Cannot recommend Hiaassen highly enough. Series does not do the books justice, but have read everything heās published, even the YA stuff.
Canāt believe no-one has recommended Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman ā two of the very best (after Tolkien) - different styles, though they collaborated on one or two.
Okay, let me set this up:
Iām an English teacher, got my love of books from my father, an English prof, and reading Lord of the Rings (which I still contend is one of the finest works of English Literature) very young.
I read A LOT. I mean, a lot. I donāt know if itās chavlieck level, but a lot, so itās hard to pick, but here is a smattering of what I think are the top ā the authors whose work I will buy immediately or am sad that they are deceased and there wonāt be any more. I could go on and on, but Iāll try to restrict.
Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi authors:
Robert Zelazny ā can pick up any but the Amber series in any order. Highly recommend the Amber series (first 7, did some add ons later that werenāt as good); Lord of Light; Doorways in the Sand and well, really anything.
Tolkien (duh)
Sir Terry Pratchett - First two are just okay, but any of the next 30+ are great. Would recommend Guards, Guards as a starting point
Neil Gaiman (kind of fantasy, kind of horror, kind of dark magical) - American Gods is my favorite
I also like Martha Wells, the murderbot novellas got me first to the Demon Prince one, which I really liked, and then digging through her old work, and the Rakshura series was also fun.
On a very different note, I also liked the city of brass series, set in an Indian mythology type fantasy world. Chakraborty or something?
Ben Aaronvitch - Fantasy/humor/alternate history
Kristen Cashore - Graceling and sequels
T kingfisher - Nettle and Bone
I liked some Sanderson, and appreciated him finishing WoT, but after I read about 10 of his books, I feel like Iām reading the same book over and over again.
Sci-Fi/speculative fiction
Asimov - Foundation trilogy was excellent
Arkady Martine - A Memory called Empire is excellent
Some of Heinlein - some is a little too juvenile, and some is a little too ahem incestuous - but Stranger in a Strange Land is solid, and Number of the Beast is fun, if a little off-putting at times
Fun/Humor:
Hiassen owns this class
CK McDonnell - Stranger Times series
Caimh McDonnell
PG Wodehouse
Mystery/Adventure
McDonald - Travis McGee
Ok, I have to do some work, I"ll be back to do more damage
Wait, Grinch is here now?! Oh what a day!
And someone edited my tag.
I like it. 
Oh ship, reading this title reminded me that I forgot to mention one of the great modern dark humor writers: Christopher Moore. Not because Iāve read Venomous Lumpsucker and it reminds me of him, but because some of his books have equally fantastic titles that I canāt read in the high school classroom: like You Suck, and Bite Me.
Less amusingly titled, but equally ribaldly funny and probably his best work is Fool, which follows the adventures of the fool from Shakespeareās King Lear as he ahem diddles his away through life. There is not a single safe for work page in the novel, filled with phrases like ****stockings that will creep into your mind and live there - making you laugh to yourself at inappropriate times.
Gotta add Douglas Adams under Fun/Humor
I started with Reaper Man which was helpful for understanding Deathās relationship to the world and which I greatly enjoyed. But my two top personal recs of the ones Iāve read are Small Gods and Hogfather.
This is awesome. I definitely have a preference towards more modern character driven stuff, which has gotten me into Sanderson and Abercrombie (king of character in Fantasy, imo). Agree with Sanderson take on it feeling the same, there were a few characters whose arcs I saw coming in mistborn after reading Stormlight, but I think his world building is second to none.
As far as the others you mentioned:
Pratchett Iāve only read Mort and didnāt love it. For absurdism I really prefer Douglas Adams
Martha Wells murderbot is great change of pace
Zelazny Iāve had Amber on my list forever but havenāt read
Very different but kind of fantasy- Salemās Lot by Stephen King I think is one of the best Iāve read. It has a Sanderson esque crash at the end that you feel building the whole time. You know the entire town inside and out by the end, and itās also genuinely terrifying at times
@JoeBoxley Yeah, I donāt think Iād start with Mort. I really would recommend picking up Guards, Guards as a starting point. Small Gods is another great one, @MaineWahoo, but I think it helps to have some grounding in Discworld before you essay it.
I loved Douglas Adams when I was younger, tried a re-read about a decade ago and it didnāt take, Iāll pick it back up some time.
@others Not a Stephen King fan, either, but I recognize this is an unpopular opinion.
Abercrombie has been on my list for a while now, actually have it, but it didnāt grab me either time I picked it up.
Leckie is also on my TBR list, but I donāt think Iāve started anything of hers yet.
I think I read Locke Lamora some years ago and enjoyed it.
Loved Murderbot but couldnāt get through the Demon Prince. I enjoyed the Rakshura series, but Murderbot is her best imo.
I remember Arkady Martine being a little dense/slow for my tastes (I like junk food fiction), but IIRC, A Memory Called Empire > the sequel.
Iām not sure if these have been mentioned already, but I liked Adrian Tchaikovskyās Final Architects series. His Children of Time trilogy was a bit uneven but quite original.
I havenāt read children of time, but liked the architects
The Winter of Our Discontent feels appropriate for this thread and our current sports trajectory.
How many people already got their Wind and Truth??
Just starting book 3.
Thing is the tomiest tome Iāve ever had outside of war and peace, which gets a pass for being ye olde
Is that John Gwynne series good? I picked up Malice a while back but have never read it.
I liked Malice, really liked Valor, then didnāt like Ruin or Wrath very much at all. Gwynne gets a ton of praise for his battle sequences, which are solid, but I got the impression itās all he wanted to do lol. A ton of character development was done in / through battle which I thought was kind of cheap. That said the world is fun and there are some good twists
The good folks at Amazon say it will arrive tomorrow.
@DFresh11 Can you let me know if this is an oxymoron? 
Freudian slip there at best. Maybe even onomonopeia
