hell. Interesting, funny, and moving.

The sequel is crap.

Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber are amazing. At least the first series. The second series is crap. Amber is hard to summarize. Just trust me on this - anyone who loves fantasy must read these books.

Or read outside fantasy for a while. December 6 by Martin Cruz Smith is about an American con-man who grows up in Japan, and the days leading up to Pearl Harbor. And it's funny. The culture is probably a bit more foreign than Middle Earth. Smith hasn't written a sequel, but I'm sure it wouldn't be crap. He also wrote Gorky Park, about a detective in Moscow, and it was excellent. The first sequel, Polar Star, is even better.
Not really my thing.

[Adumbration]

The Black Company novels by Glen Cook. Start with The Black Company of the Books of the North trilogy and read more if it suits your interest. Kind of grimdark fantasy, but in a very good way.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Recommend Neil Gaimen's Neverwhere. It's about a magical fantasy world just beneath London, except that it's made entirely of the homeless so it's still a pretty grim place.

Good Omens, likewise, is pretty dark, because the world is ending, and the only thing standing between the Earth and total annihilation is a lot of sarcasm.

Also, while it isn't a novel, the book Lost to the West is one of the best histories I've ever read. It's a history of the Byzantines, and it's very well written and casts the Byzantines as being completely insane.

Sounds good. That shall also be looked into.

[Cyrion]

Perfume- This Story of a Murderer by Patrick Susskind

Grenouille is born in 18th Century Paris and is morally and physically repugnant. His one redeeming feature is that he has the equivalent of a photographic memory for smells. It is the story of his quest for the perfect smell and the murder he commits to achieve it. The writing is very interesting because all of the vivid descriptions are in terms of smells instead of sights. It's also quite dark and well written, though there's a slow stretch in the middle where he hides in a cave.


If you want dark fantasy and haven't already devoured it, read Poe. Yes, its old, but it's still juicy and delicious.

[The_JJ]

The Black Company novels by Glen Cook. Start with The Black Company of the Books of the North trilogy and read more if it suits your interest. Kind of grimdark fantasy, but in a very good way.

See, I already said this. :smallbiggrin:

I'll elaborate. The Black Company are a mercenary band working for the dark figure know only as Lady, since a powerful magician's name can be used against them. Meanwhile, the Rebel is awaiting the prophetized White Rose, a beautiful maiden who shall lead them to victory. While they wait, their powerful magicians are bent on overthrowing the Lady, especially her crack team of foreign mercenaries, who, incidentally, kinda lack heavy magical firepower.

Hijinks ensues, while our smart but mundane 'heroes' attempt to survive deadly foes and ever more worrysome allies.

That's the first book or so.

Hyperion is what happens when you take the Canterbury Tales story structure, slap it in an awesome Sci-Fi verse, mix in some John Keats (far more literally than you can imagine) and spice with Military SF, Cyberpunk, some horror fantasy, straight up horror, and a rather touching love story. BTW, touching love story ends up causing multiple wars.

[The Big Dice]

Hyperion is what happens when you take the Canterbury Tales story structure, slap it in an awesome Sci-Fi verse, mix in some John Keats (far more literally than you can imagine) and spice with Military SF, Cyberpunk, some horror fantasy, straight up horror, and a rather touching love story. BTW, touching love story ends up causing multiple wars.
And continuing into the Endymion books, of course.

And then there's Illium and Olympos. Which can be looked at as taking the Trojan Wars, mixing in science fiction and Greek mythology. Then seasoning with some distinctly surreal moments, reincarnations and modern day scholars observing all this at the behest of the gods.

Yeah, Dan Simmons is a great writer, but a bit weird.

[101jir]

You didn't exactly clarify "not painfully long." If you are into wolf stuff:

Anything Jack London (and don't worry, his short stories are not all like To Build a Fire, I can't think of the name, but there are a few about Native Americans that are dark. A bit too much for even me though in one case. Probably already read these though.)

The Sight and Fell by David Clement-Davies. A bit on the long side, but not "painfully" long IMO.

