George RR Martin names 10 books he recommends - including a classic British fantasy

George RR Martin, one of the most renowned authors for writing fantasy novels has shared the 10 books he recommends and a classic British fantasy has made it to the top of his list. Writing the recommendations for Goodreads, the popular author placed Lord of the Rings on the top position.

The book is a sweeping tale of friendship, sacrifice, and the struggle between good and evil. Martin, born on September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey, began his writing journey in the 1970s and has built a diverse career encompassing novels, short fiction, and television screenplays.

Sharing his recommendation, he wrote: "If you have enjoyed my own fantasy novels, you owe it to yourself to read J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), Robert E. Howard (Conan the Cimmerian, Kull of Atlantis, Solomon Kane), C.L. Moore (Jirel of Joiry), Jack Vance (The Dying Earth, Lyonesse, Cugel the Clever, and so much more), Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser), Richard Adams (Watership Down, Shardik, Maia), Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea, the original trilogy), Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast), T.H. White (The Once and Future King), Rosemary Sutcliffe, Alan Garner, H.P. Lovecraft (more horror than fantasy, admittedly), Clark Ashton Smith, and... well, the list is long

"Maybe you've read all the fantasy classics, however. I have lots of readers for whom that is true as well. Those I like to point at some of my contemporaries. As great as Tolkien, Leiber, Vance, REH, and those others were, THIS is the golden age of epic fantasy."

In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the story takes place in the fantasy world of Middle-earth, where a group of heroes sets out to destroy the One Ring-a dangerous object made by the evil Sauron to control other magical rings and take over the world.

Mr Martin is the author of the popular fantasy series A Games of Thrones. Over the past decades, he released five out of the expected seven books to complete the series, which in the 2010s became an HBO epic show. Over the past years, he has been criticised for taking a long time to finish The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in his fantasy series. He admits it's 13 years overdue but says it's still his main focus. Meanwhile, he stays busy with TV projects, writing blog posts, and meeting fans at conventions.

The Lord of the Rings

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)

Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)

A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)

The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2)

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (Conan the Cimmerian, #1)

Ivanhoe

The Gormenghast Novels (Gormenghast, #1-3)

The Heroes