Mr Johnson
Cider with Rosie
If you enjoy long novels, try the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I found them a very good series of books, but you may not. They have history, fiction, romance, time travel, adventure… something for everyone. (yes, even scenes set in wartime)
Outlander
Dragonfly in Amber
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
The Outlandish Companion (could be cheating, since this is a fairly lenghty companion to the first four books in the series)**
The Fiery Cross
**
F_X
I second Foucault’s Pendulum – it will end up on your re-readable favorites list.
If you like hefty books, you can’t go wrong with Les Miserables, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and The Brothers Karamazov. There’s also the works of James Michener (I recommend The Source and Hawaii), and arguably the longest book in the English language, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (a great read, but it may hamper you if you’re trying to finish 50 in one year).
Authors worth checking out:
Ann Patchett – Bel Canto, The Patron Saint of Liars, The Magician’s Assistant
Armistead Maupin – all of the Tales of the City books, Maybe the Moon, The Night Listener
Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera
Jules Verne – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days
E.L. Doctorow – Welcome to Hard Times, Loon Lake, World’s Fair
Two who created complete worlds in which you can get lost:
Thomas Hardy – Far From the Madding Crowd, Jude the Obscure
Sinclair Lewis – Babbitt, Main Street, Arrowsmith
Also:
Safe Passage by Ellyn Bache
Headlong by Michael Frayn
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
These are my fiction suggestions. I’ve been reading mostly non-fiction lately, so I’ve got a list of those as well.
Good luck! I’ve got 35 books on my “to read” list, but I doubt I’ll finish them all in 2003.
I didn’t forget about y’all!! My DSL went down, and then I had family over for the evening. I’ll pore through everyone’s suggestions in more detail tomorrow.
I am pleased to note, however, that Edward the Head and Eutychus have chosen to take up the challenge with me…woo!! I like having company! 
anything by rumi
A note to the impoverished who read in English, you don’t need a lot of money to be well-read. Dover Thrift Editions saved my life when I was down and out. Order a stack of 'em, there aren’t many duds in the bunch and you’ll always have something decent to read.
Sure, why not, I’ll take the challenge too, as long as I get to pick my own books. Would it be cheating to include a book I started today, though, I wonder?
I’m thinking though that this might be a good time to start another “books I’ve read in a year” database, much like I did the last year of high school. <covers face> I’m afraid I’ve always been a geek…but I bet I could get some of you people to do it too if I started a thread on it 
For some reason I want to recommend Bag of Bones by Stephen King and Until the Real Thing Comes Along by
Elizabeth Berg. I’m not sure why, but they’re what came to mind at the word “recommendations”.
I’ll second Possession and A Secret History, and add Richard Russo’s Straight Man, which is quite possibly the funniest book I’ve ever read. Also funny – Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, about hiking the Appalachian Trail. (It went around to about five different people in the beach house a bunch of us rent every summer, and everyone loved it.)
I’ll call myself a fellow traveler on this – I usually read about a book a week, but it’s less than that sometimes when I’m reading something long and dense (I read some weird nonfiction sometimes). So I’ll keep a list, but I’m not going to get nuts if it turns out to be less than 50 by 12/28/03. (on the other hand, I can’t promise not to brag if it turns out to be more than 50…)
I’ll second the Discworld Novels.
Also, I rather like Robert Harris’s Thrillers. They are fictional, although based around real history. He has only written three novels (Fatherland, Enigma, and Archangel), but I think they are all very enjoyable thrillers.
Definatly discworld. You should probably start with Small Gods, its the lightest read of his books (IANA Brit) My favorits are Soul Music, and The HogFather which are about the GrandDaughter of the grim reaper. Also the “first” DiscWorld book, Strata, is very good and it is Sci-Fi, not fantasy.
You could also try to tackle Asimov’s Universe series, which consists of a large chunk of his books and includes the Robot, Space, Empire, and PsychoHistory seires. The total is up around 26, I do not know the list, but a librarion should. There are also 3 Pshycho history books, not written by Asimov that are OK. I tackled the entire series last winter.
There’s also the Dune series, which is VERY good although a pretty heavy read IMHO. Also his son wrote several Dune books but I haven’t read any of them.
I’ll just list some books I’ve read recently:
Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun
Italo Calvino - If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller (a must read), The Castle of Crossed Destinies, Invisible Cities
Fritz Leiber - Conjure Wife (very good book), all of the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories, all his short stories
GK Chesterton - The Man Who Was Thursday, the Father Brown stories
Dostoyevsky - Notes From Underground
Orson Scott Card - Enchantment
Raymond Chandler - Farewell, My Lovely, The Little Sister
Franz Kafka - The Castle, all his short stories
Gaiman and Pratchett’s Good Omens!!!
