Know Any Good Books?
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I'm a big fan of Mike Resnick's stories 
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_12?asin=B002V0JQRK&qid=1318800448&sr=1-12
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_20?asin=B002V082UC&qid=1318800448&sr=1-20
It's his superpower : to create bigger than life characters using less than 20 words. No, really, check it out.
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_12?asin=B002V0JQRK&qid=1318800448&sr=1-12
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_20?asin=B002V082UC&qid=1318800448&sr=1-20
It's his superpower : to create bigger than life characters using less than 20 words. No, really, check it out.
Why hasn't anybody said American Gods yet? Neil Gaiman's best work (IMO), fantastic modern fantasy that has a riveting storyline and brilliantly realized characters. It was the first book i'd read in a long time and when i was finished i was angry, because i felt i'd read the best book ever and now the inital read is gone for me. Any mystery is lost now, and that makes me angry, sad, and thankful that i at least had that brief period of utter bliss.
How old are you and are there any authors you already like? This will help narrow down my reccomendations (and I am sure will help others).
All in fantasy:
The Valdemar series from Mercedes Lackey is excellent. 'The Last Herald Mage' being the best, in my opinion.
Anything by Terry Pratchet, though 'Small Gods' and 'Mort' are the ones I recommend. 'Good Omens' co-written by Neil Gaiman is also excellent. Less fantasy though.
The Belgariad and Mallorian series (two separate series that form one storyline) by David Eddings.
Saberhagen's 'Books of Swords' series was pretty good as well, though the sequel series 'Books of Lost Swords' lost me somewhere in the first book and I never went back, so take that for what it's worth.
The Valdemar series from Mercedes Lackey is excellent. 'The Last Herald Mage' being the best, in my opinion.
Anything by Terry Pratchet, though 'Small Gods' and 'Mort' are the ones I recommend. 'Good Omens' co-written by Neil Gaiman is also excellent. Less fantasy though.
The Belgariad and Mallorian series (two separate series that form one storyline) by David Eddings.
Saberhagen's 'Books of Swords' series was pretty good as well, though the sequel series 'Books of Lost Swords' lost me somewhere in the first book and I never went back, so take that for what it's worth.
Ursula LeGuin is an incredible author, but might not sit well. I'd check the Wikipedia summaries for a few of her books--maybe Changing Planes, definitely Lathe of Heaven and The Left Hand of Darkness (two different books, just in case you read that as one title), probably Birthday of the World. Or whatever else jumps out at you. The Earthsea cycle is great, but is less sci-fi and more straight fantasy. Her sci-fi stuff doesn't always follow the typical plot structure--there doesn't always feel like a climax, and relatively little of it is revolves around some big crisis that has to be averted. But it's still excellent stuff.
Failing that, Arthur C. Clarke is always a good read, pretty much no matter what.
Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Andromeda Strain, Sphere, etc) is a good author. Not quite as good as some, but it's always a fun read and is very well written.
I'd recommend LeGuin most highly, though, if you don't already know her and if some of her stories sound interesting to you.
Someone earlier in this threat said Lovecraft. I'd definitely recommend Lovecraft, but you specifically wanted sci-fi. Lovecraft wrote a bunch of really influential horror stories in the early 1900s (1920s to late 1930s if I have my dates right) and gave us Cthulhu. A lot of his stories deal with themes of the unknown/unknowable, the limitation of human knowledge, and our cosmic insignificance. BUT you can get just about everything of his through Project Gutenberg, as it's out of copyright, so don't bother getting for free what is already free.
Failing that, Arthur C. Clarke is always a good read, pretty much no matter what.
Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Andromeda Strain, Sphere, etc) is a good author. Not quite as good as some, but it's always a fun read and is very well written.
I'd recommend LeGuin most highly, though, if you don't already know her and if some of her stories sound interesting to you.
Someone earlier in this threat said Lovecraft. I'd definitely recommend Lovecraft, but you specifically wanted sci-fi. Lovecraft wrote a bunch of really influential horror stories in the early 1900s (1920s to late 1930s if I have my dates right) and gave us Cthulhu. A lot of his stories deal with themes of the unknown/unknowable, the limitation of human knowledge, and our cosmic insignificance. BUT you can get just about everything of his through Project Gutenberg, as it's out of copyright, so don't bother getting for free what is already free.
Just about anything Discworld. Specifically, I would recommend Mort, Soul Music, Going Postal or, Moving Pictures to name a couple.
I'm probably a little late to the party, but I think I have a good background in novels.
You can't go wrong with A Clockwork Orange, it's a beautifully written novel that you can read over and over again and think differently about, because Anthony Burgess, the author, actually crafted his own Russian-based slang for his dystopian future's teenagers to use.
Catch-22 is also one of the funniest books I've ever read.
Furthermore, I'm seeing a lot of praise for Terry Pratchett, which is well deserved, and I'm happy so many people know him, and should you enjoy him, read onward to Neil Gaiman, in fact, Gaiman and Pratchett Co-wrote a book called 'Good Omens' which is still one of my favorites.
Finally, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. should be read by everyone. Sirens of Titan is, I believe, one of the greatest books of all time. Absolutely fascinating.
You can't go wrong with A Clockwork Orange, it's a beautifully written novel that you can read over and over again and think differently about, because Anthony Burgess, the author, actually crafted his own Russian-based slang for his dystopian future's teenagers to use.
Catch-22 is also one of the funniest books I've ever read.
Furthermore, I'm seeing a lot of praise for Terry Pratchett, which is well deserved, and I'm happy so many people know him, and should you enjoy him, read onward to Neil Gaiman, in fact, Gaiman and Pratchett Co-wrote a book called 'Good Omens' which is still one of my favorites.
Finally, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. should be read by everyone. Sirens of Titan is, I believe, one of the greatest books of all time. Absolutely fascinating.
Any book in the Dune series (start with Dune of The Bulterian Jihad if you haven't read any before). If you like fantasy more, pick a book by Raymond E. Feist. Can't go wrong with those authors.