Loved Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars - read about 2000 pages of paperback twice - and Foundation, I' Robot, The Time Machine, War Of The Worlds, Peter F. Hamilton . . . . The Martian Chronicles was really my first exposure to Sci Fi. Loved Dune but not so much the successor novels. The Forever War is a great one. And on . . . .
Some eclectic choices that aren't on the lists usually . . . .
"The Risen Empire" and "The Killing Of Worlds" by Scott Westerfield - this was a single manuscript cut into two books. Occasionally shows up on some "Best Of . . . " lists.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/200...tt_westerfeld/
I like multi-book series of Space Opera to pass the time . . .
"Saga Of The Seven Suns" - seven books and completely shamelessly leaving a cliffhanger at the end of each, forcing you to buy the next. And you will.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_of_Seven_Suns
The Coyote series is interesting reading. Five books and three other spinoffs.
http://sfbook.com/coyote-series.htm
Lots of others . . . . .
Completely cheap science fiction but seems to find its way onto the New York Times Bestseller list is The Lost Fleet series. Ten books to read here.
The Retrieval Artist series by Kathryn Busch.
Anything by William C Dietz is pretty humourous and easy to read. "Runner" and "Logos Run" were fun to read.
Jack McDevitt is usually a quality read.
Kindle is good for $2.99 science fiction space opera. Classic Sci-Fi? No. Fun? Yes.
Lots of others.
Cowperson