One of the best books I ever read was by Neil Stephenson, Anatham (new school). And the series by Dan Simmons were awesome (The Hyperion Series (two series of two books each) is what I am thinking of by Simmons). Those are fairly recent books though, and I wouldn't argue with the list you gave, exce...

I was chatting with Interbane (on LOTRO), and was told to make a thread here, so I did ).