Must reads of the genre?

In any literature class you're bound to read certain authors of the literary canon (Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Austen, Achebe, others, you know the types of authors I mean) and I was wondering, is there a set of books you think should make up the "fantasy canon"? What books must be read for a good taste of the fantasy genre?

The first, and I think the most obvious choice, is J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga (including The Hobbit) because of the massive influence that it's had over the fantasy genre as a whole. I believe Tolkien is called the "Father of Fantasy" somewhere, so any list of a fantasy must-read has to include him.

Another, perhaps not always grouped with fantasy, might be Dracula by Bram Stoker, which continues to influence the vampires in modern day literature and had a huge amount of influence in horror (which is often a sub-genre of fantasy).

Shame that Dracula is poor though..... completely with you on Tolkien

I'd go for Magician by Feist
for the whole small child to hero plot. Although the magic isn't well described so maybe we need a better magic system author?

Definetly needs to be a work on the faerie, but I'm not sure what would be definative. Feist's again faerie Tale isn't bad, but I think there must be better.

Ursula le Guin's Earthsea quintet and short tales must be definative for dragons.

Tolkien is mentioned, horror I leave separate

Emma Bull's War For The Oaks

Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone

Robert E. Howard's The Coming of Conan or many other variations in publication

E. R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros

Roger Zelazny's The Great Book of Amber and variations

David Gemmell's Legend and assorted Drenai tales

Steven Brust's Jhereg and other Dragaera tales

Fritz Leiber's The Swords of Lankhmar et. al.

Glen Cook's The Black Company

China Mieville's Perdido Street Station

Richard Adams Watership Down

L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz etc.

Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

C. S. Lewis The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe etc.
Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book

Hugh Lofting's The Voyage of Dr. Dolittle etc.

Thomas Malory's Le Mort d'Arthur

Lloyd Alexander's The Prydain Chronicles

Mary Stewarts The Crystal Cave etc.

Edith Nesbit's The Phoenix and the Carpet

Terry Brooks The Sword of Shannara etc.

Stephen Donalson's Lord Foul's Bane etc.

Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea etc.

Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter

Raymond Feist's Magician

Robin Hobb's Assassin etc.

L. E. Modesitt's The Magic of Recluce - although some of the setup here is a whole bunch of people crash in a spaceship and become magic wielders due to the nature of the planet, for part of it

Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality or Xanth

T. H. White's The Once and Future King

Sheri S. Tepper's King's Blood Four etc.

Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising et. al.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld extravaganza

Hans Christian Andersen,Aesop,The Brothers Grimm

Greek,Roman,Norse mythology etc.

some people would probably say some books about a little geek called Harry, but I haven't read those

I would also have to include Anne McCaffery's dragon book series.

not sure if this counts, but what about "urban fantasy"? i'm actually not a fantasy reader, but i read LeGuin's Earthsea Quartet for a children's fantasy literature paper i did at uni and loved it. and years ago i picked up Trader by Charles de Lint and loved it so i read i whole bunch of his other stuff, which was pretty cool as well.

Generally speaking, McCaffrey is SF. Given that the Pern stories are about a group of space colonists that genetically engineer reptiles with special abilities to stop meteor showers, and throw in a lot of teleporation and some time travel.

de Lint makes sense, his more popular Newford books perhaps? I haven't read any for a long time.

umm thats Newford

Yeah, that's the one! :) Last story I read was a Hellboy crossover.

Lud-in-the-Mist Hope Mirrlees

bluetyson at #6

Technically Mccaffery might be Science Fiction, but her Pern series reads very much more Fantasy than SF. Her stories are much more people orientated than most SF and besides there are Dragons! How can it be SF with Dragons in it?

It is an old argument and perhaps we shouldn't threadjack this by repeating it again here. Cherryh who writes both claims they are one and the same anyway.

If you are using this thread as a source of inspiration then I would say try some of Pern, they are classics of a genre.

Or, how can it be fantasy with spaceships and time travel?

:)

Come to think of, did just read a book called The Dragon Lensman. ;-)

What about something by Jonathan Carroll or Graham Joyce?
American Gods By Gaiman
M. John Harrison's Viriconium stories
Jack Vance's Tales Of The Dying Earth and Lyonesse.
Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood the sequels aren't as good IMO.
At least some of Poul Anderson's fantasy
Some Clark Ashton Smith as well.

