@jackdandar That part is not so exciting, yes, but the book has several beautiful places. Otherwise I agree with all of your listed books, they are really good.

Just some of the books on my shelf worth reading:

Non-Fiction:
Bill Bryson - A Short History of Everything
Brian Fagan - The Great Warming
Giancarlo Casale - The Ottoman Age of Expansion
Jack Weatherford - Genghis Khan
Jared Diamond - Collapse - Guns Germs, and Steel
KR Bartlett - Development of European Civilization
Lars Brownworth - Lost to the West
Niall Ferguson - Empire - The Ascent of Money - Worlds at War
Norman Cantor - In the Wake of the Plague
Susan Wise Bauer - History of the Medieval World

Fiction / SciFi / Fantasy / Horror:
Alastair Reynolds - Terminal World - Century Rain
Allen Steele - Coyote series
Bernard Cornwell - Warlord 1/2/3 - The Grail Quest 1/2/3 - The Saxon Chronicles 1-6 - Agincourt
Brian Keene - Urban Gothic - The Rising
Brian W Aldiss - Helliconia Spring/Summer/Winter
Charles Sheffeild - Summertide/Divergence/Transcendence
Charles Stross - Glasshouse
China Mieville - Perdido Street Station - The City & The City - Embassytown
Edward Rutherfurd - New York - The Rebels of Ireland 1&2
George R.R. Martin - A Game of Thrones 1-5+
Greg Bear - Eon - Eternity
Iain M Banks - The Algebraist
Joe McKinney - Dead City
Kim Stanley Robinson - Red/Green/Blue Mars - A Short Sharp Shock
Margaret Atwood - Oryx and Crake - The Handmaid's Tale
Micheal Marshall Smith - Spares - Only Forward
Neal Stephenson - Anathem - Cryptonomicom - Snow Crash - The Diamond Age
Neil Gaiman - American Gods - Anansi Boys - Neverwhere
Paolo Bacigalupi - Pump Six - Ship Breaker - The Windup Girl
Peter Marinker - Earth Abides
Robert A Heinlein - Starship Troopers
Robert Charles WIlson - Darwinia - A Bridge of Years - Julian Comstock -Spin/Axis/Vortex
Stephen King - Under the Dome
Ted Kosmatka - The Games

Have you seen the website goodreads?

@kaner - I love the Jared Diamond stuff, have read both of those plus "The Third Chimpanzee". I have and have read the Bryson one too and like how he can infuse a bit of wit into the story of the Earth and mankind

concerning "Moby Dick" above, what a truly awful book, much better is "Moby Dick in Pictures" by some guy from Dayton, OH who for each page of the book has made a drawing or piece of art to represent what happens on the page, very creative and fun, with the bonus that you don;t have to torture yourself reading Melville

Dickie Moe... Dickie Moe...

Sorry, havign flashback to an old Tom & Jerry cartoon.

@kaner.....Niall Ferguson without Pity of War? Ascent of Money had so many ticky-tacky errors from bad editing and fact checking that I found it distracting.

@Adalephat I agree, some parts are absolutely spectacular, but I had to skip that part, it was impossible for me.

Another great book is Bowl of Cherries by Millard Kaufman.

No one mentioned Robert Asprin's Myth Adventure series since the 2nd book Myth Conceptions deals with war.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had Sir Nigel and The White Company both books dealing with the English/French Hundred Year War.

A song of ice and fire! I just finished reading Clash of Kings and I have to say I'm hooked to the series. A good expose of characters and he's never afraid to rip your heart out and kill a few of the ones you like.

And earlier you all were talking about the Hobbit movies. I am so psyched for those. I've been watching his web-blogs for months. The next one is due to be out soon. Anyways, for anyone who wants to get a little behind-the-scenes sneak peak, here ya go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqaUk-r8DBk

But for books....alas, I don't have much time to read (other than Game of Thrones) with my schoolwork. I would say Ender's Shadow was very enjoyable, and if you want a challenging read, try A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by Joyce. Its a very difficult read, but if you just enjoy good writing (moreso than a good story, which this one is not, imo) then Joyce is an excellent choice.

Song of Ice and Fire for President!!!

I have watched the series Game of Thrones (excited for the season finale on Sunday), and it has made me want to read the books, however what is deterring me from it is the sheer page length of the novels.

Lord of the Flies!!

