For fantasy I recommend Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series, older tales that far surpass anything that's written today in the genre (even though I can't really say because I don't read contemporary stuff but I'm sure it's all abysmal from the little that I tried, i.e. Salvatore, Feist and a couple of other hacks). Off the top of my head, also The Worm Ouroboros by Eddison, The Face in the Frost (a very good short novel about two wizards), can't recall the name of the author though, and the books on mythic China written by Barry Hughart: Bridge of Birds and Eight Skilled Gentlemen. I also liked Zelazny's Amber books. You can read each one while taking a shower, they are so short.
What would be a good fantasy book/s for someone relatively new to the genre? This and 'The Lord of the Rings' are the only fantasy I've really tried. Very much into SF - Philip K. Dick, Silverberg, Heinlein etc.
They are my favourite fantasy works. Great stuff.
...and another bump, just for magerette.
... now I'm working on the Best of H. P. Lovecraftbook that GamerDad had recommended ...
Yah, HPL is something of a "must-read" *snip*...
...Even though they're really marvelously imagined, they're often so god-awfully badly written that it's almost not worth it.
I've particularly enjoyed Neil Gaiman's spin on it -- once you're done with that book, I'd nudge you towards Shadows Over Baker Street (which contains Gaiman's "A Study In Emerald")...