#11 - becasue the spaceship and the time travel aren't requirements of the plot they are devices to get the characters to the fantasy world - until the last few books in the series anyway.

So as recommended reads of the genre I'd stick to just the first 4 or so (as written not in Pern history).

I would say that if you're going for urban fantasy, try the Bordertown universe created by Windling & Arnold. Emma Bull (War for the Oaks), de Lint, Shetterly have all written for this world.

Try Elsewhere, Nevernever, Finder, Double Feature. All good, all part of the world.

How'd we get this far without George R.R. Martin? The Song of Ice & Fire books are wonderful. Game of Thrones is the first.)

I also like Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series and Liann Hearn's Tales of the Otori, though I doubt they've passed into canon status yet.

What about C.L. Moore's Jorel of Joiry series? And Beowulf?

Long ago I read Marian Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series, which, though it had its historical inception in Earth colonists in a spaceship crashlanding on the planet, it contains many of the elements of fantasy, such as wizards, strange godlike beings, and magic. I'm not sure it belongs on any classic list, though.

My opinion, if you are including McCaffery's Pern series, you might as well throw in Pier's Anthony's Adept series, as they both tend to cross over the line, blurring it with magic and technology.

someone on the SF fans posted this Dave Pringle's List

http://www.strangewords.com/weirdbooks/fantasy100.html

As usual, I`m going to pick up on this thread late, and take a scatter-gun approach to recommendations.

I`d say - Bram stoker - Dracula and some of the better short stories. Conan doyle - a number of his short stories have supernatural themes. Simon R Green - Shadows fall, also the Haven series. Mervyn Peake - Titus groan, The Saragossa Manuscript by Jan Potocki, Castle Perilous. Ben Okri has written one or two books which I think would appeal to some readers of fantasy - there`s one that has a unicorn in it, can`t remember the title.

Anyway, that should keep you going for a bit.

Let me just add The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant to the list of must read Fantasy. Another great Fantasy saga, in the same vein (but not taking a direct page from) the Tolkien trilogy.

Another series would be the quite popular Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet, starting with A Wrinkle in Time, though my favorite was the third installment, A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

And last but not least, Orson Scott Card's "Alvin the Maker" series, beginning with Seventh Son, dealing with a alternate history of America.

For me it was Terry Brooks "Sword of Shannara". that got me into fantasy. Still one of the best in my opinion. Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series, though wordy and drawn out, is probably one of the best examples as well...covers pretty well every fantasy base, appeals to both sexes (unlike Tolkien who seems male-centric, although the times in which he wrote in were different) with powerful characters appearing as men and women and covers all the tried and tested fantasy plotlines (the chosen one plot, the has to break the world to save it plot, the unknown family heritage plot etc....).

Jack Whyte's King Arthur stuff as well, for those that like their King Arthur in the Roman fashion.

Not mentioned so far and need putting in for a -must read - are

The Face in the Abyss by A Merritt and The Ship of Ishtar
The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
The Dreaming Jewels by Theodore Sturgeon
Elidor by Alan Garner , and The Owl Service
On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, and The Drawing of the Dark

I have to wholeheartedly agree on the George R R Martin A Song of Ice and Fire series starting with A game of Thrones as well as the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels probably starting with Mort.

I have just read the fabulous Alison Croggon and her series of books The Gift The Riddle and the Crow too and they are worth a look.

I find it so funny that most of these books, I disliked. ^^;;

Nah, it's not funny. I hate the Lord of the Rings books and films and thats almost enough to get me crucified amongst fantasy circles. At the end of the day everyone is influenced by their own experiences and life and even a great work may not appeal in style or tone.

It's completely normal.

Conspicuously absent: Gene Wolfe, specifically his Urth of the New Sun, Long Sun, etc. books. If you don't know them, get started with Shadow & Claw, which is the first two New Sun books in one volume.

I guess you fantasy purists out there will, as with McCaffrey, cry "scifi", but I'm prepared to call any book where the protagonist runs around with a huge sword on his back fantasy. :-) At least until the aliens show up.

Late, late, but I would add Guy Gavriel Kay and his Tigana to the must read list! NOT your formulaic fantasy, to say the least.

