Well it's not a book, but I recently read the short story El Ahogado más hermoso del mundo" and it's very very interesting. Highly recommend it if you can read Spanish.

The Warrior/Wizard/Dragon Heir Trilogy(Cinda Williams Chima)

Animal farm: Even if you dont know what it's satirical of, it's a great.

In my opinion, 1984 tore Animal Farm to pieces (although there's some NSFW stuff in 1984, but it's done tastefully). The book's ending is perhaps the most satisfying one I've ever had the pleasure to experience.

I see some love for Diana Wynne Jones here, who was one of my favourite authors as a kid. I'm seeing all these fantasy-fiction books I used to love back in the days! Garth Nix, Emily Rodda.. whoa

I generally like Stephen King's short stories, so I gotta throw out Everything's Eventual. There are some stories in there which are utterly brilliant.

I'm currently making my way through the Spook's series (Joseph Delaney) at the moment (called the Last Apprentice in America) and I hotta say it reallyvis a thrilling series. I also loved the Septimus Heap series (Angie Sage).
If you haven't heard of these, you probably will in the future, because they both are getting film adaptations, probably due out in the next couple of months or years!

Since Hunger Games is such a popular series, maybe I should point out something else the author has written. I enjoyed the Underland Chronicles, though it is debatable whether they are better than the Hunger Games.
@Chrysalis Hey, I read those too!
@Magikarp Everyone I know who's read 1984 says it's a powerful book, but I think it's too outrageous to take seriously. During the parts that were supposed to be the most touching, all I could think of was how unrealistic everything was. Animal Farm is something that I would actually believe happening, only without the animals.
@SirSmugleaf I remember that I used to see the Septimus Heap series dominate the shelves of every place I went.

OMG, The Dark Tower series is Stephen King's best material! I'm a big SK fan and this fantasy series is better than his horror stuff (which isn't bad either, btw). _{All paths serve the way of the beam. Ka.}

Also .... , I've read those DragonLance books a loooooooooong time ago. Good stuff there as well.

Seriously, you better read it now, if you still didn't read it.

I agree that Animal Farm is a great book. Lord of the Flies is also a good one, though I still need to finish that one...

Also, I was disappointed with The Great Gatsby. It started out strong, but I felt it got worse as the second half went on, culminating in an ending that I ultimately disliked and felt was unfitting.

I honestly dont know anyone who hasn't read this series by now. (or at least seen the movies)

I knew one guy who hadn't read them until recently, but yeah, it was practically required reading around here.

I did know one person that saw the first movie first and didnt like it so they refused to read the book. After about a year of pestering by family members they finally did. Once they finished the first book they didnt stop untill they finished the series. They still refuse to see the other movies though.

I've read the first Harry Potter novel (I have parts 2 and 5 as well in my book collection) and it was good fun. The movie bored me because it was literally word for word / scene for scene IDENTICAL to the book. So I stopped watching it halfway through and haven't seen any of the other movies (or read any of the other books ftm).

Well I will tell you this book three and six are probably the ones that are the most different from the movies. If you have seen the movies I suggest at least reading those two books.

I just remembered that I used to be a big fan of John Bellairs's supernatural mysteries. I forgot to mention this before because it's been a long time since I read any of them. John Bellairs is dead, however, so many of the books out there that star his characters are actually written by Brad Strickland, who is also pretty good. Anybody else like these stories?

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
A Song of Ice and Fire (series) by George R.R. Martin
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling (Although I sometimes find it hard to believe that anybody with even the slightest interest in them hasn't already read the books at this point.)
The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheis by Mary Shelley
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't by Stephen Colbert
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

EDIT: I'll second Animal Farm as well. I thought it was excellent.

Ahem!

Glad to know I'm not alone in disliking TGG. Seriously, just about everyone at my high school (it's required reading for Juniors) liked it, but for whatever reason I didn't like it.

I second not having read/seen the books. Just never got into them.

I didn't think the great Gatsby was horrible by any means, but I'd much prefer to read something else.
I didn't read Harry Potter when the books first came out because they were intimidatingly large. I still haven't read them, but it's mostly just tradition now. I've seen all the movies, however.

I haven't finished Harry potter. Read the first 2 books. I'll finish it eventually but sadly the internet/friends basically spoiled everything. I know what's going to happen but I'll still read them... eventually.
On my recommendations I will put the "Magic Thief Trilogy" (The Magic Thief, The Magic Thief: Lost and The Magic Thief: Found). It's a fantasy/magic book but it is NOT a rip-off of HP. (There is a wizarding school but only a little bit of the story takes place there). I also would recommend the "Dragon Slippers Trilogy" (Dragon Slippers, Dragon Flight and Dragon Spear) which I'm currently on the 2nd book of. The 1st one was fantastic.