What else is in your "Fantasy Library"?

[Joel Needs a Car]

...assuming that you have the ASOIAF books, but if not have/have not - have you ever delved into the Fantasy genre before the show appeared or since?

I started reading fantasy in the late 80s, starting with 'Lord of the Rings' but only after a lot of pressure from friends and colleagues. I enjoyed it enough to start reading some other fantasy works, from the fairly standard and popular "Heroes Quest" type to some less known works.

The Belgariad - David Eddings ( feels very lightweight now after something like ASOI&F )
The Shannara books - Terry Brooks ( read a few but never got that much into them. )
Memory, Sorrow & Thorn - Tad Williams ( definitely recommend these, GRRM says he was inspired by them and if you read them you'll see why!)
The Riftwar Saga - Raymond E Feist ( good to start but kind of drifted off a bit )
Lyonesse Trilogy - Jack Vance ( a sort of Atlantis / Arthurian feel )
Deverry Novels - Katherine Kerr ( as per the Riftwar Saga ).

I've never attempted some of the "weightier" stuff like the Thomas Covenant Books ( tried but didn't get through more than 1/4 of the first book) Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson etc.

I did stop reading fantasy for a very long time, from the mid 90s and only picked up 'Game of Thrones' and 'A Clash of Kings' in 2011 as a two for one special offer having heard good things about the show; but other than that have still stopped reading fantasy.

Then a couple of years ago I read "The First law Trilogy" by Joe Abercrombie which I enjoyed a lot and was clearly inspired in its kind of modern and cynical but pseudo historical POV style by ASOIAF

Would like to hear other people's experiences and recommendations!

[Not Littlefinger]

Chronicles of Narnia- It's not really a typical "fantasy" per se, and obviously it's more of a kid's series. Most people know of one or two books, but I read all 7 of them. I can't even remember how young I was when I read it, and I hardly remember anything. Really, all I remember was that not all books had the same main characters, and I grew to prefer that kind of storytelling over the series that follow the same characters.

[Joel Needs a Car]

Chronicles of Narnia- It's not really a typical "fantasy" per se, and obviously it's more of a kid's series.

I wouldn't say the books aren't for adults though, plenty of people read them as adults anyway and there are themes which are probably easier to pick up on when older. Outside of Fantasy I love "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnettfor that reason.

I suppose I should add I was well into middle age when I finally decided I should read the Harry Potter series to see what the fuss was about, which I neglected to include in my first post! I don't think the HP books are really all that good but they clearly have a very broad appeal and as longs as a reader enjoys a book, I don't think age matters. Better to read than not read IMO.

[Cliohna]

I don't really remember the order and titles of the fantasy books I read back in the day (for me that is late '90s), and although I would say I read more historical fiction than fantasy, there was a fair amount of fantasy books in there (and also I'm not that big of a book reader).

I loved to go to the tiny local library when I was in elementary school. Because I only borrowed the books from the library I don't know any book titles anymore except for The Elenium series by David Eddings and The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. The first big craze was Harry Potter of course, I was totally part of the target group. And then came Lord of the Rings in between book 4 and 5. The last two HP books I started reading in English. To further improve my English reading abilities I chose Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. There are different works I believe, if I remember correctly I read "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens". After that...puberty hit me really bad...I read the Twilight series. What's funny is that I (tried to) read Fifty Shades of Grey last year and only then I realized how bad (I think) the Twilight series is including Fifty Shades, because I never went back and touched the books again after the craze was over (I am speaking about buying all the books in the German and English version plus watching the movies plus one Twilight movie event attendance, 'though the concert part of that event was worth it). Okay, moving on...

Before I finally found ASoIaF I read

• from the Dark Horse series by Mary H. Herbert "Dark Horse" and "Lightning's Daughter",
• A German book called Elfenfeuer (literally "elven fire") by Monika Felten,
• Graceling by Kristin Cashore and
• The Eyes of a King by Catherine Banner

which were more or less "meh" for me.

And two or three years ago I read The Silmarillion. I was all geared up with a notebook and the "The Atlas of Middle-Earth" by Karen Wynn Fonstad. I was prepared to bite through it, but it was a really enjoyable read actually.