I was so angry at the end of QL that I threw a shoe at the TV. It was the first time I realized that TV writers didn't care about my petty feelings.

@avclub-1d04064d540beb34e0cc414561bc6f35:disqus I was going to post the exact same thing; that watching QL and Star Trek: Next Gen as a kid were what made me the sci-fi nerd I am today.

@avclub-cd1db6bdaab0f94ac28022bf20b6d1a6:disqus If you are going to read Dracula, I highly recommend reading the version edited by Leonard Wolf titled "The Essential Dracula." Wolf's notes throughout are hilarious and add a lot to the experience.

@avclub-c26473f2f4772a2a52e4690515ce6e75:disqus Oh I know; the man loves his white sausages. But as far as white sausage writer's go, he's probably got a pretty definitive list. I would definitely branch out from there since there are a lot of non-white and/or female writers that I really love and deserve a spot on…

Go to www.worldcat.org, which is a giant library catalog for books around the world.

Handmaid's Tale is her most famous, and it was the first book of her's that I read, so I would start there. Blind Assassin is probably her most ambitious book, a story within a story within a story, also pretty great but quite a bit longer. If you prefer your literature with a bit of sci-fi Oryx and Crake would be a…

Definitely read Jonathan Strange. Great book!

I don't know if From Hell could be considered creepy, but it certainly is fucked up. And awesome.

Well here are a couple of my recent favorites:

I'm not sure why Wise Man's Fear gets so much hate. Is it the greatest Fantasy novel of our time? No. Was it enjoyable and taking place in an interesting world with (mostly) interesting characters? Yes. Agree with @jmurder187 if you liked the first one, you will like the second one.

For Williams, Night of the Iguana is one of his other major plays that is still performed. And if you want to try a something a bit different, Not About Nightingales was an early work that was rediscovered (by Vanessa Redgrave!) and finally staged in the late 90s.

I did think Ellroy stretched himself a bit. Blood's A Rover certainly isn't a bad book, in fact it probably is his best book, but I just never found myself sucked in the way I usually do when I read. Not exactly sure why.

Definitely try a different book! Really the first few books are the worst ones. I'd recommend Small Gods, which is a bit of a one-off but really excellent, or try Guards, Guards which introduces Vimes and the City Watch. Small Gods is probably the better book, but Guards, Guards introduces you to arguably the best…

Impressive! Look forward to hearing about your progress on these boards.

I've been thinking of doing the same type of thing, making a big book list of doom. Thought about starting with Harold Bloom's syllabus (yes he can be an ass, but he would at least list all of the big western classics), and then branching out from there. How'd you come up with your own list?

Are you just starting to read Pratchett? The Discworld books don't get really good until about Reaper Man, and then it is just an amazing of stretch of awesome with a few detours to pretty damn good depending on which characters you like the best.

Finally finished Blood's a Rover which I had been reading forever. I appreciated it and enjoyed trying to tease out the actual historical facts from Ellroy's fiction. The style got a bit too hard-boiled for me at times, but I have a feeling that if I had a penis, I probably would have loved it rather than simply…

I didn't know Atwood was writing another book about that world! You just made my day @avclub-9c33ea7188cb0fc5d524f4ad1e8d8fc5:disqus .

Pride and Prejudice is probably my favorite book. Much funnier (and at least I thought) easier to read than most people expect it to be.

If you are anything like me, you'll find the first story of Cloud Atlas a bit of a slog, but stick with it. The first story ended up being one of my favorites by the end of the book.