Also, I think a "must read" should be short; only a gateopener to the genre, not a list containing every work someone thinks of as a valid contribution to the field... Truly, not EVERY Discworld book is a must? I own most of them, they're auto-buy to me, but one or two would suffice. Then if the reader likes it, she or he are free to find the others :-)

Hi, by the way, I think I know some of you from the Dragon, but I'm new here at FF :-)

Re: #26
A small post script... so Snow crash is fantasy? There is one protagonist in that book named Hiro Protagonist none the less, running around in cyberspace armed with a japanese sword!

*just joking ;-) *

I just don't think there is such a thing as a "must read" (in any genre). People just have too different of tastes. I'm with commenter #24 in that I've read and disliked many of the books mentioned and still consider myself a fantasy fan. I'm not a particular fan of Tolkien, I dislike McCaffrey's Pern series (though her (other) SF is better), I absolutely hated George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, I don't care for A Wrinkle In Time, etc, anymore, and I hate just about everything by Piers Anthony, with the sort-of exception of some of the Incarnations of Immortality books. I could go on...

I agree that there are no books that everybody SHOULD read if they would dare to call themselves a fan of what ever... The aim with these lists should rather be to help people find out what they like or dislike. I myself is mostly for SF or borderline SF/F rather than fantasy (even if I don't agree on any list presented there either...) and I partly joined this group the get pointers at books that could interest me.

Now, I'm hardly a novice, as my first big passion in books was LoTR some 30 years ago, and I also enjoy most of Le Guins work (never got the hang of Lathe of Heaven, though...). But to me the average fantasy is mostly about dragons, swords, and sorcerers, with formulaic plots and little to call character development. I agree that taste is personal. But lists COULD help one find books that could be interesting, only that you've not heard of them or thought otherwise about them. There's an flood of books out there, and sometimes it's nice to get some help navigating the ocean ;-)

My problem with "this is a must-read" as a place to find new books to read is that, well, I've heard of most of them already, and read many of them. "What are you reading now?" or "Who's your favorite obscure author?" or other things like that are more useful places (to me) to find new reading material. For example, I've found many more interesting new books through a livejournal community where people keep track of what they read over the course of the year than I have in the LJ communities that are supposed to be about recommending books.

Well, what the communities are about depends on how we use them ;-)
To me all your points are valid, but please accept that we have different motives and motivations!

I might add that my reading pace is nothing like what I've come to know of here at the LT foras. I read perhaps 8-10 fictionary works during a year, plus 2-3 nonfictionary books, plus a pocketbook format soccer magazine, plus 40-50 reports of varying length. I don't need LOTS of pointers to books, only a few, and then LT is good enough for me :-)

As of lists, I normally despise them as being more about building walls and defining the self than about what I need them for... But sometimes the discussion in and of itself is a rewarding one!

My issue isn't with LT as a place to find book suggestions. I mentioned the LJ comms just as an example, I've been on LJ much longer than I've been here. I think what I meant is that I've found more interesting books from what people are actually reading rather than what they think they should read, which is what lists like this ("must-read") generally seem to be.

I didn't mean to derail the topic entirely, sorry :( I just wanted to express an opinion. Please continue with your regularly scheduled book-suggesting!

OK, there I'm definitely with you. I HAVE got a few good tips from these foras, BUT mainly they stem from reading other peoples reviews and looking at their reading lists.
Nice to have them complement each other :-)

And yes; please continue to offer up books!

Gaiman has already been mentioned with reference to American Gods, but I'd also suggest, for anyone who has a passing aquantance with London, Neverwhere.

Also, and not all his stuff classes as fantasy, but a lot of Bernard Cornwell's books, especially his Arthur series (Winter King, Enemy of God and Excalibur) would count as fantasy too.

C. J. Cherryh is one of those rare authors who writes equally well in both SF and fantasy genres. Another one would be Lois McMaster Bujold. I can't get enough of the Miles Vorkosigan series.

I also love the lyrical fantasy writing of Patricia A. McKillip. She writes a lot of stand-alones, all good.

Then there are the fantasy series by Judith Tarr--something to sink your teeth into.

