My Reads: Fantasy (continued from Nov 12, 2007 post)

As promised, I am continuing my recommendations on fantasy novels to read and why you should read them. I apologize that it's been a while since I've continued this, so please forgive me. Let me continue:

C.S. Lewis:
A classic, I'd read anything by him, not just fantasy, but that's where I started. He only really wrote one fantasy series, the Space Trilogy being something of Sci-Fi which I venture into every now and then. Great narrative and character development, excellent, quick reads.
The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair; The Horse and His Boy; The Magician's Nephew; The Last Battle
Contrary to whatever genius that decided after the fact of reading the series that the books have to be in chronological order, this is how the series should be read. Chronologically The Magician's Nephew occurs first and The Horse and His Boy occurs before the end of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe but, you should read it in this order. Simply because, it's the order Lewis wrote them in and he writes each one assuming you've read his previous books. Book 6 (The Magician's Nephew) doesn't make a lot of snese if you haven't read book 1 (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). Overall, the stories are very well developed and fun to read, I also really appreciate how Lewis puts the Gospel into his work.

J.R.R. Tolkien:
Like Lewis, Tolkien is another classic that I consider a must read. Of course given Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, many people feel this unnecessary. I only have to say, Peter Jackson's movies, as great as they are, hardly do the novels justice. I feel that the movies are even greater in the context of having read the novels, but as a replacement, they are a poor subsitute. Tolkien does so much in depth character development, and touches on so many issues, that he inspires you with the epicness of his story. There's really not a whole lot I can say about it except you have to read it.
The Hobbit
Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, Return of the King
The Silmarillion
A good starting place for Tolkien is always The Hobbit. While his greatest work remains Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, a prequel, is really a wonderful introduction to Tolkien's Middle Earth. The Silmarillion similar to David Edding's Rivan Codex is something of a history book denoting everything that happens before his acclaimed series. The reading can be a little dry, but it does provide a lot of good contextual information.

These are basically all of the "must read" authors from my perspective currently. I'll toss up another list of stuff I've read that you might like (despite my being less enamoured of them than the previously mentioned series and authors) as well.