Book Suggestions?

Hey, guys. As you all may or may not know, for my senior project, I'm planning on writing the beginning of a novel. My project overseer suggested that I have about 10-15% reading (out of four forty-hour weeks), so.... any suggestions on good scifi/fantasy novels? (Those that take place in "our world" but have a dash of fantasy/sci-fi are especially what I'm looking for).

So far, I've got Card's two books on writing sci-fi/fantasy and on character, so just novels is good now. I'm thinking "Timeline" by Crichton for starters, perhaps...

Thanks all!