Hmm... re: recent discussion of "must read"... I had originally intended this thread to contain a list of books that a well-rounded fantasy reader might have read, whether or not you enjoyed them, and I would include Tolkien in that simply because he is the "father" of modern fantasy. Just like I would be very remiss in ignoring Jane Eyre in a "must-read" list of early feminist literature alongside Aurora Leigh; even though epic poetry isn't my thing, I would definately include it.

as far as comprehensive lists of fantasy go, i think we've got quite the range here. the only book i could think of that was lacking was the dark materials trilogy by philip pullman. that's a pretty fundamental work of fantasy.

and it does all come down to taste as far as what fantasy you like. i personally really love neil gaiman, but i'm not a huge fan of terry pratchet, except when they teamed up for good omens. it all depends on the writer, the story, and where you are in your own life.

37> Based on your original post, I think it might be useful to frame the question like this to get closer to what you were looking for:

You're a professor who wants to teach an advanced undergraduate (college) level seminar on "Introduction to Modern Fantasy Literature". You can put 7-9 novels (or the equivalent) on your syllabus. Which do you pick?

Now, I'm not as well-read in "canonical" fantasy as most of you probably are, but here's what my syllabus would be (though not necessarily in this order).

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
The Once and Future King - T.H. White
Redwall - Brian Jacques (though I think Watership Down by Richard Adams is probably more canonical within this style of fantasy, I personally didn't get into it, and it's my class, so there)
The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett
Abarat - Clive Barker OR Eragon - Christopher Paolini (excellent new fantasy that isn't Harry Potter)
Finally, I would want a book that blurred the science fiction/fantasy lines significantly. My problem is that the books I have in mind are parts of a series that would probably not stand alone well. Specifically, City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams or Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Maybe Dune could work? I'll take suggestions for this one.
And I'd throw in some short stories to cover any gaps and some scholarly works, too.

Hope this reframing helps move the discussion along.

Speaker for the Dead could be paired with the Ender's Game short story to give it some background, but otherwise as the Ender novels go, it stands pretty well on its own.

Under jaimelesmaths's reframing I'll bite on the last one: Something like Sharra's Exile would be an excellent one - it starts off in a space station, but they go home to drive out the possessing demon in one of them - or many of the other Darkover books by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Yes, they're part of a series, but they're all stand alone novels, series in the sense of common setting rather than a tight trilogy or similar.

To further the discussion, what were the selection criteria for the others? I'm guessing we're looking at some "grandfathers"/origins with the first three. Talking animals, humour and something new with the next ones? The Hobbit has the possible other inclusion for those fantasy staples of other races, dwarves, trolls, dragons etc.

I'd probably do a high magic fantasy - Magician say, something swords and sorcery range - Stormbringer or Jhereg perhaps. One or more cross-over things, Fantasy-noir - Thraxas and contemporary fantasy/horror - Bitten or The good, the bad and the undead and I've already got Sharra's Exile for the SF&F crossover. Something legendary/quasi-historical, in which - The Once and Future King would register or, depending on the group something like Storm of Wings (which retells WWI stories with dragons rather than planes). I'd also have to go for something old as a forerunner - The Mabinogion just to point out it's not a totally new phenomenon.

That's seven all of a sudden, with some alternates. I feel like I'm missing something with high powered deific interaction, so perhaps Taltos and leave S&S to Moorcock. Taltos will also let me look at coming back from the dead, which is a pretty common theme.

Again it's my list, and there are loads of books I love that I've missed out, but that sort of covers my bases I think.

39>

I think you are in the right area by trying to get it down to a few books covering differing types of fantasy. However there is quite a chunk of fantasy you miss out in your groupings.

From an historical point of view it is hard to argue with any of the first three. Dunsany probably could be added here if one wished.

Animal fantasy - absolutely must have one of those. There are plenty to choose from - Kilworth might be worth looking at in this group.

The science fantasy type story is also pretty much a given. Maybe Ash: A Secret History would work here (even though it is SF just as Dune and Speaker For The Dead are) as it has the medieval aspect to it. Maybe City Of Saints And Madmen would be a better choice.

I think it is wise to include an explicitly young adult (or even childrens) novel like Abarat or Eragon (or even Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy) as this has always been a fertile area for fantasy.

Things that may be missing from your list would be
1) a horror/fantasy crossover.
2) urban fantasy - the kind of books that Graham Joyce, Tim Powers, and Jonathan Carroll write (among others).

