[Salt-Man Z]

Argh why must you do this to me (in no particular order):

Malazan Book of the Fallen (duh) by Steven Erikson (duh duh)
GAP Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson (space opera)
Acts of Caine by Matthew Stover (sci-fi/fantasy crossover)
Shardik by Richard Adams (fantasy)
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (science fantasy)
Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges (literary/fantastic short stories)
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (sci-fi)
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (urban fantasy)
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson (epic fantasy)

[polishgenius]

The Stars my Destination is amazing. And yeah, feels remarkably modern for a novel so old.



Also: if you're starting on Neal Stephenson (and you should), I'd recommend Snow Crash before Diamond Age. Both because it is a better novel imo (and substantially more influential), and because although they're so minimally related that it doesn't really matter, there are easter eggs in Diamond Age that you'll miss if you've not read Snow Crash.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 09 November 2015 - 07:09 AM

[Serenity]

Hmm. Well, among others mine include:

Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian
A Fire Upon the Deep / A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Blindsight / Echopraxia by Peter Watts
Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Replay by Ken Grimwood
House of Suns / Revelation Space series (particularly Chasm City, Redemption Ark and Galactic North) by Alastair Reynolds
The Warlord Chronicles / The Warrior Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell
Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough
Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
The War of the Worlds / The Island of Doctor Moreau / The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald
I Am Legend / The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
Best Served Cold / The Heroes / Red Country by Joe Abercrombie
Drenai / Rigante series by David Gemmell
Hyperion / The Terror by Dan Simmons
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Martian Chronicles / The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
Spatterjay Trilogy / Prador Moon by Neal Asher
Perdido Street Station / The City and the City by China Mieville
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton
The Lions of Al-Rassan / Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Legacy of Heorot by Niven, Pournelle and Barnes
Salem's Lot / Cujo / The Shining / The Dead Zone by Stephen King
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
American Tabloid by James Ellroy
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
The Algebraist / Feersum Endjinn / Culture series by Iain M. Banks
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon


. . . and Malazan, of course.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Returning as promised, accompanied by List! To give some flavour, I tend to establish favourite books as those I would go back and re-read times many. There are plenty of really great books that I loved, but wouldn't read again, and it's just how I separate them.

In no particular order:

The Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
The Lord of the Rings/The Simarillion (can't pick) - Tolkien
The Warlord Chronicles - Bernard Cornwell
The Last Unicorn - Peter S Beagle
The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge (low fantasy originally written for children, but quaintly charming as an adult)
Legend/White Wolf/Waylander (again, can't pick between them) - David Gemmell
The Harry Potter series - J K Rowling
The Farseer Trilogy/The Tawny Man Trilogy - Robin Hobb
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman
The Call of the Wild - Jack London
Watership Down - Richard Adams

Honourable mentions should go to:

The Gentleman Bastards - Scott Lynch (honourable mention as I find Locke insufferable in the first book, and only grew to really love the series with Red Seas Under Red Skies)
Dresden Files - Jim Butcher (Good fun, but urban fantasy is very much something I have to be exactly in the mood for).
The Dragons of Pern - Anne McCaffrey (inconsistent for me, but when they were good they were great).
Lyonesse - Jack Vance (tailed off in the last book, but still the trilogy is great reading).
The Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini (I highly doubt I'd enjoy them so much now, but I read them young enough to appreciate them and they get an honourable mention slot for pulling a surprisingly well-worked ending out of the quadrilogy. Pleasantly surprising).

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 17 December 2015 - 06:56 AM

[Andorion]

I have been hesitating about doing this because whatever list I submit will be incomplete. A lot of my early reading was done in random libraries and titles, authors from those times are now lost forever to me. Anyway:

Special Category


The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

The best fantasy I have ever read, the first fantasy I have ever read. They will always be above the rest for me

For me, favourite books mean books which moved me in some way. None of the books are in order of preference, unless I say so

Fantasy

David Gemmel: Druss and Waylander books

Guy Gavriel Kay: The Lions of Al-Rassan

Glen Cook: The White Rose (Only read the first three)

Max Gladstone: The Craft series

Django Wexler: Shadow Campaigns

Brandon Sanderson: Mistborn: The Final Empire, Stormlight Archive: Words of Radiance, short fiction: Shadows for Silence

Sebastien De Castell: Greatcoats

NK Jemisin: Inheritance 1 and 2

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Shadows of the Apt: Sakute the Dark, Scarab Path, Air War.

Terry Pratchett: Discworld: Guards Guards, Feet of Clay, Thud, Witches Abroad, Reaper Man, Small Gods, Going Postal. Standalone: Nation

Short Fiction: Robin Hobb: Homcoming
George RR Martin: The Sworn Sword


Science Fiction

Isaac Asimov: Robot short stories, The Last question

Iain M Banks: Culture: Excession

Neal Asher: Polity: Line of Polity, Line War

Peter Hamilton: Pandoras Star, Judas Unchained, The Dreaming Void

Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Prefect, House of Suns

Max Brooks: World War Z

LM Bujold: Mirror Dance, A Civil Campaign

Dan Simmons: Hyperion Duology

David Weber: At Basilisk Station

James Corey: Nemesis Games

Frank Herbert: Dune


Historical Fiction


Ross Laidlaw: Attila the Scourge of God

William Napier: Attila Trilogy

This post has been edited by Andorion: 10 November 2015 - 02:41 AM

[Chance]

SF
Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light (My go to novel for this is a masterpiece of older SF)
Hannu Rajaniemi - Jean Le Flambeur
Iain M. Banks - Culture
Alastair Reynolds - Poseidon’s Children
Richard K. Morgan - Takeshi Kovacs
Neal Asher - The Polity

Urban Fantasy/Contemporary (Probably the hardest category, I read a lot of Urban Fantasy but really it is more temporary entertainment then anything with lasting influence.)
Neil Gaiman - American Gods
Mike Carey - Felix Castor
Lukyanenko - Night Watch
Ian Tregellis - Milkweed Triptych
Daniel Polansky - Low Town

Fantasy
C.S. Friedman - Coldfire Trilogy, Magister Trilogy (Really most shes written is eminently readable)
Miles Cameron - Traitor Son
Daniel Abraham - Dagger and Coin
Guy Gavriel Kay - the Lions of Al’Rassan, Sarantine Mosaic, Under Heaven (Really in a category of his own or possibly with Erikson as way ahead of the rest.)
Glen Cook - the Black Company, Instrumentalities of Night

Then there are a lot of favorits that I wouldn't recommend to just anyone since they are a lot more niche and possibly not good enough to place among the above but hey I like them. Thomas Harlans Oath of the Empire, Daughter of the Empire by Wurts and Feist, Videssos Cycle by Turtledove, most of what SM Stirling has written, Taltos novels by Steven Brust, Garret PI by Cook, Knight of Dark Renown by David Gemmell and many others.

This post has been edited by Chance: 11 November 2015 - 12:18 AM

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

 Serenity, on 09 November 2015 - 11:58 AM, said:

Wolf Hall / Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Forgot those, they were ace. Did you see the TV adaption?