I'm a massive fantasy and horror books fan, and there are many if them I keep "close to my heart". A short list would be:
-The Lord of the Rings trilogy (or better, the books are 6, divided in 3 parts) by Tolkien
-the Harry Potter saga (I grew up with them) by Rowling
-a Song of Ice and Fire, a true masterpiece, by George Martin
-the Dark Tower series, by Stephen King
-the Stand, It, Under the Dome, the Shining, always by King
-the Robert Langdon saga, by Dan Brown
-Chronicles of Narnia, loved it as a young child, by C.S. Lewis
-Odd Tom series by Dean Koontz
-the Mortal Instruments and the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare
Dragon Tattoo as well for me
Belgariad\Mallorean series by David Eddings. Been reading these every two years since about 1989
Magician (Midkemia) series by Raymond E Feist
Lord of The Rings
It by Stephen King.
The Harry Potter series
The Wheel of Time Saga by Robert Jordan.Mistborn Saga by Brandon Sanderson.The Stand, Different Seasons and Salem's Lot by Stephen King.The Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks.Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy.Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
There is a fourth book in the series, The Girl In The Spider's Web, by David Langercrantz.It's just as good as the original Larsson's, although rather shorter.
In passing, I take my hat off to the translators who make those books so readable in English.
Couldn't agree more data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 I owe a great deal to foreign translated books. Thanks for the recommendation data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I forgot a book from my already long list: "Under Storm's Wing" by Helen Thomas, her retelling of her life with poet Edward Thomas.I read an extract from it in the Independent (RIP) whilst on the train and it was such a beautiful piece of work, I had to buy the book immediately.Edward was a deeply troubled man and treated his wife very poorly at times, but she nonetheless stayed utterly devoted to him until his untimely death in WW1.
A Song of Ice and Fire, George R R Martin (the whole bang shoot)
Another vote for the Stig Larsson trilogy and definitely no. 4 in the series, The girl in the spiders web written by David Lagercrantz.
I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
The hundered year old man that climbed through a window and disappeared by Jonas Jonassen
Love in a time of cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The magician's apprentice trilogy by Trudi Canavan
And a few 100 more that will always be great.
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick de Witt.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
Just about anything by Neil Gaiman.
The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway (I preferred it slightly to Angelmaker, but both were great).
Railsea, The City & the City, and Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.
One of my favorite films data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Thanks for the recommendations data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 I'm building up a nice list to try here data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I really enjoyed the film adaptation. The novel is far richer, though - the ending is slightly different (largely the same, but more complex and nuanced). More time is spent developing supporting characters and making them more connected to the story. The novel is also more open about sex (not that it's ever gratuitous), and generally has a darker tone.
I thought it was a cracking twist on what is essentially a fairly conventional love story, in many ways. It's also subtle enough that repeat readings pay dividends.