the most important list ever....

[sail3005]

Modern librarys top 100 fiction of the century...

1.   ULYSSES by James Joyce
2.   THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3.   A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4.   LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5.   BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6.   THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7.   CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
8.   DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9.   SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10.   THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
11.   UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12.   THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13.   1984 by George Orwell
14.   I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15.   TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16.   AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17.   THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18.   SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19.   INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20.   NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21.   HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22.   APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
23.   U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24.   WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25.   A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
26.   THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
27.   THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28.   TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
29.   THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
30.   THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31.   ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32.   THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
33.   SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34.   A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35.   AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36.   ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren 
37.   THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38.   HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
39.   GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40.   THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene 
41.   LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
42.   DELIVERANCE by James ****ey 
43.   A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44.   POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45.   THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
46.   THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47.   NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48.   THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49.   WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50.   TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
51.   THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52.   PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53.   PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54.   LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55.   ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
56.   THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57.   PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
58.   THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
59.   ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60.   THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
61.   DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
62.   FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63.   THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64.   THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
65.   A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66.   OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67.   HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68.   MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
69.   THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
70.   THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
71.   A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72.   A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul 
73.   THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74.   A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
75.   SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76.   THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77.   FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78.   KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79.   A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
80.   BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
81.   THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82.   ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83.   A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84.   THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen 
85.   LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86.   RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87.   THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
88.   THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89.   LOVING by Henry Green
90.   MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
91.   TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92.   IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93.   THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94.   WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95.   UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96.   SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
97.   THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98.   THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99.   THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100.   THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington

[filburt1]

DELIVERANCE by James ****ey

The censorer strikes an innocent victim again.

[JungleMan]

D i c k e y

[sail3005]

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

[nishantp]

Originally posted by filburt1
The censorer strikes an innocent victim again.

Its a guys name...no point sensoring that.

[Jethro]

Hmmmm...............alot of US writers in there, has to be a con job, seppos don't know how to write

[alex_read]

what no banana or cat in the hat books in there ?

[Mark Sreeves]

I've only read these three from the list:

13. 1984 by George Orwell
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London

Originally posted by alex_read
what no ... cat in the hat books in there ?

Yeah! The Lorax has got to be one of the best books of all time.

I was written years ago and warns of the perils of abusing the environment...

[InvisibleDuncan]

Where're the Stephen Kings? The Terry Pratchetts? The Stephen Frys and Hugh Lauries?

Not even any Tolkien?

I've read about a quarter of the books on that list and I have to say that some - many - were crap.

[gravyboy]

Portrait of an artist at #3?

You've got to be kidding - yes hidden messages, yes seminal 20th century literature but #3 in a top 100? For those that don't know this book is tosh - semi-meaningless drivel.


My top ten fiction (quickly rattled of the top of my head)

1. Brave New World
2. 1984
3. Call of the Wild
4. Catch - 22
5. Slaughterhouse 5
6. Midnights Children - man is he a good author
7. Point Counter Point
8. History of the world in ??1/2 chapters - Julian Barnes
9. Heart of Darkness - the inspiration for Apocalypse Now
10. A Clockwork Orange - although Kubrick did well the book's better

plus close outsiders

Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
Richter 10 - Arthur C Clarke/Mike McQuay
Espedair Street - Iain Banks
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Dufoe - an idea he had whilst imprisoned with the founder of the french Surete

I couldn't tell you why these books, or even why they are in that order . . .

[parksie]

In no particular order...

1984
Brave New World (is it me or do these two keep popping up? )
His Dark Materials (the Northern Lights trilogy by Philip Pullman...bloody good)

[sail3005]

that was the boards list... this is the readers....