[WalkingTarget]

In addition to the Amber books, Zelazny had several other great books. Foremost in my mind is Lord of Light, sci-fi in the "indistinguishable from magic" variety where the ruling class has used their technology to set themselves up as the Hindu pantheon.

If you wind up liking Zelazny and Jim Butcher's narrative delivery, I can also recommend Steven Brust. Over the last (oh, goodness) 28 years, he's written 13 books in his main sequence of books, 3 (or 5 depending on how you label them) "historical romances" in the same setting that emulates Alexandre Dumas' musketeer books, and one outrigger book that combines that setting with traditional fairy tales, Marxist allegory (if you look for it), and Hungarian language/Grateful Dead song lyrics in-jokes.

The setting: fantasy with sci-fi underpinnings (that is, there are some sci-fi explanations for things that come up eventually, but you can treat it as fantasy for the most part). The principle character of the main books is a human living in the Empire of (for lack of a better way to describe them quickly - please leave preconceptions at the door) Elfs who begins the series as an assassin working for the setting's equivalent of the Mafia, things develop from there, though. It's close to an example of a Tippy-verse as the easy access to Sorcery has allowed several advances - teleportation, resurrection spells, etc, and it's pretty well thought out as far as how those possibilities have effected the way the society works. It's also one of the few series of books I know that is told out of chronological order that I think actually works.

The books are, for the most part, stand-alone, but I personally recommend publication order. As of tomorrow he's up to #13 out of a "planned" 19 books, but it's a personal story more than an overarching epic and the books can generally be read in an afternoon. They're also a lot of fun.

[H Birchgrove]

Josha, do you like detective fiction, especially the "hardboiled"/gritty variety? I can recommend Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op novels Red Harvest (which possibly inspired Akira Kurosawa to make Yojimbo) and The Dain Curse, his Sam Spade novel The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key (also an inspiration for Kurosawa) and The Thin Man, in which he shows a more humorous side. He also wrote short fiction.

I'm also found of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer; they're dark and cynical as well, Spillane's prose may not be as good and he wasn't as talented in creating mysteries, but he had a great sense of dark humour. (The first six novels have been collected in two TPB editions, and Max Allan Collins' have started a series of Mike Hammer novels of his own.)

You may need to get past the use of slang (you said you wanted proper grammar) when it comes to both writers.

(I want to recommend Raymond Chandler's short stories and Philip Marlowe novels too including the first one The Big Sleep; I haven't yet read a novel or short story by him, but the dialogue I've skimmed through is either hilarious or "badass". Or both.)

If you have only seen the adaptations, I recommend Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and his Speculative Fiction, including his Professor Challenger novels and novellas.

Olaf Stapledon; simply put the missing link between H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke. Wrote for example two "standard" novels, Sirius and Odd John (I haven't read them yet) and two futuristic "chronicles" about the future of mankind - Last and First Men - and the universe - Star Maker. Both dark and positive, both tragic and heart-warming, and with vast scales and great Sense of Wonder.

If you like SF-authors like Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein, try John Wood Campbell Jr, who before he became their editor wrote some terrific short stories; collected in NESFA Press' A New Dawn. (Previous collections like Who Goes There? don't collect all stories.) While generally having a positive view on the potentials of humanity and technology, he's not obviously utopian (or dystopian) and has dark, existential themes running through the tales. He did some (presumably more light-hearted) Space Opera as well but I haven't yet read them.

I've discovered another SF-writer, Alfred Elton van Vogt (A.E. van Vogt for short) for not too many years ago; he isn't as good at the hard sciences like Asimov or Heinlein but he has a style of his own - love it or hate it -, can get pretty "mindblowing" when he gets philosophical/metaphysical, and really manage to create Sense of Wonder. I recommend NESFA Press short story collection Transfinite: The Essential A.E. van Vogt, Transgalactic which is Baen's collection of short stories and serials from pulp magazines and the novels Slan (about human persecution of a new breed of humans), The World of Null-A, (about intergalactic war, psychology, vast conspiracies etc) The War Against the Rull (about war against alien shape-shifters), and if you can find them at libraries, The Players of Null-A & Null-A Three (Null-A sequels), The Weapon Shops of Isher & The Weapon Makers (both collected in Empire of Isher), The Book of Ptath (science fantasy about power-mad gods and magic replacing science) and Quest for the Future (about time-travel), and other books as well. If you find him cliché it can be because 1. he wrote for pulp magazines and 2. he started clichés or they were new when he used them.

