I was sent Master and Commander in a book swap by Yersinia.
Last summer twickster sent me Why Elephants have big ears & Grooming Gossip and the Evolution of Language neither one of which I had ever seen but enjoyed a great deal.
I am currently halfway through Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuck. He is one weird dude!
A few come to mind - the ubiquitous GG&S, The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, A Prayer for Owen Meany …
Here’s a sampling of my SDMB-inspired To Read list:
Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
Longitude: The Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
Food in History - Reay Tannahill
Moo – Jane Smiley (academic satire)
The age of spiritual machines : when computers exceed human intelligence – Kurzweil, Ray
The secret life of dust : from the cosmos to the kitchen counter, the big consequences of little things – Holmes, Hannah
I Want That! How we all became shoppers by Thomas Hine.
The policy – Bentley Little (“a monstrous supernatural entity posing as an insurance company”)
Zelazny’s Amber Chronicles.
I read Eve’s work because of the SDMB.
Funny, the only boring part of Good Omens I can recall was the inside back cover… 
I just started to read Bad Astronomy, and am really enjoying it. After that I have a book of American Indian legends and myths, but then I’m going to read The Elegant Universe.
Wouldn’t know about the first or the third ones without SDMB.
Almost all of my recommendations come from the SDMB; I have already read about 25% of the stuff in this thread. Another 25% is in my “to read” piles. So I’ll mention one I found here that I don’t think has been brought up yet, A Simple Plan by Scott Smith. I don’t remember who recommended it but I enjoyed the hell out of it.
You know what’s sad? I actually took the book down, opened the front cover to read the title of the series, and then wrote down what I originally thought it was. :smack:
BTW, the first book is (reading off cover) A Game of Thrones.
Good Omens
Guns, Germs & Steel
The Years of Rice & Salt
The Straight Dope series
and probably 50% of my wish list is made up of stuff I’ve heard about from here.
Nope, that was me. But I can now count my life complete that I’ve gotten one other person to read it.
Count me in as another reader of Guns, Germs, and Steel thanks to the Dope. I can’t remember if it was here or at Fathom that someone recommended Diamond’s other book The Third Chimpanzee, but it was probably a Doper. I liked that even better. I’d lend you my copy, but Eonwe has it right now, I think. Maybe Good Omens, too, I can’t remember who recommended it to me now.
I have read a whole lot of the books mentioned in this thread, but I think it’s a coincidence. I think at least a couple books mentioned are from my recommendations! That’s pretty cool.
Guns, Germs & Steel and Terry Jones’ book about the Crusades.
Long ago, someone whose opinion I respect (but who I cannot remember now) recommended the police novels by Dan Mahoney which I have now read and enjoyed (mostly).
Based upon SDMB opinions I also asked for and received for Christmas last year the first three Lemony Snicket books, but have not been able to get into them. Maybe I just don’t have the right frame of mind or am expecting something different.
Perhaps you read an abridged version. Or oh, maybe a version that Pratchett wrote himself.
Several Dopers said that Perfume was the creepiest book they had read. Now I know why.
Almost forgot, I’d heard of Goedel, Escher, Bach long before coming here, but never sat down to read it until a number of Dopers listed it as an ‘essential book’. Glad I took their advice.
The Florence King Reader, which I love. Shout out to Fionne.
Sorry, Euty – and not just me, I’ve enticed others as well. Not quite a landslide yet, but at least a trickle. 
Another one for A Confederacy of Dunces.
You can make that two, assuming I ever track down a copy for myself.
The SDMB has turned me onto A Prayer for Owen Meaney (a book so good I’ll even forgive the SDMB for recommending Spider Robinson). Also, Invisible Cities (Italo Calvino), Good Omens, Notable American Women (Ben Marcus), A Confederacy of Dunces, and Red Harvest (Dashiel Hammet).