Favorite Fantasy Books?

What are some of your favorite Fantasy books all you out there? I'm looking for something good to read so I thought I'd see what you folks recommend! Some of my personal favorites are the Shannara series, the Dragonriders of Pern, HP,

Mine is absolutely "The Once and Future King" by T H White. Loooong, some parts slow, but great reading. It's what the musical Camelot was based on, as well as Disney's "Sword and the Stone"

There is such a huge selection in this genre!! One of my all time faves is the Belgariad and the Mallorean series by David Eddings. If you have never read the Dragonriders of Pern series, then you are missing out. One of my mostest favoritest books of all (besides the HP books) is not a fantasy book at all. It is classified as SciFi but isnt really that either. It is Enders Game by Orson Scott Card.
Other writers who have put out really good stuff include George R.R. Martin, Dave Duncan, and if you like humorous books, Piers Anthony (the Incarnations of Immortality series is excellent).
I am not a huge SciFi fan but I LOVE all the books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe setting, this pretty much means anything post Return of the Jedi.
The Joust Series (The Dragon Jousters) by Mercedes Lackey was very enjoyable and books by Morgan Llywelyn such as Druids are very very well written and are mostly Celtic in nature (Irish legends, etc..). The Shannara series by Terry Brooks is good, as is the Magician Series by Raymond Fiest

It is funny, I have read hundreds of books and can't really recall some of the best ones to tell you about... it all kind of blends together i guess....

hope i gave some ideas, feel free to ask about specific books..perhaps I or someone else has enjoyed (or disliked) it.

I used to go and find the ones that had a jacket design that caught my eye and read the intro in the jacket flap or on the back and would then give it a try if it peaked my interest.
Peace
Jay

I have enjoyed the "Dies the Fire" trilogy from S.M. Sterling. It is a semi modern day (about 10 years ago) setting with a twist where electricity and combustion goes away. The overall concept has a few obvious flaws but once you get past that the books are really quite fun to read. Everything from Wiccans and soldiers wielding swords to Renfair types an city gangs taking over in a neo feudal empire.
I enjoyed them mostly because of the knight/chivalry factor without all the wizards and dragons plus I enjoy post apocalyptic "what now?" kind of books. It is classified as Scifi.

Great sugesstions all, I'v read a few of those including the once and future king and it's one of my favorites too, I love the sword of Shannara probably the most out of the huge shannara Series. I haven't heard of Dies the fire until now but will check it out.

Another couple of my favorites are the Forgotten Realms by R.A. Salvatore. And The Secret Story of Tom Trueheart, and the authors name currently eludes me.

The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov
The Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula LeGuin
Dune - Frank Herbert

or how about the original Oz books as in Wizard of....never judge a book by its movie.

The Arabian Nights
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

My two favorites of all time are:

George R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice saga (incredible!)
Piers Anthony (the Incarnations of Immortality series)

Always will be the Lord of the Rings. I used to be a voracious reader of fantasy, but have kind of moved away from it as I have grown older.

McRoach: I have wanted to try the S. M Stirling series. It looks interesting. With your recommendation, I may make the plunge now! Thanks

I know it may sound like it is for kids (as was HP) but I have really enjoyed the Inkheart series (soon to be a movie). The third book has just come out I believe. They were well written and enjoyable. Same goes for the Eragon Series. Crappy movie but good books. Some older books (around the same time as the Belgariad) that I loved were the Guardian of the Flame series. That was about some college students who are roll playing and get transported into the game and become their characters in RL. Sounds corny but was great reading. The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyers (sp?) was very enjoyable reading. You had mentioned the the Dragonriders of Pern series was one of your faves, but have you read all the pern books? There is like a dozen of them and they are all enjoyable. Todd Mccaffrey (Anne's son) has published several pern novels with one coming out in Nov.
I would spend hours in a book store looking for a book that "grabbed" me. I would look at the cover and if it looked interesting I would read the jacket and then decide if I would try it. Go to a used book store and hit garage sales. You can find great books and classic finds and they will only cost pennies on the dollar.

Whatever you do, however you decide to look for books, find the Belgariad and the Mallorian series by David Eddings and give them a shot. There were a few follow-on books that added a nice frosting to a delicious word feast.

Peace and good reading

Jay

Harry Potter

Indeed George R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice, would be the best choice.

I read this really good book too. It's the first part of a wonderful Sci-Fi Triology ("Ender's game", "Speaker for the dead" and "Xenocide"). Really good stuff to read and a lot of feed for the brain. The "science fictions" (in literally mind) which Orson Scott Card shows (especially in "Xenocide") are really fascinating. I want more!!!!!

Currently I read miscellaneous by Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Darkover" series again. I think that's a very special kind of fantasy - mixed with some Sci-Fi btw "Darkover landfall" and "The bloody sun" but pure fanatsy too "Stormqueen".
Unfortunately I don't own easily not all books of the Darkover series.
The first problem is, that several books released by different publishers and a lot of these books are simply in the meantime out of stock.
The second problem (a consequnence of the first problem) is: I haven't an exact overview which books by the Darkover series are published in German language...

And of course is J.R.R. Tolkien one of my absolute favorites. I don't speak about "The lord of the rings" only but about "The Simarillion", "The hobbit" and "The book of the lost tales"... simply great and I think that requires no comments.

Greetings from foggy and drizzly Austria

Ingo

Yes, very nice read!

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, especially the ones featuring the witches - hilarious.

Though my all-time favourite is "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien.