readers advisory for all discussion

DEFINITELY definitely try Mount Analogue. It might not even be science fiction, but it has many elements of it... it blew my mind. Very philosophical, mythic, spiritual, humorous, scientific, great ideas but more importantly, great execution. Also, just so you know before you start, this is one of those unfinished novels (the author died mid sentence), so don't go in expecting a tidy ending, or any ending at all haha.

Also try out The Invention of Morel, which is sci-fi in the Borges vein, but probably more palatable than Borges.

Also, this is one I haven't read, but I know it is sci fi and supposedly difficult and modern/postmodern/whatnot: Dhalgren

Also, this 1000+ page book won't be available in translation until later this year, but it looks right down your alley: Lód. More info can be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_%28D...

Sounds pretty amazing actually.

Sounds like you might really like China Miéville. His Perdido Street Station is brilliant; The City and the City is a really clever fantasy/magical realist detective novel; Kraken features conspiracies and secret societies and is fun; and although I haven't read Embassytown yet, it's supposed to be really good and to have interesting things to say about language. He also has a new book coming out soon that is a re-telling of Moby Dick.

Christy wrote: "Sounds like you might really like China Miéville. His Perdido Street Station is brilliant; The City and the City is a really clever fantasy/magical realist detective novel; Kraken features conspira..."

I heart what You wrote in here, but The Scar is pretty dissapointing

Carlos wrote: "The Scar is pretty dissapointing"

I haven't read The Scar yet. Not as good as the others? Its an earlier work, I believe, so maybe he was still working some things out. :-)

I have not read, but lots of people I know love Tim Powers for his weird secret histories. Adam Roberts, specifically Yellow Blue Tibia has a really nice genre-specific meta fictional sensibility, in a way that is cooler than I have put it here.

I second Yellow Blue Tibia, and also recommend Blueprints Of The Afterlife.

I second Blueprints of the Afterlife!

Sounds like you might like Solaris. At some moments, tt reads almost like a dissertation on extraterrestrial psychology and philosophy, BUT the writing is fantastic and the story is chilling and creepy.

Also, one of the best sci-fi novels (in my limited experience, mind) is Hyperion. That book is stunningly well written and crafted. The story is engaging and the prose superb. It's hard to get into at first because the author just drops you into the world, but once you get a few chapters in, you won't be able to put it down.

Woah, at first I thought you were talking about Friedrich Hölderlin's Hyperion. Haha! That would be weird.

Have you read any Tim Powers? Maybe Three Days to Never.

And for Philosophical is good. Key points of fascination include conspiracies, secret societies may I recommend Freedom and Necessity even though it is not science fiction?