SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I was reading an article today about a group researching an antimatter engine to send probes to the Alpha Centauri system. This got me thinking I'd love to read a good book(s) about humans finding life on another planet in a nearby solar system.
What stage are they in? How do we observe them? How do we make first contact? So instead of life finding us, we find life.
Does anyone know of any good books where this is the topic?

I am especially interested in one where we observe them for awhile, maybe its humans that are like the aliens to them like people claim to see today.

Not too well matched with what you seek, but Eden by Stanislaw Lem is about humans finding life on another planet.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Contact by Carl Sagan is a novel you may find interesting.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber.

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke.

The Mote in God's Eye is probably one of the best first contact stories I have ever read.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am really intrigued by The Sparrow. I think I'll make that my first one.

The Sparrow is excellent.

There are many, many first contact novels -- it's an entire subgenre of SF. Even I've written one.

I would highly recommend Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward, although the aliens live on a neutron star rather than a planet.

I quite liked Nor Crystal Tears by Alan Dean Foster. Also Code of the Lifemaker by James P. Hogan.

I've heard good things about The Three-Body Problem but I haven't read it yet.

It's the title story in a short story collection, but I've always liked Joan D. Vinge's Eyes of Amber and Other Stories. It's a very different take on first contact.

Jack McDevitt has quite a few books based around the theme of contact with other species. His 'Hutch' series are highly readable adventure/sci-fi books where humans encounter a number of planets that show historical evidence of alien civilisations. They kind of combine sci-fi with themes of (imaginary) history and archaeology. (But they're better than that sounds, LOL). The books have a sense of wonder about the universe and its possibilities. The first one in the series is The Engines Of God.