This thread is great. I love the Dragonriders of Pern, even when it turned SciFi but Lessa will always be my heroine. I got a Fantasy collection as kid that had the first chapter of the first book in it and at that time it took me forever to hunt it down (no internet and no title, only the author...).

One of my favorite books ever is Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams and The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. I love both of them to pieces and reread them once a year at least. Strangely enough Starship Troopers by Paul Heinlein is the third place in that list.