1.   ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
2.   THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
3.   BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
4.   THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
5.   TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
6.   1984 by George Orwell
7.   ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
8.   WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
9.   MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
10.   FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
11.   ULYSSES by James Joyce
12.   CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
13.   THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
14.   DUNE by Frank Herbert
15.   THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
16.   STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
17.   A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
18.   BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
19.   THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
20.   ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
21.   GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
22.   THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
23.   SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
24.   GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
25.   LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
26.   SHANE by Jack Schaefer
27.   TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
28.   A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
29.   THE STAND by Stephen King
30.   THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles
31.   BELOVED by Toni Morrison
32.   THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
33.   THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
34.   LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
35.   MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
36.   ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
37.   OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
38.   WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor
39.   UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
40.   FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
41.   SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
42.   ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
43.   HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
44.   YARROW by Charles de Lint
45.   AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
46.   ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
47.   MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint 
48.   TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
49.   THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
50.   TRADER by Charles de Lint
51.   THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
52.   THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
53.   THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
54.   BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
55.   A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
56.   ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
57.   A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
58.   GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
59.   ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
60.   THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
61.   THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
62.   STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
63.   THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
64.   THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
65.   SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
66.   THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
67.   AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
68.   TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
69.   INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
70.   THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
71.   THE MAGUS by John Fowles
72.   THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
73. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
74.   I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
75.   THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
76.   AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien
77.   FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
78.   ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
79.   WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
80.   NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
81.   THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
82.   GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
83.   THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
84.   IT by Stephen King
85.   V. by Thomas Pynchon
86.   DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
87.   CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
88.   BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
89.   LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
90.   ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey
91.   A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
92.   THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
93.   SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
94.   MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
95.   MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
96.   SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
97.   MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
98.   ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach 
99.   THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies 
100.   THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie

[sail3005]

Originally posted by honeybee
Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.



.

YES YES YES! huck finn has got to be one of the greatest works of all time, but, it was not written this century .

[sail3005]

Originally posted by parksie
In no particular order...

1984
Brave New World (is it me or do these two keep popping up? )

Yeah, they are both similar in topic.

[sail3005]

Originally posted by gravyboy
Portrait of an artist at #3?

You've got to be kidding - yes hidden messages, yes seminal 20th century literature but #3 in a top 100? For those that don't know this book is tosh - semi-meaningless drivel.


My top ten fiction (quickly rattled of the top of my head)

1. Brave New World
2. 1984
3. Call of the Wild
4. Catch - 22
5. Slaughterhouse 5
6. Midnights Children - man is he a good author
7. Point Counter Point
8. History of the world in ??1/2 chapters - Julian Barnes
9. Heart of Darkness - the inspiration for Apocalypse Now
10. A Clockwork Orange - although Kubrick did well the book's better

plus close outsiders

Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
Richter 10 - Arthur C Clarke/Mike McQuay
Espedair Street - Iain Banks
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Dufoe - an idea he had whilst imprisoned with the founder of the french Surete

I couldn't tell you why these books, or even why they are in that order . . .

Yeah, i agree, i think they like james joyce a little too much

[parksie]

Originally posted by sail3005
Yeah, they are both similar in topic.

I know, I read both

Wasn't Aldous Huxley a teacher or mentor of George Orwell (I remember something like that).

Hey, I wonder if our PM's descended from him...hmmm...

[Pix]

hmmm...

[sail3005]

Originally posted by parksie
I know, I read both

Wasn't Aldous Huxley a teacher or mentor of George Orwell (I remember something like that).

Hey, I wonder if our PM's descended from him...hmmm...

Cool, i didn't know that. I haven't read either of them actually. i just know they are about disutopia. i really should read them though.

[sail3005]

hey, has anyone read the canterbury tales? i am reading them now for school, and i have to admit, the Millers tale is quite funny.

[alex_read]

Well if I can't have any of the Garfield books, my fav is

1) MORT by Terry Pratchett
2) The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier
3) The Crucible by Arthur Miller

[gravyboy]

The film 'Demolition Man' had a character called Lenina Huxley . . .

Coincidentally there was a character called Lenina in 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley

Coincidence . . . or not?

Oh, yes - I missed the 'This Century' bit in the headline post so you can discount Robinson Crusoe and The Three Musketeers.

Actually the list was all LAST century - strictly speaking.

[alex_read]

you can't trample infidels when you're a tortoise. i mean, all you could do is give them a meaningful look.

Off topic again, did you hear about this mornings crash on the M25? A lorryload of terrapins crashed into a lorryload of tortoises, a witness said it was a turtle disaster ...

[InvisibleDuncan]

Originally posted by sail3005
hey, has anyone read the canterbury tales? i am reading them now for school, and i have to admit, the Millers tale is quite funny.

Many years ago... Chaucer's a filthy-minded bugger, but extremely funny in places.

