I am looking to get some more books. I currently plan to read or have read the following (in recent months).

Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy (All the stories in one book)
Murakami books (Wind up Bird, Hard Boiled, Kafka)
House of Leaves
Ishmael
Power of Now and Law of Attraction (parents recommended so I am giving them a whirl)
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment
Thomas Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow

Some others I know I've read but forget

Any recommendations? I'm going to buy the Unbearable Lightness book. It was on a list I made before, but I figure i'll finally buy it now.

Have you read the "Curious Incident of the the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon?

It will take you out of yourself.

read the other books that Adams wrote - Long Dark Teatime of the Soul and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

I gave up on The Unbearable Lightness of Being about halfway through- honestly, it bored the hell out of me.

i was kinda disappointed in this book... great form and idea, but ultimately i didn't really care about any of the characters.

EH: Try Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Interestingly enough, someone wanted me to borrow/read Middlesex when they were done lol.

i love all of the murakami books.

i recently read unbearable lightness, very good.

reading crime and punishment now.

you should read one hundred years of solitude, its better than all of these books combined.

truf

Hmmm...I'm not sure that I can agree that One Hundred Years of Solitude is better than Crime and Punishment.

Short stories and novelettes offer brilliantly honed reading.

If you enjoy angst and intensity you might try:

Notes from the Underground by Dostoevsky
The Death of Ivan Illych by Tolstoy
The Metamorphosis by Kafka

The Penal Colony by Kafka is one that I often read out loud to my family at Halloween. It's one intense page.
Everything by Guy de Maupassant is perfectly constructed, if rather depressing.

any Cormac McCarthy novels

I haven't finished Crime and Punishment yet so I wouldn't really know. It is very brilliant, but One Hundred Years of Solitude really hit me over the head like nothing I've read before. In the Penal Colony is very intense. I've only read some Maupassant but its very good also.

i'm starting notes from the underground this week. anything i should look out for?

It's a great choice you've made to get started on. It has one of the best opening paragraphs I've ever read. Well, I don't speak Russian, so, in translation at least. For a few years, Doestoyevski was my favorite author, so I've read everything he ever wrote, and a lot of stuff about him. His descriptions of the outer world mirror the feelings and states of mind of his characters, well, except the female characters. Don't worry about the story itself, it will all come together. Let the sensations wash over you. These are books to be experienced viscerally. There is a density to the writing that renders it inaccessible to many readers. It's not in any way experimental, but the writing itself has texture. Remember that the density of the prose is there for a reason. It slows you down, changes the reading experience. Makes reading almost a tactile experience. Go with it. You will enjoy the story more for it.

People ask me about D often because I've been known to be a big fan. I usually also recommend Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Illych to follow right after. It's narrative at it's tightly constructed best. A brilliant novella. Almost the opposite of Notes in style but equally brilliant. Ivan Illych plays like a movie in your head, the narrative is so tight. I love the contrast of the two. Fascinating and wonderful.

Hope that helps at all. Let me know what you think.

excellent summary, i begin tonight so you'll hear from me sat./sun.