I've read what most people call classics. The Tolkien series. 2001: A Space Oddessy, along with the stories that followed. But, Dan Simmons's Hyperion, along with the following Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion, blow every other book away. From the start of Hyperion to the end of The Rise of Endymion, this series will not let you stop reading. These books are magnificent.