Originally posted by alex_read
MORT by Terry Pratchett

One of my all-time favourite bits of blurb from the back of a book:

Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job.

Cracks me up every time.
I don't have a list of favourite books - it depends on my mood, what I've just read or done etc, but my favourite authors list is reasonably consistent. In no particular order (just going through my bookcases):

• Clive Barker
• James Herbert
• Stephen King
• H. P. Lovecraft
• Edgar Allen Poe
• Terry Pratchett
• J. R. R. Tolkien
• Arthur C Clarke
• Robert Heinlein
• Iain (M) Banks
• John Steinbeck
• William Faulkener
• Ernest Hemmingway
• D H Lawrence
• Michael Scott Rohan
• C. S. Lewis
• David Gemmell
• Raymond E. Feist
• Grant Naylor
• Douglas Adams

There are bits and pieces by others, too: George Orwell, William Golding...

[simonm]

I can't believe that 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks wan't on either list! Incredible.

My favourite authors include (Unordered):

• Michael Moorcock
• Iain Banks
• Jeff Noon
• Ray Bradbury
• David Gemmel
• Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
• Craig Shaw Gardener

I must admit that I think Terry Pratchett is overrated and I hate John Steinbeck.

[gravyboy]

He's got better as he's gone along - I think it's top the way he can write both Sci-Fi and non Sci-Fi (cop out I know but what would you call 'The Business'? s'not Sci-Fi but s'not really 'now' is it?)

As far as regular authors go ...

Arthur C Clarke
Issace Assimov
Ben Bova
Greg Bear
Terry Pratchett
Stephen King
Robert A Heinlen
Robert Silverberg
Micheal Marshall-Smith - very, very witty and well written stuff
Iain (M) Banks
Dan Simmons
David Eddings
Ray Bradbury - all his stuff not just Farenheit 451

there is a definite theme here . . . wonder what it is?

[simonm]

gravyboy

I notice you included David Eddings in your list. I really enjoyed the Belgariad when I read it (years ago) but I've never enjoyed anything else of his (that I've read). Even the Mallorian went rapidly down hill.

As for Iain Banks,

He's got better as he's gone along

But wasn't 'the Wasp Factory' his first book? I thought that was his best work. I really enjoyed the Bridge as well, brilliant concept.

[InvisibleDuncan]

Originally posted by simonm
I can't believe that 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks wan't on either list! Incredible.

My favourite authors include (Unordered):

• Michael Moorcock
• Iain Banks
• Jeff Noon
• Ray Bradbury
• David Gemmel
• Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
• Craig Shaw Gardener

I must admit that I think Terry Pratchett is overrated and I hate John Steinbeck.

I'm very tempted to give away the ending to The Wasp Factory, just to annoy anyone who hasn't read it.

I definitely don't get on with Michael Moorcock - I think he and Steohen Donaldson are both desperately dull. David Gemmell should definitely have been on my list, though, so it's time for a quick edit. You won't even notice the join...

[gravyboy]

It was . . . but that was a great story. I wasn't so much meaning in terms of story, more in terms of style and narrative flow etc.

As for David Eddings - the Belgariad and Mallorean are a great series, but Fantasy enjoyment is fickle and can fail to reach the same spot twice. Have you read the Elenium and Tamuli series'?
Same stuff more agression - picture Church Knights, trolls etc.

I've never read Gemmell or Moorcock - can you recommend a good place to start? Is Gemmell responsible for a program on BBC around vampirism?

[simonm]

David Gemmel Is a brilliant British fantasy writer who has written such classics as 'Waylander' and 'Druss: The Legend'. Most of his books are set in the fantasy world of the Drenai. They are usually about Celtic style warriors/heros and great legendary battles.

Michael Moorcock Is a fantasy/sci-fi/Philosophy writer who has been knocking books out since the sixties. Many of his books have the central theme of the 'Eternal Champion' running through them whereby the main characters in each of the different books are just manifsetations of the same eternal spirit and are embroyled in the perpetual struggle between order and chaos.

What I like about his writing is that he effortlessly combines philosophy and fantasy in a way I've never seen done before. This may be what InvisibleDuncan finds dull about them but personnally, I thoroughly enjoy it.

I would recommend anything from the eternal champoin series, particularly the Elric books; a tale of an albino warrior prince who is one of the last of an ancient race and who's sword drinks the soul of it's victims.

