If you want fantasy, definitely get into The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Excellent series. The audiobooks are extremely well-done, and the story and characters are captivating. It consists of 14 books, plus a prequel, so it's quite an investment of time. But well worth it.
Dragonlance books by Weiss and Hickman
Start with Dragons of Autumn Twilight,then start reading the Tales I and II series when you are finished reading Dragons of Summer Flame.
Or you could read RA Salvatore books if you are more into action than story and quality characters.
The culture series by ian.m.banks is also good, as is the Empire Trilogy by raymond e feist
Inheritance cycle = Eragon, Elder, Brisingr and Inheritance by Christopher Paolini . Assassins triology = assasins apprentice, Royal assasin and assasins quest. Lord of the rings JRR Tolkien.
All great suggestions. I would hold off on something like The Wheel of Time until you have some other stuff under your belt. The series will require quite a bit of time investment.
David and Leigh Eddings' The Belgariad is a great place to start.
After that you can circle back to some Tolkein and then move on to Jordan and Co. Most western fantasy is going to riff on Tolkein in some way shape or form.
Alternatively, I'd recommend checking out some of the Christie Golden World of Warcraft books. They're like candy, but will help you walk before you run. I'd avoid some of the monolithic multi-volume series with 1,200 page book entries until you've developed a taste for them.
Try Ursula K. Leguin's Earthsea trilogy....fantastic.
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
Because you are on this forum I suspect you are probably into videogames too, and the popular RPG franchise "The Witcher" was actually based off a series of books released by Andrzej Sapkowski. I read the book and I found the short stories fascinating because of the book's interesting setting. After you finish the book maybe you can have fun with the games.
Some notes about the book is that it was originally published in the polish language, then translated to english, so at some parts people say that there is "bad translation".
I think most of my favourites have been mentioned already in here. Just in case though I'll add my 2 cents.
Just about any of the trilogies by Raymond E. Feist are very nice and easy starter books. You don't have to read them in order, but it helps.
Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson, and the other books like Bauchelain and Korbal Broach The collected stories(Characters from TotMBotF) and the slightly different in style books set in the same universe using some of the same characters by Ian C. Esslemont(Co creator of the Malazan universe). Also Steven Erikson has started a Prequel trilogy to the Universe which is quite interesting... But, this universe is huge and it takes time and a bit of effort to connect all the dots, which I love.
Then there's the beautiful Kingkiller Saga by Patrick Rothfuss, which IMO are quite easy to get into, he writes really slowly though, so the third part probably won't come out until, well no one really knows.
Uhm, yeah I kinda liked the Harry Potter books, just a nice easy plot really, if you're a quick reader and have nothing else to do for about a week you can get through all the books and not miss very much.
Obviously Tolkien's books, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and Silmarillion. Silmarillion kind of isn't a book you read as one book, but rather several short stories, many people have gotten confused by Silmarillion for no other reason then trying to read it as one story, which it kinda is, but isn't.. Look it makes sense.
Discworld is fun.
Wheel of time is another good series, the first couple of books are a bit slow, and I think it's book 7 and 8(or 8 and 9) that are a bit slow too, unless you like political tension.
Uhm, yeah, that should keep most people busy for a good number of months really.
Try books by R.A. Salvatore, he is the author of the Legend of Drizzt series which you may have heard of and is set in the D&D Forgotten Realms setting of Faerun and the Neverwinter series which also follows the character Drizzt IIRC. He also made one of the few, if not the only canon "New Jedi Order" book with Vector Prime.
A song of Ice and Fire series, Lord of the Rings, Dune, and any book by David Eddings.
May I suggest Twilight? I can feel the hate now. It feeds me! No seriously the Wheel of Time series is awesome. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is also awesome. Stephen King in general is really good. Harry Potter if you haven't read it. I think it's good for adults and kids. I want to read Game of Thrones but from what I hear it's very complicated and also requires quite a time investment, which I don't have right now. If you are short on funds there are also some really good stories for free on the internet. Anything from fanfiction to original fiction. If you like the Harry Potter universe, the Dark Lord Potter forum has some really good, really adult stories on there. Some of them are on the professional level in my opinion. The problem with free stories on the internet is you have to wade through a lot of crap to get to the gems.
A Song of Ice and Fire may be long but it's incredibly engaging.
The best series I've read... A Song of Ice and Fire. The show's got nothing on it. The Hobbit is an easy, fun read.
Oh totally agreed. They changed a whooooole lot to put it on TV.
A lot of good stuff has been mentioned already...
I received this book for christmas, so far it seems pretty solid and a fairly light read. Might want to give it a shot.
http://www.amazon.com/Ravens-Shadow-Book-One-Blood-ebook/dp/B0070NSPCU
Also, the Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy is a very fun read. Check-em out.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicles/dp/0756404746
http://www.amazon.com/The-Wise-Mans-Fear-Kingkiller/dp/0756407915
this
+1 Best Book ever!
One i can think of right now is a saga that deserves a lot more attention.
The Dwarves - Markus Heitz
It's split in 4 books, and it's a very cool saga that focuses on Dwarves rather that humans. Hell, the main character is a Dwarf.
For countless millennia, the dwarves of the Fifthling Kingdom have defended the stone gateway into Girdlegard. Many and varied foes have hurled themselves against the portal and died attempting to breach it. No man or beast has ever succeeded. Until now. . .
Abandoned as a child, Tungdil the blacksmith labors contentedly in the land of Ionandar, the only dwarf in a kingdom of men. Although he does not want for friends, Tungdil is very much aware that he is alone - indeed, he has not so much as set eyes on another dwarf. But all that is about to change.
Sent out into the world to deliver a message and reacquaint himself with his people, the young foundling finds himself thrust into a battle for which he has not been trained. Not only his own safety, but the life of every man, woman and child in Girdlegard depends upon his ability to embrace his heritage. Although he has many unanswered questions, Tungdil is certain of one thing: no matter where he was raised, he is a true dwarf.
And no one has ever questioned the courage of the Dwarves.
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Dwarves-Markus-Heitz/dp/0316049441
One of the most epic stories ever told : Robert Jordan's the Wheel of Time series is about 11,000 pages total counting the prequels. enjoy
oops just saw it listed above
Try the SWORD OF TRUTH series by Terry Goodkind