VOTE NOW Westeros 100 Best Books VOTE NOW

[Liadin]

the interesting thing about this so far is how folks have bolded items. narcissists, like me, have bolded the top two items on their list, indicating that they believe that the items that most affected them are also top tier texts. more humble persons herein have bolded items within various tiers, in acknowledgement that even though the bolded works are special to the lister in question, the lister is nevertheless not the center of the universe, and therefore those works may still not be top tier.

An odd comment. Any ranking of books is subjective, based purely on opinion. If someone bolds a book lower on the list, it doesn't seem to me an expression of humility so much as "this book was really amazing in one way, but imperfect in others, and thus not in my top 4 genre books." Whereas bolding books in your top 4 doesn't mean you're a narcissist, it means you believe those books to be not only excellent on all objective measures, but personally relevant to you as well (or whatever ranking criteria you use). It doesn't seem at all odd to me that those criteria would overlap, that excellent books are the most likely to affect people's lives.

Someone who thought a book was perfect in every way but put it in a lower tier because they thought other people might not agree wouldn't be "humble," they would be lacking in independent judgment, and their vote would be useless, reflecting what they see "the consensus view" to be rather than an individual's honest opinion.

[Nerdanel]

The Silmarillion - Tolkien

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien

The House on the Borderland - William Hope Hodgson

The Hobbit - Tolkien

The Last and First Men - Olaf Stapledon

The City and the Stars - Arthur C. Clarke

The Inverted World - Christopher Priest

Sailing to Byzantium - Robert Silverberg

The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath - H. P. Lovecraft

Watership Down - Richard Adams

The Emperor of Dreams - Clark Ashton Smith

Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny

Ringworld - Larry Niven

Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson

The Prince of Nothing - R. Scott Bakker

Thomas Covenant - Stephen Donaldson

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn - Tad Williams

The Order of the Stick: The Start of Darkness - Rich Burlew

(I noticed that people have been nominating comics, so I changed the last line of my list.)

[drawkcabi]

A Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. Martin

Replay - Ken Grimwood

The Prince of Nothing & The Aspect Emperor - R. Scott Bakker

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Pillars Of the Earth & World Without End - Ken Follett

The First Law Trilogy & Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrobie

The Gentlemen Bastards - Scott Lynch

The Walls of the Universe - Paul Melko

The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffengger

Watchmen - Alan Moore

Secret Identity - Kurt Busiek

The First Man in Rome - Colleen McCullough

Foundation - Issac Asimov

I Robot/The Complete Robot - Issac Asimov

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

Harry Potter - J.K. Rolling

Magician - Raymaond E. Feist

The Empire Trilogy - Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts

Q Squared - Peter David

Kingdom Come - Mark Waid

[palin99999]

A Song of Ice and Fire- George RR Martin

Y: The Last Man - Brian K. Vaughan

The Tooth Fairy - Graham Joyce

The Prince of Nothing Series - R. Scott Bakker

Fables - Bill Willingham

Ender's Game- Orson Scott Card

Preacher - Garth Ennis

The Walking Dead - Robert Kirkman

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

Acts of Caine - Matthew Stover

The Terror - Dan Simmons

The First Law Trilogy - Joe Abercrombie

The Gentleman Bastards Sequence - Scott Lynch

The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone - Greg Keyes

The Dark Tower Series - Stephen King

Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson

Takeshi Kovacs Series - Richard Morgan

Locke & Key Series - Joe Hill

The Warlord Chronicles - Bernard Cornwell

The Authority - Warren Ellis & Mark Millar

[Sheep the Evicted]

Please don't add my list until the very end. It will probably go through several re-edits. And again, when is the actual deadline ?

I have read less then half of the entries on some of the more accomplished lists, so my own list will probably suck. But to have an accurate representation of westeros you have to take the good with the bad I suppose.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglass Adams

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Watership Down by Richard Adams

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

The Lies of Locke Lomora by Scott Lynch

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

Nation by Terry Pratchett

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson

Use of Weapons by Ian M. Banks

[sologdin]

koolkat--

that was a much more thoughtful response than my tongue-in-cheek comment deserved. you are nonetheless correct in your analysis, i reckon.

[Calibandar]

Tier 1:

The Silmarillion-Tolkien

A Song of Ice and Fire-GRR Martin

The Farseer Trilogy-Hobb

The Merlin Trilogy-Stewart

Tier 2:

The Tawny Man trilogy-Hobb

Lions of Al-Rassan-Kay

The Fionavar Tapestry-Kay

The Lord of the Rings-Tolkien

The Prince of Nothing series-Bakker

The First Law Trilogy-Abercrombie

The Warlord Trilogy-Cornwell

The Sword of Shadows series-JV Jones

Tier 3:

Mythago Wood-Holdstock

The Name of the Wind-Rothfuss

Psalms of Isaak-Scholes

Book of New Sun-Wolfe

Lyonesse trilogy-Vance

American Gods-Gaiman

Tigana-Kay

The Empire of Ice-Cream-Ford

Edited to underline, as requested.

[Happy Ent]

First, if – like me – you have a difficult time surveying the field, here are all the nominees so far. (Folded into a spoiler box, so as not to mess up everybody’s page formatting.) It’s a quick manual edit, with "uniq -i" and "sort -f", so there may be repetition left, and some books left on the cutting room floor.

Spoiler

a dirty job, chris moore

A Trio for Lute, R. A. MacAvoy

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

Acts of Caine - Matthew Stover

Aegypt - John Crowley

Against A Dark Background - Iain M Banks

Air - Geoff Ryman

all star superman, grant morrison and frank quietly

Already Dead - Charlie Huston

Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan

Ambergris cycle - Jeff Vandermeer (sorry Stego!)

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

An Edge of the Forest, Agnes Smith

Angela Carter, The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Anno-Dracula by Kim Newman

Apprentice Adept (1-3 only) - Piers Anthony

Archer's Goon - Diana Wynne Jones

Armor, John Steakley

Ash: A Secret History - Mary Gentle

Assassin Trilogy - Robin Hobb

at the edge of the world, dunsany

At the Mountains of Madness - H.P. Lovecraft

Beauty, Sheri S. Tepper

Before They are Hanged - Joe Abercrombie

Behold the Man - Michael Moorcock

Benighted by Kit Whitfield

Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie

Black Man/Thirteen - Richard Morgan

Black Ships - Jo Graham

Blade of Tyshalle - Matthew Stover

Blindness - Jose Saramago

Book of New Sun-Wolfe

Book of Skulls - Robert Silverberg

Book of the Long Sun - Gene Wolfe

book of the new sun, g. wolfe

Brain Rose, Nancy Kress

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Briar Rose, Jane Yolen

Bridge of Birds - Barry Hughart

Broken Angels, Richard K. Morgan

Brothers Lionheart, Astrid Lindgren

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Cavern of Black Ice - JV Jones

Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds

Childhoods End - Arthur C. Clarke

China Miéville, The Scar

China Mountain Chang - Maureen F. McHugh

Chronicles of Narnia C. S. Lewis

Chronicles of the Black Company, Glen Cook

Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Donaldson

City of Golden Shadow, Tad Williams

City of Saints and Madmen- Jeff Vandermeer

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

Collected Stories - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

consider phlebas, iain m. banks

Contract by Simon Spurrier

Crooked Little Vein - Warren Ellis

crooked little vein, warren ellis

Crown of Stars series - Kate Elliot

Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson

Cugel's Saga - Jack Vance

Cugels's saga - Jack Vance

Cyberiad - Stanislaw Lem

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

Davy by Edgar Pangborn

Deadhouse Gates - Erikson

death note, ohba tsugumi and obata takeshi

Declare by Tim Powers

dhalgren, s. delany

Discworld series - Terry Pratchett

divine comedy, dante

Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep? - Phillip K. Dick

doctor faustus, c. marlowe

Doctrine of Labyrinths - Sarah Monette

Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes

Doomsday Book - Connie Willis

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Dreamsongs - George R.R. Martin

Dune - Frank Herbert

Earth Abides - George Stewert

Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. Le Guin

Edward Whittemore, Jerusalem Quartet (series)

Elantris - Brandon Sanderson

Elenium - David Eddings (I know, I know...)

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Elric - Michael Moorcock

Empire Trilogy - Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Entire and the Rose - Kay Kenyon

Escape From Hell! - Hal Duncan

Eye of the World - Robert Jordan

Fables - Bill Willingham

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser - Fritz Leiber

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Fallen Angel - Peter David/various

Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb

Fevre Dream - George R.R. Martin

Ficciones - Jorge Luis Borges

Fifth Head of Cerberus - Gene Wolfe

Fionavar Tapestry - GG Kay

Fire and Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones

Firethorn by Sarah Micklem

firqorescu

First Law Trilogy, Joe Abercrombie

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said - Philip K Dick

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

Forever War - Haldeman

Foundation - Issac Asimov

Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov

foundation, i. asimov

frankenstein, m. shelley

Gabriel García Márquez, OHYS

Galapagos - Kurt Vonnegut

Gardens of the Moon - Steven Eriksson

Gateway, Frederick Pohl

Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun (series)

Ghost and Horror Stories - Ambrose Bierce

Ghost Story - Peter Straub

Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi) - Hermann Hesse

Gloriana - Michael Moorcock

Gojiro - Mark Jacobson.

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon

grendel, j. gardiner

gulliver's travels, j. swift

Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami

Harry Potter - J.K. Rolling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Her Smoke Rose Up Forever - James Tiptree Jr (Alice Sheldon, too few women on this list)

Heroes Die - Matthew Woodring Stover

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist

House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Hyperion - Dan Simmons

I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

I Robot/The Complete Robot - Issac Asimov

Iliad, Homer

Imago Sequence & Other Stories - Laird Barron

Imajica - Clive Barker

Immodest Proposals, William Tenn

Inda- Sherwood Smith

Inne pie?ni (The Other Songs) - Jacek Dukaj

Iron Council - China Meiville

Iron Man: Hypervelocity - Adam Warren/Brian Denham (bet no one else lists this )

It - Stephen King

Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

J.G. Ballard, The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard

Jeff VanderMeer, City of Saints and Madmen

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciónes

Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami

King Rat by China Miéville

Kingdom Come - Mark Waid

Kingdom of Thorn and Bone - Grey Keyes

Kushiel's Legacy - Jacqueline Carey

Lady Cheesevillage

lamb: the gospel according to biff, christ's childhood pal, chris moore

Lamplighter - D.M. Cornish

Last Argument of Kings - Joe Abercrombie

Last Call - Tim Powers

Le Morte d'Arthur - Sir Thomas Malory

le morte d'arthur, t. malory

Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin

Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

Life of Pi ? Yann Martel

Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay

Little, Big - John Crowley

Liveship Traders - Robin Hobb

Locke & Key Series - Joe Hill

Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan

Lord of Emperors - Guy Gavriel Kay

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

Lord of the Flies ? William Golding

Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien

Lost Worlds - Clark Ashton Smith

Lyonesse -Jack Vance

Lód (Ice) - Jacek Dukaj

M. John Harrison, Viriconium (omnibus)

Magic for Beginners - Kelly Link

Magician - Raymaond E. Feist

Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson

Man in the High Castle - Philip K Dick

Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves

Market Forces - Richard K Morgan

Master and Margarita - Bulgakov

Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn - Tad Williams

Men at Arms - Terry Pratchett

Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast novels

Midnight Tides - Steven Erikson

Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie

Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson

Mockingbird, Sean Stewart

Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

Mordant's Need, Stephen R. Donaldson

My Name Is Red - Orhan Pamuk.

Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock

Nation by Terry Pratchett

Nausicaa - Hayao Miyazaki

Neuromancer - William Gibson

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

Night Watch - Terry Pratchett

Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny

nine princes in amber, roger zelazney

Octavia Butler, Lilith's Brood (omnibus)

