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1) JRR Tolkien 2) Philip Pullman 3) Robin Hobb 4) Frank Herbert 5) Ursula le Guin

Completely unrelated to all preceding recommendations, and indeed with very little to do with any of them, but I would serious suggest that you read some Isaac Asimov if you have not already done so. My personal favourites are the epic Foundation series, but the Elijah Bailey robot novels are...

I think mr michel's right. It IS gaining speed, I would swear! Despite it being a looped animation. It's got a mind of its own...

Nothing beats this guy's name though. If you're a self-proclaimed geek at least. Optimus Prime!

The Republic-Plato First and Last Men-Olaf Stapledon My dad might actually read The Republic, which bucks the usual trend of books being purchased nominally for him, only for me to read them first and for them to end up on my shelf!

"There was a wall."-Ursula le Guin, 'the Dispossessed' Why? Because it seems completely and utterly irrelevant, and is hardly the most interesting of objects, but the wall comes to symbolise the entire society of Anarres itself, whilst still being...a wall.

If you learn some of the back story, you will discover that Sauron is evil because he was one of the many Maiar corrupted by the evil lord Morgoth aka Melkor, who himself was evil because he developed a brooding jealousy of Eru Iluvatar and wished to himself be able to create such things. Though...

"Battle for Evermore" would be a good one, but again too long-by just 2 letters! Thinking more Led Zeppelin... Houses of the Holy? These are terrible names for a dog!

You also neglect the fact that, although you may not have appreciated Tolkien's writing style, it was specially constructed to resemble the Saxon chronicle authorial style, and emulates it very successfully (even more so in The Silmarillion). You also criminally overgeneralise the characters...

Does anyone else listen to videogame music? Most people seem to think it's incredibly sad and foolish, but personally I love all of Koji Kondo's Zelda music, the atmospheric jazz and swing of the Grim Fandango OST and the wonderful themes from Chrono Trigger (especially the orchestral versions)...

The thing for me was that the idea of an utterly materialist society, and one in which so much art and literature is discarded and there is no place for higher thought and even suggestions of spirituality, is perhaps even more scary than the up-front and terrifying threats of totalitarianism.

Yes, and it was absolutely superb. The translation projects an atmosphere all of its own, most in keeping with the Saxon style, and the content in itself is obviously brilliant, and coincidentally of paramount interest to a Tolkien fan-compare the tale of Beowulf and the dragon with The Hobbit!

I haven't actually read it as such, but Virgil's The Aeneid would be quite an appropriate choice after the Iliad/Odyssey. The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman would be another one if you have not already read it, it most definitely features an epic journey but so much more as...

Richard Harris-Enigma, Archangel and Fatherland are all superb examples of the thriller and, though they might require a little thought, are not too deep but at the same time will not insult his intelligence. I've also heard good things of his most recent effort, Pompeii.

Ah, Brazil. How brilliant. And to think that the Americans wanted to make it finish with Sam really, physically escaping into his dream world, rather than into his head. That would have destroyed the entire film!

With 1984 and the word "totalitarian" featuring, I'm pretty damn certain that you mean DYStopia! My top 3 would be (in this order): Brave New World by Auldous Huxley We by Yevgeny Zamyatin 1984 by George Orwell

It's great coming on here-most people at school really wonder why I study Greek and Latin, say there's no point. Great minds think alike and all that... Don't bother posting the equally renowned contradictory proverb anybody. I need my precious self-esteem!

I'm another one with a cold. I was disturbing people throughout the exams last week with an incredible display of nasal trumpeting. Ick.

I was being, but they didn't understand it... As for the smack in the mouth, the rugby pitch is the place where all matters come to a head. When you're a front row forward no quarter is asked or given!

I just confused them with (to their feeble minds) incomprehensible verbosity. It worked too, and built up my self-esteem after they had worked so hard to shatter it, because it showed me that, for all their posing, I still had a far more capable mind than they could ever aspire to.