InvisibleDuncan
Stephen Donaldson's books are pretty hard going but are quite rewarding if you like t he really long drawn out epics.

What books have you read by Michael Moorcock as I found his style of writing very accessable indeed.

[gravyboy]

I have read a Moorcock story - at the moment it's propping up the left corner of a wardrobe. I didn't think much of it . . . not dissing anyone elses interests, it just didn't work for me - to be honest for fantasy to do it for me it has to be quite humourous and peppered with bits that make me grin. I think thats why I like Eddings - has anyone read any Robert Aspirin?

[InvisibleDuncan]

There are loads of places to start with David Gemmell. If you want to try a one-off, Echoes of the Great Song is a good place to start. If you want a series, you might want to try his latest one - the Rigante series - and start with Sword in the Storm.

As for Michael Moorcock, I think the titles of the ones I've read are Stormbringer (about Elric of Melniboné (sp?)) and Dancers (might have been Elric?) at the End of Time. I had few problems with his writing; it was mainly his narrative style I disagreed with. There was no drive or impetus, and I also found myself unable to associate with the characters - they were all odd. I felt he tried too hard to be clever at the expense of story. (One of his characters spoke perfect, modern English except that she always used thee, thou and thine instead of you and your - it really wound me up.)

Stephen Donaldson... I just kept waiting for something worthwhile to happen. I don't have a problem with long books, or even drawn out books - I thoroughly enjoyed War and Peace - but I do object to reading a 700 page book where absolutely nothing happens, and then find that if I want a conclusion, I'm going to have to read the next 700 page missive where, presumably, something would happen.

It's all a matter of personal taste, though - just because I don't like something doesn't mean it isn't good; it's just not for me. Moorcock and Donaldson wouldn't still be being published if they weren't any good.

Robert Aspirin - read one of his and laughed for most of it, but haven't encountered any since.

[simonm]

InvisibleDuncun

I think I see a common theme in your dislike of Moorcock and Donaldson. I knew someone else who didn't like "the Chonicles of Thomas Covenant" because he said he couldn't relate to the main character.
Elric is also difficult to relate to because, although he's the "hero", he's also a very dark and sickly character who can be cold and heartless at times.
I loved "The dancers at the end of time" (which wasn't Elric).
I think with Moorcock's style, it is more like that of traditional norse legends (less flowery than most modern authors) and it is a style that happens to appeal to me (although I can understand why it doesn't to others).
And yes, the characters in his books are "weird".

You might like (if you ever manage to bring yourself to read another of his books) the "Castle Brass" series. That has more likeable characters in it.

[InvisibleDuncan]

Originally posted by simonm
You might like (if you ever manage to bring yourself to read another of his books) the "Castle Brass" series. That has more likeable characters in it.

I never say never about authors (although I do use clichés about them ). I'll do that.

[Gary.Lowe]

Dave Pelzer is my top author at the moment.

True story as well.

[gravyboy]

Pelzer wrote 'A Child Called It' - a story of abuse in the home. Although abuse would be severely understating it.

Thankfully Dave Pelzer haas used his experiences of household abuse and subsequent foster care to help others - the series of books goes from childhood, through foster care, and then adulthood eventually culminating in a self-help style book.

I've read some of the first book - absolutely sickening, and as Gaz said unfortunately all true . . .

[simonm]

InvisibleDuncan

I noticed you included Raymond E. Feist in your line up of top authors. I have considered reading one of his books but, as of yet, not got round to it. He's worth reading then? What's his books like?

[InvisibleDuncan]

Raymond Feist writes heroic fantasy, not too dissimilar from David Gemmell, but based in a more Tolkienesque world. He does it very well, though - the characters are well drawn and the stories are well coceived and clearly written. He has a very good narrative style, and seems to have made an effort to research martial tactics so that his wars seem realistic (given the obvious differences between his worlds and ours). A word of warning, though - don't read either of the books whose titles begin with "Krondor:"; they're based on computer games written about his world, and they suck.

Try starting with Magician - his first novel. It's got a great sweep and a well realised clash of worlds. Virtually all of his novels are based on the same world(s), so it would be best to start at the beginning anyway. The exception is "Faerie Tale", which is set somewhere in the USA. Different to his other stuff, but also very good.

[simonm]

Thanks for that advice, I will check them out.