On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith

Otherland - Tad Williams

Palimpset, Catherine Valente

paradise lost, j. milton

Pattern Recognition, William Gibson

Peace - Gene Wolfe

People of the Lakes by Kathleen & Michael Gear

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville

perdido street station, c. mieville

Pet Sematary - Stephen King

Phantastes - George MacDonald

phonogram, kieron gillen and jamie mckelvie

Pillars Of the Earth & World Without End - Ken Follett

Planetary - Warren Ellis & John Cassaday

Planetes - Yukimura Makoto

portrait of dorian grey, o. wilde

Preacher - Garth Ennis

Prince of Nothing - R. Scott Bakker

Prisoner of Azkhaban - J.K. Rowling

Psalms of Isaak-Scholes

Q Squared - Peter David

Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge

Realm of the Elderlings sequence - Robin Hobb

Redwall by Brian Jacques

Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C Clarke

Replay - Ken Grimwood

Requiem by Graham Joyce

Riddlemaster trilogy - Patricia McKillip

Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban. (new addition)

Riftwar trilogy - Raymond Feist

Ringworld - Larry Niven

River of Gods by Ian McDonald

Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatski

Robert Holdstock, Mythago Wood

Roderick, John Sladek

Roger Zelazny - Amber

Royal Assassin Robin Hobb

Sailing to Byzantium - Robert Silverberg

Sandman by Neil Gaiman

Sarantine Mosaic - G.G Kay

Secret Identity - Kurt Busiek

Servant of the Empire by Raymond E Feist & Janny Wurts

shadow over innsmouth, h. lovecraft

Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb

Shardik - Richard Adams

Shriek: An Afterword - Jeff VanderMeer

Silmarillion - Tolkien

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

Sleeper - Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Solaris - Stanislaw Lem

Soldier of the Mist - Gene Wolfe.

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

Songmaster - Orson Scott Card

Songs of a Dead Dreamer - Thomas Ligotti

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

Spin - Robert Chalies Wilson

Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon

Starship Troopers - Robert A Heinlein

Stations of the Tide - Michael Swanwick

Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang

Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein

survivor, chuck palahniuk

Sword of Shadow, JV Jones

Swordspoint, Ellen Kushner

Tailchaser's Song - Tad Williams

Takeshi Kovacs Series - Richard Morgan

Tales of Pirx the Pilot - Stanislaw Lem

Tam-Lin, Pamela Dean

Temeraire - Naomi Novik

Territory by Emma Bull

The Affirmation - Christopher Priest

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon

The Amber Chronicles - Roger Zelazny

The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers

the apprentice adept trilogy, piers anthony

The Authority - Warren Ellis & Mark Millar

The Autumn of the Patriarch - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Baroque Cycle - Neal Stephenson

The Black Sun's Daughter - Daniel Abraham MLN Hanover

The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood

The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter

The Blue Mountain - Meir Shalev (Hebrew - ???? ????)

The Blue Star, Fletcher Pratt

The Book of Knights - Yves Meynard

The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly

The Book of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe

The Book of the Short Sun- Gene Wolfe

The Bridge - Iain Banks

The Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft

The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, Barry Hughart

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen Donaldson

The City and the City - China Meiville

The City and the Stars - Arthur C. Clarke

The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F Hamilton

The Culture Series - Iain M. Banks.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

The Dark Is Rising sequence - Susan Cooper

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

The Dark Tower - Stephen King

The Darkness That Comes Before- R. Scott Bakker

The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester

The Demonprinces - Jack Vance

The Dispossessed - Ursula K Le Guin

The Dragon Waiting by John M Ford

The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath - H. P. Lovecraft

The Dying Earth series - Jack Vance

The Dying of the Light - GRRM

The Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula Le Guin

The Eden Trilogy - Harry Harrison.

The Emperor of Dreams - Clark Ashton Smith

The Empire of Ice-Cream-Ford

The Empire Trilogy - Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurts

The Engineer Trilogy - K J Parker

The Eternal Champion sequence - Michael Moorcock

The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty

The Eyes of the Overworld, Jack Vance

The Facts of Life by Graham Joyce

The Faded Sun, CJ Cherryh

The Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb

The Female Man - Joanna Russ

The Fencer Trilogy, KJ Parker

The Fiction - HP Lovecraft

The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Gene Wolfe

The Fionavar Tapestry-Kay

The First Law Joe Abercrombie

The First Man in Rome - Colleen McCullough

The Folk of the Faraway tree Enid Blighton (for kids but worth reading)

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

The Fortress of Solitude - Jonathan Lethem

The Foundation Trilogy- Isaac Asimov

The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C Clarke

The Gap series - Stephen Donaldson

The Gentlemen Bastards - Scott Lynch

The Gods Themselves - Arthur C Clarke

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Gone-Away World - Nick Harkaway

