Don't you just wanna wring Dexter Mayhew's neck so much? I know I did when I read the book/watched the movie. 

well... he actually reminded me a lot of.. myself.. so i dont' wanna wring his neck.. I'm happy now but boy did i waste a lot of time not saying the thing that I should have said years ago falling into a strange loop of bad timing untill it was finally right....

I have heard nothing but great things about this book. I would like to finish this fantasy epic but I got burned out after book 7, then G.R.R. Martin came along and runied fantasy for me forever. 

I hear you, high fantasy has lost the magic (literally... ) for me since I started reading Martin, the intrigue, plot, characters and realism just sucks me right in! Feist can still do it for me though, he's focused more on small scope, realistic-ish tales of small bands of people or individuals in his latest books, revisiting older conflicts with fresh side-plots and perspectives.

Haha, I am reading The Fellowship of the Rings as well. This is my second time through though.

I'm currently chugging through A Fest for Crows (4th A Song of Ice and Fire Book). Martin is popular as hell among the gamer crowd, it seems. It's not hard to imagine why, though.

I also recently finished The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga while taking a break from A Feast for Crows. (Martin writes soooooo much.) Anyhow, it's a great book. I love the main character's pompous, sarcastic attitude - makes the book really fun to read.

My upcoming reading list includes Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, Diarios de Motocicleta by El Che, The Black Company (the first novel) by Glenn Cook, and I also have to read Wuthering Heights for school. This is all gonna take me a while to read, because again, the quantity Martin writes. I wanna get through his 5th book before iget through those as well...

Both of youse! (And whoever else wants to share something.)

I've actually heard of Murakami and was considering reading one of his books. I have no idea what to expect, though. Is his surrealness a turn-off for a first-time reader? 

I'm basically asking which book I should start with. :P (But hey, don't feel like you can't recommend any of the real good stuff). 

Reading the Inheritance Trilogy (no, not that crap from Paolini) by N. K. Jemisin. The first book was pretty good, it gainaxed at the end but that's ok.

Everything I've read of his I've really enjoyed, honestly, it's just that Hard-Boiled Wonderland was simultaneously the most surreal and least favourite book of his I've read yet, so I'm not sure how to judge his output based on that.

I would start with Norwegian Wood or South of the Border West of the Sun. Both are very naturalistic, but introduce key ideas, tropes and themes that Murakami explores across his literature. They're also both excellent books. If you enjoy them, I can't recommend The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or Kafka on the Shore highly enough. I couldn't put down any Murakami book I've picked up, but the impact of those two novels was particularly profound for me. I think he's really, genuinely worth checking out, and like I said, Norwegian Wood and South of the Border are both great places to start. Norwegian Wood was his first novel, so that's where I started.

That much should be given. The fact that he needs to write a book saying "White People, There is Nothing Special About You" completely contradicts his original point however.