I have other suggestions on Golden Age SF if you're interested. :smallsmile:

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

The only detective fiction I read is by Agatha Christie. Every other mystery writer is a hack.

[JonestheSpy]

In addition to the Amber books, Zelazny had several other great books. Foremost in my mind is Lord of Light, sci-fi in the "indistinguishable from magic" variety where the ruling class has used their technology to set themselves up as the Hindu pantheon.

Lord of Light is indeed one of the absolute classics of science fiction.


The only detective fiction I read is by Agatha Christie. Every other mystery writer is a hack.

Don't you just love it when someone disses a whole field of authors right after they admit they don't read them? Ahem, there's a gentleman named Philip Marlowe who'd like to speak with you, by the way...

[Gnoman]

I never liked Hates Everybody Lady very much.

[Brewdude]

You know, I keep forgetting about this way out of print book. But used copies are available from Amazon associates all the time.

The Boomer Bible (http://www.amazon.com/Boomer-Bible-R-F-Laird/dp/1563050757/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301522446&sr=8-1) by R.F. Laird

It's the only book I've ever had to stop reading because I got exhausted laughing.

"In the Beginning, there was a big ball of gasses......"

"The way of the Romans was called Appropriation.
which meant to take something that someone else created,
change the names and faces involved,
and claim that it had always been yours in the first place."

[monomer]

I second Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett. Fun, dark, funny, and interesting, all in a nice fairly compact novel.

I would also recommend anything by Guy Gavriel Kay (with maybe an exception for The Fionavar Tapestry and Ysabel which just aren't really my thing, though other people I know love them). Mostly he writes fantasy/historical-ish fiction set in a world based loosely on Europe from the middle ages. My favorite is the Lions of Al-Rassan which takes place in an analog of medieval Spain. Another of my favourites is the Sarantine Mosaic basically takes place in an analog to the Byzantine Empire a few centuries after the fall of Rome, though it does come in two fairly lengthy volumes, so it may be longer than you are looking for.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I second Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett. Fun, dark, funny, and interesting, all in a nice fairly compact novel.

I would also recommend anything by Guy Gavriel Kay (with maybe an exception for The Fionavar Tapestry and Ysabel which just aren't really my thing, though other people I know love them). Mostly he writes fantasy/historical-ish fiction set in a world based loosely on Europe from the middle ages. My favorite is the Lions of Al-Rassan which takes place in an analog of medieval Spain. Another of my favourites is the Sarantine Mosaic basically takes place in an analog to the Byzantine Empire a few centuries after the fall of Rome, though it does come in two fairly lengthy volumes, so it may be longer than you are looking for.

I've already read Good Omens, but I'll check out Guy Gavriel Kay.

[Knaight]

I've already read Good Omens, but I'll check out Guy Gavriel Kay.

As has been stated multiple times, go with The Lions of Al-Rassan. Tigana is usually considered his best, but that is a load of BS.

[The_JJ]

And continuing into the Endymion books, of course. Ehh... Endymion was a mixed bag. It was nice to see a definitive end to it all, but it wasn't nessesarily the end I was hoping for. Sorta killed a lot of the mystery that had kept the rest running.

Plus the whole... babysit the ten year old and then have her do a 5 year time skip because apparently 15 is a perfectly acceptable age for a 30 year old to be making moves.

[pita]

d'Oh! I missed that part of the request.
Yeah, the Malazan book series Is Long... about 10.000 pages long over ten books.
But damn... It've got some of the most heartwrenching and heartwarming moments in any book I've read.
The Coltaine sequence, however, is worth all of those pages. I think he's my favorite leader in fiction.