The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - Jose Saramago.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

The Gunslinger Stephen King

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

The Hour of the Dragon- Robert E. Howard

The House on the Borderland - William Hope Hodgson

The Iliad, Homer

The Ill-Made Knight - TH White

The Inverted World - Christopher Priest

The Invincible - Stanislaw Lem

The Iron Dragon's Daughter Michael Swanwick

The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories - Gene Wolfe

The Joe Pitt Casebooks by Charlie Huston

The Kencyrath Chronicles - P.C. Hodgell

The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone - Greg Keyes

The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll

The Last and First Men - Olaf Stapledon

The Last Argument of Kings - Joe Abercrombie

The Last Dancer - Daniel Keys Moran.

The Last Unicorn - Peter S Beagle

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Alan Moore

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

The Limits of Enchantment - Graham Joyce

The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz - Russell Hoban

The Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay

The Liveship Traders - Robin Hobb

The Long Price Quartet - Daniel Abraham

The Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R Tolkien

The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak

The Lyonesse Trilogy - Jack Vance

The Mabinogian Tetralogy, Evangeline Walton

The Mahabharata - Anonymous.

The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

The Merlin Trilogy-Stewart

The Messiah of Dune - Franck Herbert

The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Monarchies of God, Paul Kearney

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

The Moor's Last Sigh - Salman Rushdie

The Mote in God?s Eye ? Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster

The Newford books, Charles DeLint

The Night's Dawn Trilogy - Peter F Hamilton

The Night?s Dawn Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton

The Nightly News - Jonathan Hickman (is this really SF? Fuck it, I'm saying it is)

The Odyssey - Homer

The Once & Future King - T.H. White

The One Tree - Stephen Donaldson

The Order of the Stick: The Start of Darkness - Rich Burlew

The Orphan's Tales by Catherynne Valente

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster

The Player of Games - Iain M Banks

The Prestige by Christopher Priest

The Prince of Nothing - R. Scott Bakker

The Princess Bride - William Goldman

The Reality Dysfunction - Peter F. Hamilton

The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith

The Return from the Stars - Stanislaw Lem

The Riddle-Master trilogy - Patricia A. McKillip

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

The Sandman - Neil Gaiman

The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay

The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie

The Scar - China Meiville

The Seperation - Christopher Priest

The Seven Citadels - Geraldine Harris

The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien

The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut

The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell

The Stand ? Stephen King

The Star Rover - Jack London

The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

The Stone Raft - Jose Saramago

The Sword of Shadows series-JV Jones

The Tawny Man trilogy-Hobb

The Ten Thousand - Paul Kearney

The Terror - Dan Simmons

The Thief of Time - Pratchett

The Time Machine - H G Wells

The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffengger

The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass

The Tooth Fairy - Graham Joyce

The Unconquered Country - Geoff Ryman

The Unlikely Ones, Mary Brown

The Urth of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe

The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis

The Walking Dead - Robert Kirkman

The Walls of the Universe - Paul Melko

The Warlord Chronicles - Bernard Cornwell

The Waste Lands- Stephen King

The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan

The Wizard Knight - Gene Wolfe

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

The Yiddish Policemens Union - Michael Chabon

Things That Never Happen - M J Harrison

Thomas Covenant - Stephen Donaldson

Thomas Ligotti, Teatro Grottesco

Through the Looking-Glass - Lewis Carroll

Thunderer - Felix Gilman

Thunderer/Gears of the City - Felix Gilman

Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay

Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis

Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake

To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

Transformation -Carol Berg

Transmetropolitan - Warren Ellis/Darick Robertson

Tschai - Jack Vance

Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum

Unfinished Tales - JRR Tolkien

Ursula Le Guin, The Dispossessed

Use of Weapons - Iain M. Banks

utopia, t. more

V., Thomas Pynchon

Vast - Linda Nagata.

Vellum - Hal Duncan

Vladmir Nabokov, Pale Fire

Waking the Moon, Elizabeth Hand

Watchmen - Alan Moore

Watership Down - Richard Adams

We - Yevgeny Zamyatin

We Are All Legends - Darrell Schweitzer

Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan

White Queen - Gwyneth Jones.