I probably wouldn't choose The Colour Of Magic because it is a bit fragmentary and requires the reader to have a bit of knowledge about fantasy before coming at it. But humorous fantasy is a good choice and I would probably choose something from later on in the Discworld series - Small Gods probably.

To me this list would be incomplete without Le Guin. I would say Left hand of darkness, or maybe something else from the Hainish sequence, like Worlds of exile and illusion or Four ways to forgiveness. This would maybe be in the sf/fantasy crossover section...

Also, I think Tigana is an excellent piece of work if you want to point your students in that direction. It really stands out amongst all those clichéed s&s-books. And so does the original Earthsea trilogy...

40> Yeah, it does work pretty well on its own except for the Ender as Xenocide background (which, of course, is mentioned and kind of explained, but maybe not to the degree I would want my students to have?). I have not read the original Ender's Game short story, so I don't know if that would work or not, but I could just copy the appropriate section from the novel for them to read as background.

41> The Colour of Magic was intended to be my explicitly magical fantasy in addition to my humor-fantasy. (I briefly toyed with doing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire instead, but figured that students might bring in too much baggage with that.) I personally like Diane Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard, but I think that plays too young for the target audience. (I certainly would want to include a YA-geared fantasy (since, as post 42 mentioned, it is such a fertile area), but it has to be deep enough for students to find complex ideas in. And now I've strayed completely away from the original thought.)

42> I do think that horror- and urban-fantasy are important subgenres, so I appreciate those suggestions. I don't think it's possible to do a novel within every subgenre, and I don't read much of either of those, so I personally would be inclined to do short stories/novellas there. Also did not read Small Gods, but that would fit with the deific interaction mentioned in post 41. And the Dark Materials trilogy is on my TBR list as soon as I finish moving and can spend the amazon.com gift certificates I earned buying holiday presents :)

43> (I'm going to get in trouble for this.) Unfortunately, I haven't read any Le Guin, but, if I were actually doing such a class, she would certainly be considered. (For that matter, I haven't read The Once and Future King either, but I do know enough about it to know that it should be in the class.) Yeah, just noticed that all the authors I listed are male, and that's a no-no.

Thank you all for your suggestions, though. I think this really did spark a different way of thinking about this idea. There are some authors that one could do an entire syllabus on, not to mention fantasy subgenres with their own full subcanons. Like I said, I think that short stories are great to put in a syllabus to fill those gaps, and I would also want to ensure that books weren't too compartmentalized (i.e. that there would be opportunities to explore how different authors treat the same concept/trope). One of the guiding questions of this imaginary class would be "How do we define the genre of fantasy?" and I was trying to ensure that the books I selected would serve as fair examples of or challenges to the conventional ideas of fantasy. Of course, if I were to really teach such a class, I would have to read much more extensively first in order to decide which concepts would be best served with novels and which could be done with an appropriate shorter piece.

What would your syllabi be?

Maybe I missed it, maybe I am just alone on this one, or maybe it just got overlooked, but I really loved the Dragonlance Chronicles as well as Dragonlance Legends by Weis and Hickman. They were super reads, great characters, and over all excellent fantasy books. I would certainly have to have these on a list of must reads.

Anything by Emma Bull. BTW, Emma has a new book coming out in summer 2007, _Territory_, by Tor.

Her fellow Scribblies are much fun too. I seem to have read the ladies' novels before the gents. I also recommend the Liavek anthologies, as a great many marvelous stories are in there. This includes work by Steven Brust.

Most anything by Diana Wynne Jones. Those of us not in the UK find her in the YA books in America.

I love the Wizards books by Diane Duane, but I actually adore her Door Into Fire series more.

I agree with everyone who doesn't get into the lists. There's people here I could agree with - I dote on the Miles Vorkosigan series, nearly anything by Patricia McKillip, etc.

I am happy to say that I never liked Tolkien except where he could write. This isn't to be taken as a flame to anyone. "Smith of Wooton Major" and "Farmer Giles of Ham" were the only worthies he did aside from The Hobbit.

So ends my effort tonight. Happy reading, all!

I had to put this out there but it is really with mixed feelings. Mercedes Lackey was the author that really got me into fantasy and her Valdemar series. I love her books and I really feel that she epitomizes the fantasy genre.

Now the disclaimer: I don't usually recommend this series to a lot of people because she writes what I consider to be 'light' fantasy and more girl-oriented characters (a lot of soul mate stuff). However, this is really the type of book I love and her writing is fantastic with well developed characters.

