The Actual List.
Italics mark series; underlines mark single novels (although there is considerable subjectivity in this distinction in some cases). Bold marks the eleven books that are comprised by the Greats List.
The Affirmation – Christopher Priest
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Michael Chabon
The Anubis Gates – Tim Powers
The Autumn of the Patriarch – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Black Company – Glen Cooke
Blindness – Jose Saramago
The Book of the New Sun – Gene Wolfe
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller, Jr. (further thoughts HERE)
Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
Childhood’s End – Arthur C. Clarke
China Mountain Zhang – Maureen McHugh
The Chronicles of Amber – Roger Zelazny
The Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) – Stephen Donaldson
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus – H.P. Lovecraft
The Dark Tower – Stephen King
Discworld – Terry Pratchett* [See Note]
The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
Doomsday Book – Connie Willis
Downbelow Station – C.J. Cherryh
Dracula – Bram Stoker
Dune – Frank Herbert
The Dying Earth – Jack Vance
The Dying of the Light – George R.R. Martin
The Earthsea Trilogy – Ursula K. Le Guin
The Empire Trilogy – Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts
Ender’s Quartet – Orson Scott Card
The Farseer Trilogy – Robin Hobb
The Fencer Trilogy – K.J. Parker
Fevre Dream – George R.R. Martin
Fictions – Jorge Luis Borges (reviewed in two parts: HERE and HERE)
The Forever War – Joe Haldeman
The Foundation Trilogy – Isaac Asimov
The Gap Series – Stephen Donaldson
Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Gormenghast Trilogy – Mervyn Peake
A Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Harry Potter Series – J.K. Rowling
Hellblazer – Garth Ennis
His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts – Douglas Adams
The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
Hyperion – Dan Simmons
I Am Legend – Richard Matheson
The Illiad – Homer
Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
The Iron Dragon’s Daughter – Michael Swanwick
The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle
The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin
The Lions of Al-Rassan – Guy Gavriel Kay
Little, Big – John Crowley
The Liveship Traders – Robin Hobb
Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny
The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
Lucifer’s Hammer – David Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Lyonesse Trilogy– Jack Vance
The Glass Bead Game – Hermann Hesse
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ – Jose Saramago
The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick
The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn – Tad Williams
Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. Heinlein
Le Morte D’Arthur – Thomas Mallory
Mythago Wood – Robert Holdstock
Neuromancer – William Gibson
The Night’s Dawn Trilogy – Peter F. Hamilton
Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
Odyssey – Homer
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Only Forward – Michael Marshall Smith
Otherland – Tad Williams
Permutation City – Greg Egan
Planet of Adventure – Jack Vance
The Prestige – Christopher Priest
Replay – Ken Grimwood
The Riddle-Master Trilogy – Patricia A. McKillip
Sandman – Neil Gaiman
The Sarantine Mosaic – Guy Gavriel Kay
Shardik – Richard Adams
The Silmarillion – J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse 5 – Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
The Soldier Trilogy (Soldier of the Mist, Soldier of Arete, and Soldier of Sidon)– Gene Wolfe
A Song of Ice and Fire – George R.R. Martin
The Stand – Stephen King
The Stars My Destination – Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers – Robert A. Heinlein
Tigana – Guy Gavriel Kay
The Tooth Fairy – Graham Joyce
Transmetropolitan – Warren Ellis
Use of Weapons – Iain M. Banks
The Warlord Trilogy – Bernard Cornwell
Watchmen – Alan Moore
Watership Down – Richard Adams
We – Yevgeny Zamyatin
The Wheel of Time – Robert Jordan
Honourable Mentions: Salem’s Lot (Stephen King), Till We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis), The Once and Future King (T.H. White), The Elric Series (Michael Moorcock), A Fire Upon The Deep (Vernor Vinge), Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury), The Vorkosigan Saga (Lois McMaster Bujold), The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry), Gravity’s Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon), and The Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri).
*Nota Bene: The Discworld series is extremely long, and variable in style and quality, with litte connexion between many of the novels, and so would probably have better been considered as separate novels. However, the voting was overwhelmingly for it as a series. Furthermore, the most popular individual Discworld book, Night Watch, is generally considered one of the least independent books, and one of the least appropriate for beginners. The second-most mentioned book, Small Gods, is a standalone novel with few connexions to any other novels in the series, and is therefore probably a better starting point for newcomers; however, I didn’t feel it would be legitimate to promote it over Night Watch in this vote (it is not my place to make these decisions), and so rather than list the less accessible book, I acquiesced to the popular voting pattern and listed the entire series, with the addition of this explanatory note.
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The Twenty-First Century List
Acts of Caine – Matthew Stover
Black Man – Richard Morgan
The First Law Trilogy – Joe Abercrombie
The Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch
The Long Price Quartet – Daniel Abraham
The Malazan Book of the Fallen – Steven Erikson
The Orphan’s Tales – Cathrynne M. Valente
Prince of Nothing – R. Scott Bakker
The Scar – China Mièville
Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang
Honourable Mentions: The Road (Cormac McCarthy), American Gods (Neil Gaiman), City of Saints and Madmen (Jeff Vandermeer), Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell), Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke), The Wizard Knight (Gene Wolfe), Chasm City (Alastair Reynolds), Anathem (Neal Stephenson), and The Separation (Christopher Priest).
Occasional Mumbling 
[…] V. – The List(s). […]
For some reason, I just can’t get enough of your long, rambling reviews. Thanks, and more please!
PS. Recommendation: Bone Doll’s Twin by Lynn Flewelling. The cover features praise by both GRR Martin and Robin Hobb.
*startled*
Thank you!
I remember hearing about BDT some years back when Hobb recommended it, but haven’t heard it mentioned that often since. I’ll have to look into it at some point, although at present my pile of things to read is a bit congested: I’ve got two pulp fantasies I want to re-read (well, that’s unfair to one of them, I think), plus I’ve finally bought “The Stars My Destination” and it’s quite short, so that’ll be soon. Then I’ve got the third of the Empire novels to finish, I quite want to re-read The Carpet People (the third Johnny book will wait, as it’s at my parents’ house, and it’s the perfect type of thing to read over a weekend visiting them – light and short)… and then I’ve got Perdido Street Station looming on my bookshelf, although it’s been looming for some time now and I can’t swear I’ll actually manage to try it.
I know that sounds to some people like a list of books to last a weekend at most, but as I think I’ve said elsewhere, I’ve got a strange love/hate relationship with reading these days. I’d almost rather do anything but read a book – even though when I AM reading a book it’s almost impossible to stop me.
This comment rambling enough for you?
Anyway: thanks for the recommendation. It reminded me of something I’d heard spoken well of, but had forgotten about. It’s at least got it back on my radar (oh dear gods, did I just use that phrase? well, never mind).
Recommendation: The Stone Dance of the Chameleon by Ricardo Pinto.
(just be prepared for some serious rambling)
read kushiel’s dart by jacqueline carey