Wild Cards - Various

Winter's Tale - Mark Helprin

Winterlong - Elizabeth Hand

Wizard and Glass - Stephen King

Wizard Knight - Gene Wolfe

Y: The Last Man - Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra

[Happy Ent]

... and here are my votes.

For what it’s worth, I don’t consider Amazing Adventures or Road genre, so by admitting them I would be forced to admit several other books that I find far superior to many of the books on this list (Zauberberg, Glasperlenspiel, frickin’ Faust, Curious Incident, ...) But the line has to be drawn somewhere.

Silmarillion - J.R.R Tolkien

Prince of Nothing - R. Scott Bakker

A Song of Ice and Fire - G.R.R. Martin

Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien

Black Man/Thirteen - Richard Morgan

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville

The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkein

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

Dune - Frank Herbert

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

The First Law Joe Abercrombie

The Gentlemen Bastards - Scott Lynch

Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Iron Council - China Meiville

The Shining - Stephen King

Neuropath - R. Scott Bakker

[Cuchulain]

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

The Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien

Hyperion - Dan Simmons

ASoIaF - George Martin

The Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson

Blade of Tyshalle - Matthew Stover

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick

The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers

The Broken Sword - Poul Anderson

I am Legend - Richard Matheson

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

Brasyl - Ian MacDonald

It - Stephen King

The Monarchies of God - Paul Kearney

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

Perdido Street Station - China Miéville

Rigante Series - David Gemmell (actually, here you can insert any of Gemmell's works. I just wanted him in the list)

Takeshi Kovacs trilogy - Richard Morgan

Damn, I really wanted Haldeman's The Forever War in there, but I'm a slot short. Also, too bad Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis can't be considered genre. Otherwise it would surely have made the list.

Edit: to underline

[Nearly Headless Ned]

ASOIAF- GRRM

A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA- URSULA K LEGUIN

SALEMS LOT- STEPHEN KING

HELLBLAZER- GARTH ENNIS

MYTHAGO WOOD- ROBERT HOLDSTOCK

THE FOREVER WAR- JOE HALDEMAN

FEVRE DREAM- GRRM

I AM LEGEND- RICHARD MATHESSON

HIS DARK MATERIALS- PHILLIP PULLMAN

AMERICAN GODS- NEIL GAIMAN

GOOD OMENS- TERRY PRATCHETT/NEIL GAIMAN

TITUS GROAN- MERVYN PEAKE

PREACHER- GARTH ENNIS

HITCHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY- DOUGLASS ADAMS

MONUMENT- IAN GRAHAM

FARNOR- ROGER TAYLOR

DREAMSONGS- GRRM

THE SWORD IN THE STONE- TH WHITE

WEAVEWORLD- CLIVE BARKER

WATCHMEN- ALAN MOORE

[El-ahrairah]

The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

Watership Down - Richard Adams

A Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. Martin

Dracula - Bram Stoker

The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

1984 - George Orwell

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

Redwall - Brian Jacques

Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein

World War Z - Max Brooks

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline L'Engle

Worldwar series - Harry Turtledove

The Nine Billion Names of God - Arthur C. Clarke

The Witches - Roald Dahl

Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling

The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

[Slick Mongoose]

The Warlord Trilogy-Cornwell

Is that one allowed? I'd have included it if so. I thought of it more as historical fiction. :unsure:

[Calibandar]

Yeah that is definitly allowed, it has clear fantastical elements after all.

I did see someone post Pillars of the Earth above, which seems more doubtful to me, but I have not read that book so I can't say. Always thought that was straight hist. fiction.

[zeitreisen?]

