So, so many! Sarem by Rutherford and anything by Taylor Caldwell are at the top.

I LOVED Ender's Game. Have you read Orson Scott Card's Lost Boys. That was amazing.

"Enders Game" for sure.
"Mists of Avalon" by MZ Bradley.
"Here be Dragons" series by Sharon Kaye Penman (historical fiction)
"The Bridge to Teribithia" ... which I saw the preview for the movie and WOW ... it is going to be awesome.
The entire "Elfquest" graphic novels by Richard and Wendy Pini (in my earlier years)
"The Other Boleyn Girl" by Phillipa Gregory (great historical fiction)
'Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" by Tolkien ... of course!!!

To keep up on what's happening with movie adaptations:

"Enders Game' - in production
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400403/

"Bridge to Terabithia" - out soon
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398808/

Oh ... and I need to add the Harry Potter series ... next one due out July 13th!
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808475612/trailer

Christopher Unborn by Carlos Fuentes
Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker Trilogy and Dark Teatime of My Soul
Sue Townsends Diary of Adrian Mole
Anything by Ken Bruen, Janet Evanovich, Reginald Hill, Sarah Dunant, Sarah Caudwell, P. D. James, John Brady and whole lot more (what can I say I'm a mystery fan)

Books that I couldn't put down because I kept hoping they would get better or just wanted to get the ordeal over with: Dan Brown's DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons

sigh, so many books, so little time

'Hey Nostradamus' and 'Miss Wyoming' by Douglas Coupland
'The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios' by Yann Martel
'Barney's Version' by Mordecai Richler
and...
the 'Series of Unfortunate Events' books by Lemony Snicket
(I've read the first 11 and assume the last two are as funny and neat)

There have been so MANY over the years.

I remember the first book I could not put down:

F. Paul Wilson's "Healer"

I see there are a fair number of SF readers! Good show!

whenever the new harry potter books come out, i am usually the freak in line at the bookstore at midnight to buy it right away, and i'm usually up until 4am reading it. my whole life is on hold until i finish that book.

Various Peter Mayle books about France: Year in Provence, French Lessons... I enjoy his sense of humour.

The Da Vinci Code -- which I planned to not like and only read it because my father-in-law was insistent to loan it to me. The historical stuff was far fetched and, at times, ridiculous. But if you ignore the religious controversy and see it as just another suspense, chase novel, it is very engaging -- in a cheap, popcorn book kind of way.

Any of the Harry Potters, I still go through them all every spring in about a week, "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" by Douglas Adams, ok, really anything by Adams, Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlen, etc. "The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester, and any of the Dragonlance books written by Weiss and Hickman, I find very difficult to put down. Oh, and to prove I'm not just a sci-fi fantasy geek, I couldn't put down "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

PaganMom said: ""The Bridge to Teribithia" ... which I saw the preview for the movie and WOW ... it is going to be awesome."

I dunno, I don't really remember there being any epic battles in the novel...looks to me like they're trying to make it like Narnia or Lord of the Rings or something. I just remember the book being really really sad, something they don't even hint at in the trailers.

Kite Runner

...and Collected Works of Robert Burns

Any of the "...in death" books by JD Robb

Robert Burns? Mike are you going out for haggis tonight or sometime soon?

"A Child Called It" by David Peltzer. I ignored my phone, everything. Literally could not put it down.

"The Shining" by Stephen King scared me so bad I couldn't get out of bed to turn the light out, so I just kept reading.

All the Harry Potter books
All Nora Roberts and J.D. Robbs

Mists of Avalon by MZ Bradley was excellent. The Kite Runner is absolutely devastating and is an incredible first novel by Khaled Hosseini. I can never put down any of the Harry Potter series either, I've read all 6 through twice and will be embarking on a 3rd time before the last one comes out. I loved Gulliver's Travels by Swift, and of course The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

Although I'm not usually a science fiction fan, one of the best books I've ever read was "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus" by Orson Scott Card. A fantastic book.

