the book recommendation thread

I think I recommended some books on another thread some time ago (or maybe it was on another forum), but I'll reiterate for this one:

Gates of Fire
by: Steven Pressfield
genre: Historical Fiction

This is an amazingly well written book that tells the tale of Three Hundred Spartans who stood against the multitudes of Persians at Thermopylae. Putting real faces to a historical story, Steven Pressfield makes you believe that this is how it really happened, and these characters where the ones that were there.

Jumper
by: Steven Gould
genre: Modern Fiction

What if you discovered that you were the only one in the world that had an amazing power? Would you use it for good or evil? Gould tells a classic "boy grows into a man" tale with a new sort of twist; a young adult discovers he can "jump" to places that he's been before, instantaneously, and how hard it really is to be a "superhero".

A Song of Ice and Fire series
by: George R. R. Martin
genre: Epic Fantasy

This is Epic Fantasy at it's pinacle. Magic and myth takes a back seat to character and story in this epic tale of warring kingdoms. Martin has begun a series that dwarfs all other fantasy stories in scope and character. His characters are believable, his world you breath, his history seems like it truly happened. Tolkein, Jordan, Williams, all other fantasy writers pale in comparison. Book 4 is out, and it is rumored to actually stop at 7 (unlike a few others, there is an end in sight! ). Seriously though, if you like fantasy, this is the series to get.

This Present Darkness/Piercing the Darkness
by: Frank E. Peretti
genre: Modern Biblical Fiction

This is an odd recommendation from me. I normally don't recommend a book (or two in this case, as it comes in a two-book volume) if it is steeped in a religious point of view, as many will either love it or hate it not by how it's written, but by the denomination that it follows. This is a well-written exception. It is almost fantasy-like in how it's written, so if you are not a follower of Christianity, it probably won't kill you . What if demons and angels were real, and warring constantly for your life all the time? How are you affected by something that you cannot sense? How can you affect them? A well written duo about the war between heaven and hell where angels and devils fight in modern times on a plane that cannot be seen by normal people, and how their fight affects how we live. I cannot recommend it enough.

There's a few to get you started.

Jam it back in, in the dark.