What are some good (newer) books to read?

I am reading Mark Twain’s autobiography that came out this year….but it’s not exactly new. ;)

Check out the books by JA Konrath/Jack Kilborn. Same person but JA Konrath is for his mysteries and Jack Kilborn is for his horror books. He’s an indie author so most or all of his books will be 2.99. (At least on Amazon and Smashwords – multiple formats here) Also, The Strain Trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan is good. The first two books are out now (The Strain and The Fall)

It’s not really new, but since you said you like sci-fi t, I recommend Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I’m not really a sci-fi fan, but that book was amazing.

Clive Barker is good for horror fiction.

I like etignotasanimum’s suggestion of “Ender’s Game”. It’s a good science fiction book that’s fun.

For high fantasy, it’s hard to do better than the trilogy, “The Deed of Paksennarion” by Elizabeth Moon.

Happy reading!

Give Neil Gaiman a try. Here’s a list. Note, some of these are short story collections (and in my opinion the short stories are a pretty mixed bag, very uneven in quality), some of them are children’s stories, and some are graphic novels. I happen to like the actual novels: Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Good Omens, in particular.

Just now reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss – a fantasy book my son gave me for Christmas. It’s very good.

I agree with @Jeruba 1000000000%. Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors of all time! His Good Omens written with Terry Pratchett is the absolute best. It got me hooked on both Gaiman and Pratchett’s Discworld novels (to the point where I have a Discworld tattoo). You can’t go wrong with either author.

Robert J. Sawyer is a Canadian sci-fi author who you may not have heard of. He’s becoming more popular in the US but still sells more in Canada. I’d start with Hominids, the first book in his Neanderthal trilogy. Seriously interesting stuff (plus some of it takes place in my hometown!).

I have just finished Neil Gaiman’s Graveyard Book. It is a children’s book as most of the best books are and a great read from start to finish.

You should really read the Pretty Little Liars books, even if your not a girl its really good and actually kind of scary!

If you’re looking to expand into ‘more serious’ stuff, William Gibson and Neal Stephenson are among the best sci-fi (or cyberpunk, or speculative fiction, or historical fiction…) writers today.

Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon was published in ‘99, so I’m not sure that qualifies as ‘newer’, but it’s historical fiction (WWII) with some sci-fi elements and it’s good. His most recent is Anathem (2008) and it’s also supposed to be pretty good.

Gibson is best known for Neuromancer (1984). Zero History (2010) is his most recent and was pretty received pretty well.

China Mieville is one of my favourite new SF writers. Especially Perdido Street Station. His writing has a bit of a steampunk flavour to it.

@noelleptc Any book you haven’t read is new! singsong voice or not, I couldn’t agree more!

You like Stephen King, so you have probably already read it, but I highly recommend his Darktower series. Not new, but very different from his other stuff and very good.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
and

In the Days of Poor Richard by Irving Bacheller
The second is out of print and not politically correct. It’s an historical novel based on newspaper accounts, diaries, and letters of the people in the story. It changed how I see myself and how I conduct my life.

Robin Hobb is a good sci-fi/fantasy author and George R. R. Martin wrote an amazing series called A Song of Ice and Fire. the final book for that is do spring 2011. It’s been delayed a few times and he’s getting old so I sure hope it’s soon!!

For SF I recommend the works of Greg Egan, Vernor Vinge, or Rudy Rucker- they are all math nerds that write tightly plotted, suspenseful stories. Also Spider Robinson because he’s super cool.
Jim Butcher’s magical-detective “Harry Dresden” books are very entertaining. The Golden Bough by James Fraser and The Art of Memory are two excellent historical books about magic if you are into that sort of thing- and if you are, you must read Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco and Illuminatus! by Anton and Shea.
Thanks for the question, and to all the answerers for suggestions of authors of which I was unaware- I will be revisiting this thread for reading suggestions.
Also, if anyone has reading recommendations in line with the things I wrote above, I invite you to PM me.

Give Bentley Little a try. He’s a little formulaic and predictable and his endings are a little weak, but I feel the same way about Dean Koontz, who you’ve said is one of your favorites, so I think it won’t bother you. Little is like a cross between Koontz and King. Even when I’m disappointed with an ending, what came before always makes it worth it to me.

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore was the first of his books that I read. It put him firmly in my list of favorite authors and he has yet to disappoint.

I also agree with recommendations of Ender’s Game (but not Card in general; can’t stand the bastard), Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, George R.R. Martin, and Jim Butcher. I also tentatively agree with the recommendation of Clive Barker. His YA fiction is phenomenal but his stuff geared toward adults is… well… really geared toward adults, and is not to everyone’s taste.

A great feature about your Nook is you can read the beginning chapters of books to see if you like it before buying.

Read “Everything Matters!” By Ron Currie, Jr.

It is a mix of memoir, alt history, and sci-fi with a dash of human simplicity. It’s an amazing book, really.

Read “The sister hood of the traveling pants”, my mom read this and she said it was really good book for being about teenage girls and pants

Late thanks for all the answers. I’ve added a bunch of these titles to my library and look forward to checking them out!

I also got the book nook and actually it seems amazing. But anyhow I think you should really read one of J.K Rowlings many biographies. There great books, especially because of how wonderful joannes life of writing was. You should really check them out!