Edward Rutherfurd’s London, also Sarum
I quite liked the Night’s Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton.
If you ever read any Wizard of Oz books as a child, you may like Wicked: The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West I think Gregory Maguire is the author. Excellent writing style.
Perdido St. Station China Mieville. Quite original and fairly intense imaginary world - a good one to gt your teeth into.
The Penguin book of Norse Myths and Legends by Kevin Crossley-Holland.
And Long Dark tea-time of the Soul by Douglas Adams.
These are in my bookshelf. And I also enjoy Terry Pratchett too.
I read about 200 books a year. Here is my best piece of advice:
GO TO THE LIBRARY!!! You can pick out anything that looks interesting and take it home and read it for free. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it and you can take it back without paying anything.
Please don’t bankrupt yourself buying books.
I second the recommendation for Wicked and if you are interested, I will even send you a copy (I got it from another Doper, so it would be cool to pass it along). I should note that I despise the actual Wizard of Oz books, but I like this book, so liking the Oz franchise is not a requirement.
My two favorite “critically acclaimed” books of late are Empire Falls by Richard Russo and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. These are both fairly episodic books, with really excellent writing. Neither one has a “oh, this book is SO DEEP” quality, but there is something profound underneath the deceptively simple framework.
My pet love is English detective fiction, so you might want to try something from one of the grande dames. I would suggest Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, which has her usual detective trying to solve a historical mystery, that of the Princes in the Tower, in his spare time. The “best” Dorothy Sayers mystery is generally said to be The Nine Tailors, but I would also recommend Gaudy Night which is interesting for many reasons, not the least of which is its exploration of women and academia. All of these are nice, cozy, light reading with a strong dose of intellectual clarity thrown in for good measure. They are definitely “literature” as well as mystery stories.
Here are some other thoughts, mostly on books that I don’t think get the good press that they deserve.
I never stop recommending I Capture The Castle (and it is newish-ly back in print! Yay!) which is written in the form of a diary kept by a young English girl. It’s by Dodie Smith. This is a delight of a book.
A while ago, I went on a Dutch author kick (don’t ask), and I found a real gem in The Assault by Harry Mulisch. It’s about how a series of seemingly unrelated incidents leads a man to uncover the truth about an attack upon his family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
Eureka Street, by Robert McLiam Wilson, is a hilarious novel about life in Northern Ireland. Yes, it really is comic, and at the same time, provides good insights on the culture of conflict.
If you liked TKAM (and who doesn’t?), you might want to give Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty a try, it looks at some similar themes about family life in the deep South during the same period.
Clive Barker is a choice you could make after reading the likes of Stephen King. Be at aware though, for his stuff is quite odd. I have only read “Galilee”, but i thought it was slightly off. Might want to check it out. He is a best seller, but is just strange enough.
Now i am sure this will innevitably be mentioned, but you should read all of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works along side of Lord of the Rings. Here’s the order i’d prefer: (May work, may not)
The Silmarillion
The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of The King
Note that it isn’t all, but i haven’t read the lost tales nor have i read anything from his Son about his work. Just those ones above i would suggest for now.
“The Call of the Wild” by Jack London. I believe it is a classic, but i could be mistaken. I liked it.
I know Sci-Fi isn’t your pallette, but try reading the “Star Wars Trilogy”, and you might get a more interesting story. But again, Sci-Fi isn’t your bag so i’d only read those three.
Read Dave Barry’s “Big Trouble”. He’s quite a funny guy.
That’s all i have for now…
I’m still checking in, and I’m thrilled with the great suggestions from everyone! I see that elfkin447 is going to join us in our challenge, which is very cool.
Lessee…
SwimmingwithChickens, I’ve already read Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere and I remember enjoying it. Anything else by him that you’d recommend?
Just Some Guy, I’ve definitely been trying to read more classics than “popular” fiction in the past few years. Part of my problem is that I absolutely loathe to leave a book unfinished, so when I come across a book I’m not enjoying, I assume it’s a failing on my part (especially if the book was recommended to me) and I keep it in the back of my head to try it again someday. I have a terrible time letting go, even when books don’t interest me. We’ll see how I do in the coming year. 
Edward The Head, I see absolutely no problem starting this week…I intend to do so myself, since I got a few cools books for Christmas. Oh, and I’ve read The Princess Bride, although it was quite a few years ago…I love the movie so much, I just had to!