Guy Gavriel Kay - The Fionavar Tapestry (three book set)

Joel...all of those books brought a smile to my face...the curious incident...and kite runner ..yes, excellent books, and the classics..swift.

anyhow, mystery genre ( Laurie King , if I could bold the name, i would. "BeeKeepers Apprentice" ...the first in the Mary Russell series..historical fiction built around a a 15-year young woman. Mary Russell who is bright, alone & outspoken...and basically trips across an older jaded Sherlock Holmes. creative, fabulous series..Then there is here series of detective, kate in SanFrancisco, and about midway through the first book you realize something, and go, heh, how did I miss that...I had to go back and re-read, told me a lot about my presumptions..and then, Folly, oh, and "A darker place" about cults, religion. Anyhow, well worth the read, but, if doing any of the series, please read #1 of each first.

The Alieniest by Caleb Carr, great themese set in historical new york, alienist is historical term for psychiatrist

I read so much sci-fiction, particularfy fantasy from 11 to 25 I would be hardpressed to pick any so, will name those that just hold special places for opening doors to new ideas
when i was about 11 -- i discovered heinlein , Stranger in a Strange Land
The Chrysalids by Wyndham
series by an author who slips my mind right now, but, was about "the people", it was a great book about being "other"
Anne McAffrey -- Dragonriders --- aaah, how i wished for a dragon of my own

Angels and Demons...by the "AntiChrist" Dan Brown

A Study in Scarlett...Arthur Conan Doyle

Harry Potter...those are the only books that exercise my imagination these days, I love them...

Dan Brown's...I know there's a lot to criticize, but come on, it's fun fiction.

Anything by Agatha Christie! She was a brilliant writer.

Daughter of Fortune - Isabel Allende
Stolen Lives - Malika Oufkir

I Know this Much is True - Wally Lamb

Mists of Avalon gets a 3rd vote
Also, Alias Grace - Margret Atwood
River God - Wilbur Smith
Pern Series - Anne McCaffery

I spurned novels for a long time while the kids were small - too hard to break away to feed the kids, or do laundry or anything of any value aside from turning the next page - Magazines kept me going in fits and starts.

I am a constant reader. But some of the best books that I've read are:

The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
End of Faith - Sam Harris
Christianity without God - Lloyd Geering (really love him)

Cathi

"Gates of Fire" - a novel about the battle of Thermopylae.

The whole Ender's Game trilogy.
All the Harry Potters
Angels and Demons -- fluff but engaging
Da Vinci Code -- fluff but engaging
The Heart of Christianity (Borg)
Rescuing Christianity from Fundamentalism (Spong)
The Pagan Christ
The Secret Garden
The Canon User's Guide to the EOS 30-D Digital Camera

Some of my favourates include:

Good Grief by Lolly Winston - a funny, compassionate look at the grieving process

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson - I can't wait for The Other Side of the Bridge to come out in paperback

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell - an incredible book - devastating, compassionate exploration of spirituality, the missionary movement and the unintended consequences of our actions. If you read this you MUST read the follow up book "Children of God"

The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd

The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards

The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls

And yes, I also anxiously await the final installment of Harry Potter having devoured all six earlier books.

Harry Potter, especially IV, was especially difficult to put down.

I also loved Memoirs of a Geisha.

Has anyone read The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell? It's the story of a Jesuit priest and others who travel to a distant planet to make contact with an alien race. It's an incredible book that I could not stop reading. She wrote a follow up too but I've never read it. Still thinking about the first one. I don't want to give it away, but the astronauts' experience leads to some pretty heavy theological implications, imho.

Change: see above - The Sparrow is an awesome book. You MUST read Children of God. This is a situation where the story isn't really complete until you read the sequel. You won't be disappointed.

I really enjoyed "Survivor" by Chuck Palahnuik and "Boy's Life" by Robert R. MacCammon. Just finished "Next" by Michael Chreiton (sp?) - it was ok, but the ending seemed rushed.

Holy crap! I'm 40 pages into the library copy of Ken Wilber's "A Brief History of Everything," and I just ordered my own copy from Amazon.ca. I've got this urge to make notes and underline something on almost every page, and the library frowns on that sort of thing.

I can't remember who on wondercafe recommended this book to me, but whoever you are, THANK YOU! He sets out things in clear English that I have been struggling to express - on topics like consciousness, the evolution of the Universe, the role of Spirit, and a constantly emerging "God." Highly recommended!

Books with a religious view but total fiction that I loved and could not put down because they make you think are

timothy Findleys- Not wanted on the Voyage (About noah's ark)

James Patterson - Cradle and All (About the Virgin Mary being reborn in 2 girls. I will double check the titrale)