I also really enjoy Lackey's Valemar series. While it dod not get me into fantasy, it was one of the first fantasy series I read. As you said, it can be considered "light" fantasy, but I still enjoy it a lot.

If someone asked me what I'd recommend as introductory fantasy material, I might go with something classical and short first, like Aesop's Fables (which I consider fantasy), and perhaps some YA fantasy such as Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence. But I'd be more inclined to try to suggest stand-alone books to start with because starting off with a trilogy (or more) could be off-putting if you're not used to alternate world reading. T.H. White's The Once and Future King, for example - especially the first section, "The Sword in the Stone."

Then mythology like The Mabinogion and The Tain, along with Greek myth at the very least, and that should be enough for the reader to decide if s/he likes the stuff!

"In any literature class you're bound to read certain authors of the literary canon . . . is there a set of books you think should make up the 'fantasy canon'? What books must be read for a good taste of the fantasy genre?"

Many of you have probably seen this site before, but I believe that Eric Walker at http://greatsfandf.com lays out the "literary" keystones of our genre probably better than any where else on the web. Of course, its all subjective - but the litmus test he sets up (involving characters, plot, setting, and language use) is a true attempt to negociate the qualities of a devirse veriety of given works.

He has 12 "Five Star" authors, who for multiple reasons have earned that ranking. I personally don't care for all of them, but when relating to the creation of a "literary canon", they all have merits worth experiencing (at least) once.

They are:
Baum, L. Frank
Borges, Jorge Luis
Bramah, Ernest
Cabell, Branch
Calvino, Italo
Carroll, Lewis
Dunsany, Lord
Eddison, E. R.
Lafferty, R. A.
Peake, Mervyn
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Vance, Jack

They appeal to different tastes, but are undeniably made of "canon" material. In addition to that, there are some "Four Stars" that I think should belong:

Blaylock, James
Carroll, Jonathan
Davidson, Avram
Harrison, M. John
Lee, Tanith
MacDonald, George
Machen, Arthur
Milne, A. A.
Morris, William
Pratchett, Terry
Wolfe, Gene

Great list folks...it just kills me that there's so much I haven't read. :(

Peter S. Beagle's A Fine and Private Place and especially The Last Unicorn .

Stephen King's The Eyes of the Dragon I know he's not usually thought of as a fantasy writer, but I think this (a) qualifies and (b) is a superb bit of writing.

I'm tempted to toss in some H. P. Lovecraft, but that's probably my personal biases speaking, I try to work him in whenever I can. :)

gmork, I thought of Lovecraft as well, particularly in the "deific" category. I'm not well enough acquainted with his work to pick one book over any other, but I've heard so much about him (and I can't seem to escape references to Chtulhu on the blogs I read) that he'd have to fit in somewhere.

The first fantasy I read was the Narnia Chronicles - well, the first couple were read to me actually. Then I discovered Lovecraft on my dad's bookshelf whenI was about 12. No going back after that.
I agree with most of the canonic list, I guess, though I don't like all of them, but I'd like to add another relatively new author, for a "must-read" list: Garth Nix for his Old Kingdom trilogy, though I like his other books too.
As a footnote, I think Mieville's The Scar is his best book - much more absorbing than Perdido Street Station.

I would, of course, have to recommend the Chronicles of Narnia, as well as LoTR.

I would further recommend (in no particular order):
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Unique in that it is about Magic and Magicians, but takes place in a time where magic has disappeared from the world, and two men are trying to bring it back. Takes place in England during the Napoleanic Wars.

the Bartimaeus Trilogy: Great story with a unique form of magic. The system revolves around summoning Djinni (what we know as Genies) and other creatures, into items, instead of performing magic directly. The story focuses around a man who is "adopted" by a magician to be trained when he is only 3 years old. The magician is soon shown to be an egotistical, incompetent man, and the child is soon sneaking books out of his masters library to study, as he has passed beyond what his master is teaching him. After a couple years he is able to summon a Djinni named Bartimaeus, who is one of the most powerful Djinni in that world, before his master thinks he's ready, and uses that Djinni to save the prime ministers life allowing him an in to get a job in the government. He later uses Bartimaeus to continue rising in prominence in the government. Part of what makes this series amasing, is we see a sort of decent at the same time as we watch an ascent. While we see the child rise in government over the years, becoming more powerful, we also watch a descent as he becomes more and more like the magicians whom he despises, plotting, planning, working to become more powerful, and removing any obstacles in his way.

