reading recommendations, please?

[ravnsdaughter]

I got into reading science fiction and fantasy relatively late in life, though I'm familiar with a lot more authors than I've read because of working in a library for a while. So, I have two questions for my f-list in this regard:

First, what series would consider to be scifi/fantasy classics and/or must-reads?

Second, I've never read anything by Neil Gaiman, but would like to. Which book should I start with?

Third, graphic novels. What would be a good one to start with? (keep in mind I can't stand anime).

Edit: stuff I have read/really liked, off the top of my head:
copious amounts of Marion Zimmer Bradley (she's a favorite author of mine)
Lord of the Rings
Piers Anthony's Incantations of Immortality
A few books of the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, I'm slowly working my way through them (and love them to bits)
Rick Cook's Wizard's Bane series (another favorite)
The Kushiel trilogy and the followups, by Jacqueline Carey (which I consider fantasy, anyways)

Comments

[gwynn-aaron.livejournal.com]

David Weber is the author of the Honor Harrington series and quite a lot more. He partners with other writers on a number of things, but mainly writes alone. Besides the Honor Harrington series (which is his longest and best known) he has several other series and novels which are in my all time favorite list.

His current series (Safehold) is the literary equivalent of the finest quality crack cocaine. When I picked up the first book in the series at a local book store—Off Armageddon Reef—I proceeded to read it three times in a row and have probably red it five or six times in the less than three years it has been out. I pre-ordered the second book—By Schism Rent Asunder—and have read it about four times in less than a year. When the third book—By Heresies Distressed—comes out on July 7th I may not surface until I've read it four or five times.

You can find his bibliography on his web site: http://www.davidweber.net/books