Keith Berry, I read The Alienist a few years ago, and the person who recommended it to me was horrified at how graphic the violence was. I must be seriously jaded, because it seemed pretty routine to me…I think I’ve read too many Patricia Cornwell novels! Hee!! The story was pretty good, though…although I agree with Dangerosa in that the second book was fairly rotten.
SmileyDeath, I’ve actually read everything Stephen King has published with the exception of his two newest novels (I know, I’m slipping!), the colleciton of short stories and the one about the Buick. I’ve recently started getting into Isaac Asimov, though…I’ll definitely give Gold a whirl.
Dangerosa, I’ve read quite a bit of Jane Austen’s stuff, but I got bogged down in Mansfield Park…have you read that? If so, what did you think of it?
NailBunny, the Nick Cave book sounds fascinating…I’m hoping my library has it, since fizgig says it’s out of print. I really hope I can find it!
Casey1505, I’ve never heard of The New Lifetime Reading Plan, but I’ll definitely look into it. And as a total hijack of my own thread, did you know that I live in the Scranton area?
Beelzebubba, I’ve heard of the Great Books series, but I understand it’s extremely expensive to purchase…I’m wondering if it’s something the library would carry, or if I’d have to seek out the individual books. Definitely worth culling for inspiration, though!
KXL, I’ve read scattered Discworld books…my ex-SO was a huge fan, and he loaned me the first half dozen or so. I also read Soul Music and Small Gods, and I received Good Omens (which was co-written with Neil Gaiman) for my birthday, but I didn’t get around to reading it yet. It’s definintely on my list for this coming year!
Joe K, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is actually on my “I tried it once, but it needs another chance” list. It didn’t grab me the first time around, but I get distracted easily…oh, look!! Shiny!! 
Flamsterette_X, a few people have mentioned the Outlander series to me, and I think I might even have it on my amazon.com wishlist. I’m sure I can pick these up at the library!
SpoilerVirgin, dang, some fabulous suggestions on that list. Your bringing up Dostoevsky reminds me of another “get back to it later” book on my list…Crime and Punishment. I’ve read 100 Years of Solutide, so Love in the Time of Cholera is a definite go. I haven’t read any Jules Vern in years! Oddly enough, I think I’m one of the only people on the planet who actually enjoyed Tess of the D’Urbervilles, so I can definitely see giving Thomas Hardy some more time. A friend of mine tried to get me reading Sinclair Lewis not too long ago, and sadly, I was less than compelled by Main Street…but I’m sure I’ll get back to it one day.
twickster47, I see you’re along for the ride too…welcome aboard! Have you read any of Bill Bryson’s other travel books? They came highly recommended to me, so I bought a few (whose names escape me, I don’t think I got to the one about the Appalachian Trail), and he was a little snarkier than I cared for. I’ve heard great things about his book on his experiences in Australia, though.
Nightime…I haven’t heard of OSC’s Enchantment, but I’ll give it a whirl. Have you read Pastwatch? I force that one on all of my friends…it’s definitely in my top 5 favorites of all time.
bluethree, although I admit a weakness for owning books, I’ve pretty much reined myself in to only buying books I’m sure I want to read multiple times. I do make liberal use of the library, no fear!
delphica, total hijack here (and thanks for the great list of suggestions!), but did you ever get around to picking up The Truth Machine by James Halperin? I’d totally be into borrowing Wicked from you and passing it on to the next person in line, and I have a copy of The Truth Machine I can loan you in return if you want.
Hey, before I forget…every time I go into B&N, I see The Milagro Beanfield Wars in their Modern Classics line of books and I keep wanting to buy it just because the name is cool, but I don’t know anything about it. Anyone here read it? Is it worth picking up?
Thanks, you guys! Keep 'em coming!
I would just add that if you find The Silmarillion too dull, don’t give up on the rest - jump straight to The Hobbit and continue.
Eep! You guys snuck in there while I was composing my last long-winded post!!
Just FTR, I have indeed read The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy. I haven’t read The Silmarillion, and I’m not sure I could slog through it…it’s the onslaught of names, lineages, languages, etc. that I stumbled over in my first attempts at the LOTR, and I wasn’t really able to enjoy them until after I’d seen FOTR in the theaters and better understood the main threads of the plot. It was easier for me to then pick out who was going to be a recurring character and who was only passing through.
I admit that I only skimmed the appendices in ROTK, so I doubt I’d be able to get into The Silmarillion. I very much enjoyed the rest, though…and if I hadn’t set my own “re-reading is cheating” rule, I’d be flying through them again. I’m hoping I can squeak them in again next fall before the final movie…and I promise not to count them towards my quota!
Just two suggestions; Beryl Markham’s “West With the Night” and Norman Maclean’s “A River Runs Through It”.
Three words: Hop On Pop