"The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien "The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman

"The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold

This may be cheating, but I'm including entire series rather than picking individual books to hit ten books. 1. LORD OF THE RINGS series (including THE HOBBIT) - JRR Tolkien 2. AMERICAN GODS - Neil Gaiman 3. HARRY POTTER series - JK Rowling 4. BOOK OF THE NEW SUN series - Gene Wolfe 5. CHRONICLES OF NARNIA series - CS Lewis 6. NEVERWHERE - Neil Gaiman 7. SANDMAN series (graphic novels) - Neil Gaiman 8. THE MISTS OF AVALON - Marion Zimmer Bradley (there's a series here, but you could get away with reading this one book) 9. THE COMPLETE BROTHERS GRIMM - Brothers Grimm 10. THE ODYSSEY - Homer (I like the Robert Fitzgerald translation)

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass" by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll) As a teenager, I loved Robert E. Howard's series involving Conan the Barbarian. Clive Barker is known for horror but has written fantasy, for example Weaveworld. China Miéville has written lots of fantasy, for example, I enjoyed Perdido Street Station. Others on this list: World Fantasy Award winners, but sad to say I've read so few of them I can't pick out which are great ones.

1) Lord of the Rings including the Silmarillion. The Silmarillion is where you see the worldbuilding. Without that world building, the LoTR would be far less interesting. 2) She, H. Rider Haggard. Hugely influential on Robert Howard, Lovecraft and various other early to mid 20th century authors. 3) Conan Series by Howard. This is the archetypal sword and sandal. Read Howard's shorts, not the stories by other authors, including deCamp. Notice that Conan is actually very smart, wears armor, etc... 4) A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Sword and Sandal fantasy adventure, again massively influential. Also read the original Tarzan. Notice that it is a real novel, not a pulp. 5) Chronicles of Narnia. 'Nough said. 6) Brothers Grimm: read the non-sanitized version, not for kiddies. Have you brains blown. 7) 1001 Nights. Still wondrous. 8) Andre Norton: Witch World & The Crystal Gryphon. These aren't the best novels, but Norton was vastly influential in the mid century. Every kid read her. 9) Read a bunch of the Call of Cthulhu stories. 10) God Stalk by P.C. Hodgell. Not a big seller, but a book (and series) other fantasy authors love, and for good reason. Really appealing heroine, very well put together world.

Oh, and 11th. Fritz Lieber. Read one of the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. I actually don't like them, but again, vastly influential.

Thank you everybody for the great suggestions so far. I feel like this genre is tricky because it has a strong, established, genre-savvy fan base. So we're really talking about two lists here: 1. The outsider list, to cover the essentials of the genre as it's perceived by Hollywood / by story-tellers / aspiring writers outside the fantasy world; and 2. The insider list, of the essentials of the genre cannon as perceived by people working / reading *inside* that cannon. (I have asked some friends who I consider genre insiders, including fantasy writers, to contribute to the list and I hope they will. On that note, thanks, iwelsh!) A few more suggestions: Anne McCaffrey - The Dragon Riders of Pern series Octavia E. Butler Ursula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness Wen Spencer - A Brother's Price Barbara Hambly - her oeuvre is broad and varied; I'd suggest starting with The Ladies of Mandrigyn, the first book of The Sunwolf & Starhawk series I don't pretend to have a thorough enough understanding of this genre to weigh in on whether these are canonical/iconic or not, but I put them forward as books and authors that are a pleasure to read and should prove helpful to anyone looking for tropes of this genre or examples of masterful stories in this genre. And here's a business thought: there's a great tendency in fantasy literature for writers to write series of books, rather than one-off books, possibly to take advantage of the huge effort of building unique worlds. Given the emphasis in Hollywood right now on A) adapting properties with pre-existing fan bases and B) franchies, I wonder if we won't / shouldn't see more fantasy classics adapted to the screen. Any thoughts?

> I feel like this genre is tricky because it has a strong, > established, genre-savvy fan base. So we’re really talking > about two lists here ... IMHO a very insightful comment. This is another huge (and very "hot") genre, with lots of subgenres. The fantasy conventions (not that I attend them but I know people that do) are very well attended. These "hot" genres should not be ignored. Steampunk seems strong, as does "vampire/young adult horror"). What is great now, may not be what sells tomorrow...

Thanks, David. And if you look at the suggestions above, they cover fantasy-in-general well, but anyone setting out to write fantasy would want to dig into pertinent subgenres: swords-and-sandals, dragons, fairy-tale, etc. I think I'd file steampunk under sci fi more than fantasy (although it would depend on the specifics of the story). Can anyone think of subgenres we haven't covered here yet that you feel are an important part of the genre? And speaking of cons, if we have any con attendees here, I hope you'll speak up and recommend your favourites when the "other resources" list goes up tomorrow.

Any books or short stories by Lord Dunsany Discworld series from Terry Pratchett Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) Earthsea Saga by Ursula Le Guin The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger Watership Down by Richard Adams Redwall by Brian Jacques The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum Magic Kingdom for Sale – SOLD by Terry Brooks Peter Pan and Wendy by JM Barre The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

More fiction book recommendations from swinefever: > If you want some (fairly) recent fantasy novels to read then I’d go with any of: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaikovsky A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin

More suggestions from Marina Sandoval: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin The Passage by Justin Cronin The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling Coraline by Neil Gaiman The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll Through a Glass, Darkly by Jostein Gaarder The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder Perrault’s Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault, Gustave Doré The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder I was going to recommend the books of Licia Troisi, she is an Italian author, but I couldn’t find it in English. It is a shame because she is very good. I think these are the languages that you can find her books: Italian, German, French, Dutch, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. If you want to know more about her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licia_Troisi Dylan Dog by Tiziano Sclavi is another one that is very good.

The list so far: (Any books or short stories) by Lord Dunsany (anything by) Octavia E. Butler 1001 Nights. Still wondrous. A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs. (Sword and Sandal fantasy adventure, again massively influential. Also read the original Tarzan. Notice that it is a real novel, not a pulp.) A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll) American Gods by Neil Gaiman Book Of The New Sun Series by Gene Wolfe Coraline by Neil Gaiman Discworld series from Terry Pratchett Dylan Dog by Tiziano Sclav Earthsea Saga by Ursula Le Guin Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Fritz Lieber. (Vastly influential.) God Stalk by P.C. Hodgell. (Not a big seller, but a book (and series) other fantasy authors love, and for good reason. Really appealing heroine, very well put together world.) Magic Kingdom for Sale – SOLD by Terry Brooks Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman Perdido Street Station by China Miéville Perrault’s Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault, Gustave Doré Peter Pan and Wendy by JM Barre Redwall by Brian Jacques Sandman Series (Graphic Novels) by Neil Gaiman Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaikovsky She by H. Rider Haggard. (Hugely influential on Robert Howard, Lovecraft and various other early to mid 20th century authors.) Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder The books of Licia Troisi The Call of Cthulhu stories by H.P. Lovecraft The Chronicles Of Narnia Series by C.S .Lewis The Complete Brothers Grimm by the Brothers Grimm (read the non-sanitized version, not for kiddies. Have you brains blown.) The Conan series by Robert E. Howard. (This is the archetypal sword and sandal. Read Howard’s shorts, not the stories by other authors, including deCamp. Notice that Conan is actually very smart, wears armor, etc.) The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold The Dragon Riders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling The Ladies of Mandrigyn, the first book of The Sunwolf & Starhawk series by Barbara Hambly The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery The Lord Of The Rings Series (including The Hobbit and the Silmarillion) by JRR Tolkien (The Silmarillion is where you see the world-building, without which the LoTR would be far less interesting.) The Mists Of Avalon by Marion Zimmer The Odyssey by Homer (Robert Fitzgerald translation) The Passage by Justin Cronin The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum Through a Glass, Darkly by Jostein Gaarder Through the Looking-Glass by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll) Time of the Dark series by Barbara Hambly (There is nothing in her later fantasy novels which is not in that trilogy in one form or another. And the "earth people dropped into fantasy world" is a big trope.) Watership Down by Richard Adams Weaveworld by Clive Barker Witch World & The Crystal Gryphon by Andre Norton. (These aren’t the best novels, but Norton was vastly influential in the mid century. Every kid read her.) Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind