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Hot on the heels of Paul McAuley's List of Essential SF Titles, comes Paul McAuley's List of Essential Fantasy & Horror Titles.
You know the drill, bold the ones you've read. I'm not including books I started but didn't finish, which would add a few more checkmarks on my otherwise meager reading list.
UPDATE: For kicks, I italicized titles that I own but have not read.
- Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus MARY SHELLEY 1818
- Tales of Mystery and Imagination EDGAR ALLAN POE 1838
- A Christmas Carol CHARLES DICKENS 1843
- Jane Eyre CHARLOTTE BRONTE 1847
- The Hunting of the Snark LEWIS CARROLL 1876
- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ROBERT LOUIS STEPHENSON 1886
- The Well At The World's End WILLIAM MORRIS 1896
- Dracula BRAM STOKER 1897
- Ghost Stories of an Antiquary MR JAMES 1904
- Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things LAFCADIO HEARN 1904
- The Wind in the Willows KENNETH GRAHAME 1908
- Jurgen JAMES BRANCH CABELL 1919
- A Voyage to Arcturus DAVID LINDSAY 1920
- The King of Elfland's Daughter LORD DUNSANY 1924
- The Trial FRANZ KAFKA 1925
- Lud-in-the-Mist HOPE MIRRLEES 1926
- Orlando VIRGINIA WOOLF 1928
- The Big Sleep RAYMOND CHANDLER 1939
- The Outsider and Others HP LOVECRAFT 1939
- Gormenghast MERVYN PEAKE 1946
- Night's Black Agents FRITZ LEIBER JR 1947
- The Sword of Rhiannon LEIGH BRACKETT 1953
- Conan the Barbarian ROBERT E HOWARD collected 1954
- The Lord of the Rings JRR TOLKEIN 1954-5
- The Once and Future King TH WHITE 1958
- The Haunting of Hill House SHIRLEY JACKSON 1959
- The Wierdstone of Brinsingamen ALAN GARNER 1960
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase JOAN AIKEN 1962
- Something Wicked This Way Comes RAY BRADBURY 1963
- The Book of Imaginary Beings JORGE LUIS BORGES 1967
- Ice ANA CAVAN 1967
- One Hundred Years of Solitude GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ 1967
- Earthsea URSULA LE GUIN 1968-1972
- Jirel of Joiry CL MOORE collected 1969
- Grendel JOHN GARDNER 1971
- The Pastel City M JOHN HARRISON 1971
- Carrie STEPHEN KING 1974
- Peace GENE WOLFE 1975
- Gloriana, or the Unfulfill'd Queen MICHAEL MOORCOCK 1978
- The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories ANGELA CARTER 1979
- Little, Big JOHN CROWLEY 1981
- The Anubis Gates TIM POWERS 1983
- The Colour of Magic TERRY PRATCHETT 1983
- Mythago Wood ROBERT HOLDSTOCK 1984
Comments (4)
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday April 09, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal
And here I thought I had not read many of the list. But then you're much more of an SF guy.
I think, for its literary value, out of this list, you might enjoy Dracula the most out of this list. I am tempted to get that new Annotated version of the novel that recently came out...
Posted by Paul on Thursday April 09, 2009 at 6:37 AM
Chandler's The Big Sleep? I've read that (and seen the Bogart movie). What's Fantasy or Horror about it?
Posted by wha huh? on Thursday April 09, 2009 at 9:12 AM
I'm actually better on this list, I've read 10 of them!
Posted by Carl V. on Thursday April 09, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Considering I generally don't read horror, I'm pretty happy with my whopping 5 books 
Although I'm not sure if <i>Earthsea</i> mean just <i>The Wizard of Earthsea</i> or the trilogy, which could actually up my count.
John, you should check out the Earthsea books. They're incredibly interesting and still one of the few fantasy series with minorities as the lead characters.
Posted by Rachel on Thursday April 09, 2009 at 1:47 PM