I unfortunately haven't had much time for reading anything but music books since I started college, but I used to be rather into popular sci-fi/fantasy titles. I was also really into Carl Sagan growing up. I still claim Cosmos to be my favorite book of all time, because it was the first book that really got me to see that the things I thought and felt about religion and science and the big mysteries in life might not be so crazy after-all. His book Billions & Billions is also a great, enlightening, read. At the end of it, his wife, Ann Druyun, writes about Carl's final days and his battle with bone marrow/blood cancer, along with the ways in which the entire world mourned the loss of one of the greatest and most influential minds on the entire planet. RIP Carl.
I used to be really into Orson Scott Card. I read and would recommend all of the Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow series, as well as Treason and The Worthing Saga. I don't agree with a lot of his Mormon ideologies, but goddamn does he make characters that are easy to get attached to.
Spoiler alert:
I've read all of the Harry Potter books at least twice. JK Rowling's writing style is so simple, yet effective. My biggest complaint with the series is with that Elder Wand bullshit. I was expecting a hardcore,action-packed fight to the death with Voldemort for the final battle and instead got this lame-ass deus ex machina crap. The ending with Albus Severus Potter was pretty touching, though.
The last movie was pretty kick-ass as well. I love that they changed the final battle to actually be, well, a final battle.
/end spoilers
It's a pretty long read, but Stephen King's Dark Tower series is excellent. It's his only fantasy series and he seems to have no qualms with calling it his magnum opus.
The Fablehaven series is lovely because, like Harry Potter or Ender's Game, it's engaging for both children and adult readers. I felt like the first book started off rather slow, but once it picks up, it can be hard to put down.
I read and enjoyed The Hobbit and the First two Lord of the Rings books, but have never been able to finish The Return of the King. Reading through the whole series is on my bucket list, though, along with the Bible and other religious texts.
The movies are awesome, of course. New Zealand seems lovely.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series manages to both be deep and hilarious at the same time. There are long stretches, though, were it doesn't really manage to be either. It's been too long since I've read the books to be able to tell you when, though.
I've never seen the movie and I haven't heard anything good about it, either.
The Dune series is deep and complex and altogether wonderful for probably the first three books. The last three books in the series are alright, but he basically repeats the same shit over and over again in the epigrams at the beginning of each chapter. The epilogue of the last book, where he writes about his wife's last days, are absolutely moving, though.
I've never seen the movie and honestly, it doesn't look like it would be entertaining.
The Time Traveler's Wife is kind of a sci-fi/romance novel that I was rather emotionally attached to throughout. Would read again.
I've never seen the movie, though. I've heard mixed reviews about it.
I read so many books as a kid, I can't even remember half the titles for them. I bought a lot of books specifically because they won the Hugo and/or Nebula awards and I still haven't read a good bit of them.
Fight Club is my favorite movie and also one of my favorite books. Chuck Palahniuk is the shit. Most of his other books are basically the same ideas behind Fight Club, just with a different plotline.
1984 and Animal Farm were both entertaining and thought-provoking. It got me thinking long and hard about the different forms of government. It's mandatory reading in a lot of schools for a reason. The allegory behind Animal Farm is absolutely brilliant and the ending of 1984 is unforgettable.
Finally, for you Music Education or Music Performance majors, or band directors out there who play or wish to be better teachers at some form of wind instrument, Song and Wind by Brian Frederiksen (former bass trombone of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) is a must-read. It discusses the playing philosophy of Arnold Jacobs, former longtime principal tubist of the CSO and master of wind pedagogy. It is extremely informative and encapsulates a large majority of what my University tuba professor still covers in lessons after 25+ years of teaching and virtuosic playing.