H2G2 - Adams

Thursday Next series - Fforde

(The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien)*

(A Song of Ice and Fire - Martin)*

Culture series - Banks

Dark Tower series - King

Sprout Mask Replica - Rankin

Thomas Covenant series - Donaldson

Gridlinked - Asher

Stand on Zanzibar - Brunner

The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Chabon

Malazan series - Erikson

American Gods - Gaiman

Golden Age Trilogy - Wright

Otherland - Williams

Interesting Times - Pratchett

The Android's Dream - Scalzi

First Law - Abercrombie

Lies of Locke Lamora - Lynch

Baroque Cycle - Stephenson

* In case you want to leave out Tolkien and Martin, just move up everything by two places and add these two at the end of the list:

+ Dresden Files - Jim Butcher

+ Long Price Quartett - Abrahams

[Tuoni]

First, thank you Wastrel for organizing this vote with an interesting electoral system. This is a geek's dream!

Permutation City - Greg Egan

Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang

Diaspora - Greg Egan

ASOIAF - George R R Martin

Axiomatic - Greg Egan

Hyperion - Dan Simmons

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

Oceanic - Greg Egan

Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith

The Golden Age Trilogy - John C Wright

The Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb

Dreamsongs - George R R Martin

Watchmen - Alan Moore

253 - Geoff Ryman

Replay- Ken Grimwood

Forever War - Joe Haldeman

Anathem - Neal Stephenson

Counting Heads - David Marusek

Fallen Dragon - Peter F Hamilton

I tried to concentrate on newer works, the classics are a bit too obvious for lists like these.

[Lummel]

In no particular order within each tier:

The Dispossessed Ursula K LeGuin

Lavondyss Robert Holdstock

Solaris Stanislaw Lem

We Evgeny Zamyatin

The Lord of the Rings J R R Tolkien

Gormenghast Mervyn Peake

The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood

A Game of Thrones G R R Martin

Gullivers Travels Jonathan Swift

Helliconia Winter Brian Aldyss

Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut

The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K LeGuin

Dune Frank Herbert

1984 George Orwell

Brave New World Aldous Huxley

Night Watch Terry Pratchett

The restaurant at the end of the Universe Douglas Adams

Foundation and Empire Isaac Asimov

The Dark is Rising Susan Cooper

[Langkard]

A Song of Ice and Fire George R. R. Martin

The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien

Dune series Frank Herbert

Downbelow Station C. J. Cherryh

The Faded Sun trilogy C. J. Cherryh

Anathem Neal Stephenson

Neuromancer William Gibson

The Anubis Gates Tim Powers

The Chronicles of Amber series Roger Zelazny

American Gods Neil Gaiman

The Silmarillion J. R. R. Tolkien

Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey

A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess

Elric of Melnibone series Michael Moorcock

Foundation trilogy Isaac Asimov

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams

Slaugherhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut

Do Androids Dreams of Electric Sheep Philip K. Dick

Brave New World Aldous Huxley

The Time Machine H. G. Wells

[wolverine]

I don't read as much as many of you thus my list will be a bit shorter.

Tier 1

ASOIF-George R.R. Martin

Shogun-James Clavell

Enders Game-Orson Scott Card

Prince of Nothing-Scott Bakker

Tier 2

WoT-Robert Jordan

The Giver-Lois Lowry

First Law Trilogy

The Walking Drum- Louis L'Amour (largely historical fiction, with a big fantasy)

Tier 3

Dark Tower (Wizards and Glass)-Stephen King

Midnight Tides-Steve Erikson

Drakula-Bram Stoker

Hyperion-Dan Simmons

The Hobbit-J.R.R. Tolkien

Monarchies of God-Paul Kearney

Stardust-Neil Gaiman

The Briar King-Greg Keyes

EDIT: Some debate going on whether or not historical fiction is allowed. I mostly excluded them from my list otherwise it would look very different.

[AprilFool]

This was hard to compile. Do it again next year and some things will probably have moved around a bit.

The Lord of the Rings Tolkein

Tigana Guy Gavriel Kay

A Song of Ice and Fire Martin

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Chabon

Lamb Chris Moore

Shadowbridge Gregory Frost

Anubis Gates Tim Powers

Facts of Life Graham Joyce

Starship Troopers Heinlen

First Law Trilogy [/u ]Abercrombie

Lies of Locke Lamora Scott Lynch

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Stephen Donaldson

Foundation Asimov

Dune Frank Herbert

Fables Bill Willingham

Bone Jeff Smith

The Book of Lost Things John Connolly

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Adams

Mistborn Trilogy Sanderson

Night Watch Terry Pratchett