Good novels

[VoodooDali]

SciFi - anything by Philip K. D!ck. Totally unusual, no one like him has come along since he died. (He's the one that wrote the books/stories they based the movies Bladerunner, Total Recall, and Minority Report on - although the movies aren't nearly as good as the books).

Fantasy - latest books I've read. Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy - supposedly written for kids, has become popular with adults as well. Set in an alternate world - sort of Arcanum like 19th c. fantasy setting. I cannot recommend highly enough. These books have really stuck in my mind lately.

Also, China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, and his sequel, The Scar. Very original fantasy, with no cliche's whatsoever. Perdido Street Station won the Arthur C. Clarke award, the British Fantasy award, and was shortlisted for the Hugo award and the World Fantasy award. see http://www.panmacmillan.com/Features/China/about.htm for more info.

Still reading Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.

[frogus]

I second both of Vood's suggestions.
My favourite PKD book is 'A Scanner Darkly'. Minority Report - IMHO, the film is better than the book (apart from Tom Cruise ), but reading anything by him is guarenteed to be excellent (unless it is drug-fueling, dealer knocking on the door, agent on the telephone, money-fiction )

IMO Northern Lights was the best of that trilogy, but I am sure that you will not be able to avoid reading all of them once you've read that one...