Lev Grossman: 6 greatest fantasy books of all time

Lev Grossman is Time magazine's book critic as well as one of its lead technology writers. The New York Times says he's “among this country's smartest and most reliable critics.” He published his first novel, Warp, in 1997. His second novel, Codex, came out in 2004 and became an international bestseller. His new novel is The Magicians.

For The Week magazine, Grossman named the "six greatest fantasy books of all time." One title on the list:

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (Mariner, $20).

I was never a Tolkien fanatic, but he is indisputably the first and greatest of the great modern fantasy-world builders. The mines of Moria alone would put him on this list: “The Dwarves delved too greedily and too deep ...”

Read about another book on Grossman's list.

The Lord of the Rings also appears on John Mullan's list of ten of the best volcanoes in literature. It is a book that Todd Gitlin hopes parents will read to their children and Geraldine Brooks wanted to share with her child.

Also see Jonathan Stroud's top 10 list of fantasy books.

--Marshal Zeringue