Eh, you don't even realize how long they are, fasces. The thousand pages just fly by

Im surprised no one has mentioned the Wheel of Time series. Exceedingly long, and the middle books get slow, but a favorite of mine. Also interesting is the Mistborn trilogy for its unique magic system.

@GF: thats what generally happens when I read good books, however starting them is another thing...

It has a good beginning, imo.

Fasces, the books are so much better than the HBO series too. I know that makes me sound like an old fart purist, but they are simply that damn good. I watched the first season on HBO and loved it so much I went out and bought all the books. I'm a terribly slow reader, but I just devoured the pages and couldn't set them down. I even stopped playing (gasp) Diplomacy to read these books. Trust me, if you read the books, you'll wipe your ass with the HBO liner notes!

"It has a good beginning, imo."
By begining, I mean the first paragraph...

"Fasces, the books are so much better than the HBO series too. I know that makes me sound like an old fart purist, but they are simply that damn good. I watched the first season on HBO and loved it so much I went out and bought all the books. I'm a terribly slow reader, but I just devoured the pages and couldn't set them down. I even stopped playing (gasp) Diplomacy to read these books. Trust me, if you read the books, you'll wipe your ass with the HBO liner notes! "
The book is better then the movie (or in this case the series) 9 times out of 10. It doesn't make you an old fart, just movies (or in this case the series) generally cut out parts because they are limited by length, while a book is as long as the author wants it to be.

I'm the slowest reader I know, being dyslexic... So 1000 page books are hardly my style, especially when there is 5 books in the series...

Next time I am traveling, I will probably purchase the first book to read (generally the only times that I read is when on vacation, especially on the long flights)

@fasces - You should get audio books then. You can sit back and listen to it read to you faster than you could read it and many audiobooks are unabridged. I first discovered Ender's Game that way and also "read" Post Captain that way before reading the sequels and then "rereading" them in print form.

D.D. Guttenplan - American Radical: The life and times of I.F. Stone
Harvard Lampoon - Bored of the RIngs (paperback)
Holmes - Laski Letters: The correspondence of Mr. Justice Holmes and Harold J. Laski 1916-1935. M.D. Howe, ed. [Abridged by Alger Hiss] paperback, 2 volumes.
Russell Shorto - The Island at the Center of the World
Russell F. Weigley - The Age of Battles: The quest for decisive warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo

Aristotle. The Constitution. [recover in the late 19th Century from papyri and fragments, this constitutional treatise demonstrates how the ancient Athenians struggled to make judicial courts more honest than we can, and how the 99% got power away from the one percent. ]] Penguin edition translated by P.J. Rhodes, paperback
Norman Cantor. Inventing the Middle Ages. [ A tell-all faculty book; you will never again fully trust professors who have inherited wealth; also a look inside the Inklings and the drinking habits of J.R.R. Tolkien. ]
Victor Davis Hanson. The Wars of the Ancient Greeks. [ Greece and Magna Graecia in battles from 700 B.C.E. through Alexander The Great's trek to Afghanistan ]

If you like A Song of Ice and Fire and or The Hunger Games, you'll almost certainly like the Mistborn trilogy.

So, Game of Thrones question (don't read if you haven't watched the season 2 season finale since is contains spoilers)

Who sacked Winterfell? like I can't imagine the Iron People sacking the city with just 19 men (especially after the scene before they surrendered), which would mean the castle would be back under control of Robb Stark, and like hell would he sack his own capital.

*hint - who did Rob Stark send to retake Winterfell?

(can't remember his name, but I know who you mean) so the guy who he sent north betrayed him? If so what did he gain from sacking the castle?

I suppose I'll have to wait for season 3 to find out, or read the books, which I am fully intent on doing

I 'read' them via audio-book just like YouCan'tHandleTheTruth, you'll be amazed how many books you can 'read' while doing other things.

@fasces - Theon Greyjoy sacked Winterfell, with a crew of about 20 men. He betrayed Rob Stark and sacked it in the name of House Greyjoy and Pyke.

"I 'read' them via audio-book just like YouCan'tHandleTheTruth, you'll be amazed how many books you can 'read' while doing other things."
I can't do that, if I am doing 'other things', I'll forget half of what is said in the audio book.

give it a shot - you can't obviously do much in the way of higher mental tasks, but doing things like the household cleaning or cooking, gardening etc... you can do more than you think.