Elantris: A first novel, with a very unique story and setting, while at the same time using aspects of beter known fantasy, such as Dune. The story focuses around a dead/dying city, known as Elantris, that used to be populated by godlike beings. Now, the Shaod, which was what created these gods, has become a curse, as it sends the recipient into a sort of living death, and condemns them to eternal life in the tomb that the city of Elantris has become. It also deals with politics, and religious wars, ala Dune by Frank Herbert

All the one's I thought of off the top of my head have already been suggested. (Although I think Dune, the Ender Wiggen's books, and the Pern books are Sci-Fi not fantasy)

So I will try to come up with titles not already mentioned.
Nick Bantock, Griffin & Sabine
Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
Jo Clayton, Wild Magic
John Crowley, Little, Big
Charles G. Finney, The Circus of Dr Lao
E. M. Forster, The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories
Ben Hecht, Fantazius Mallare: A Mysterious Oath
Barry Hughart, The Bridge of Birds
Katharine Kerr, Darkspell
Tanith Lee, Tales From the Flat Earth
George MacDonald, The Golden Key: And Other Fantasy Stories
Terry Pratchett, has been mentioned but I would go with, Wyrd Sisters, Guards! Guards! or Reaper Man
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, The Goldcamp Vampire or Nothing Sacred
Sharon Shinn, The Shape-Changer’s Wife
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Black and Blue Magic
Jane Yolen, Sister Light, Sister Dark

Edit: I can't seem to get the touchstones to load. I left them "loading" all night and they still haven't made any progress.

bilbo and Lord of the rings by Tolkien are the best books I've ever read, for me there is a "before" Tolkien and after Tolkien I have read them at the age of 20
and I thought to be never so captivated by a fantasy book
Anyway I have of course read other fantasy books and I have loved Russel Sean The Swan's war and the carpet makers by Andreas Eschbach and discovered Neil Gaiman and read many of his books

Someone nominated a Guy Gavriel Kay work without mentioning the The Fionavar Tapestry? It wasn't astoundingly original, but it was moving and the prose was beautiful.

I find the Lord of The Rings dreadfully boring. It just seems to go on and on. Although it has a fantastic plot and I have read the series, I strongly don't like. I believe that the Inheritance trilogy by Christopher Paolini is a must read. Who doesn't love Eragon and Eldest-they are great books. You never tire of them, but J.R.R. Tolkien you can get bored quite easily. I know many people who would agree.

>Message 54:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Unique in that it is about Magic and Magicians, but takes place in a time where magic has disappeared from the world, and two men are trying to bring it back. Takes place in England during the Napoleanic Wars.

I would say that that description pretty much sums up the plot of The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner (Except for the England and Napoleanic:-)

I don't think I would add that many of the classics, because I don't think that would be very rewarding (everybody knows the classics, few people read them). I would instead take a few classics, and then choose the best of the contemporary, preferably stand alone novels & short stories. One extremely talented writer I haven't seen mentioned here is Martha Wells whose world building is both original and comprehensive. city of bones, the Wheel of the infinite, and her Ile-Rien stories are all great examples of the type of fantasy I prefer (the non-tolkien, non-sword&sorcery fantasy).
I would agree about Diana Wynne Jones - her later work especially - although some of it is perhaps more urban fantasy than fantasy (depending on how you define it?)

The discussion has long since moved past this, but I wanted to point out that Pern as originally written by McCaffrey wasn't a colony of Earth--just a world with telepathic dragons. I think it was the publisher who wanted her to add the prologue bit about how Pern was a colony--to ground the story. It is perfectly possible to read the first three books (published, not chronologically...) as fantasy, although as the books go along the colony aspect does get more important. May be Pern is "science fantasy"?

~!!!!!
some of those books were definitely written for the fiction genre or the children's genre rather than for fantasy.....not that they don't pull from the fantastic, but they are not what i think of when i think of fantasy.
then again, you have great taste....other than the feist and broust stuff. but i just don't like plot driven stuff. bring me the door-stop character driven books@!