I think my top 3 in no particular order would have to be
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
W40k: Fifteen Hours by Mitchel Scanlon
and.... wow, my mind is totally blanking right now, when I thought of this post I had a top 3 in mind, but my mind decided to just totally die and I forgot.

Another couple favourites of mine would be the Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy, by far my favourite Star Wars Legends EU and right under it would have to be the Republic Commando novels. Another good Warhammer series that really got me into the universe more was the Gaunt's Ghost series, such a great series. I love the Imperial Guard. The Halo EU novels are pretty great Pre-343i, but I haven't read much since their takeover of the series apart from reading a bit of Glasslands. Ready Player One was a big one for my a while back as well, but I gotta say I don't have much faith in the movie being made.

But if there is ONE book I'll reccommend to anyone who likes Fantasy even slightly, its The Name of the Wind. No series has impacted me as much as the Kingkiller Chronicles lately, now, if only Rothfuss would release Doors of Stone already so I can get my final fix...

Fifteen Hours is a great Warhammer 40,000 novel for those into the series and not into it either, as its just a really well written tale about a single Guardsman, with the name being a nod to the whole "a Guardsman's lifespan on the field is fifteen hours." It's very well done, I've introduced the book to many people and they've all enjoyed it.

Edit: My brain farted more than I had thought, the third one is Neuromancer (duh), what the quote on my profile and my picture is from. Wow, that was a ridiculous brain fart. Its pretty much the grandfather of Cyberpunk and that is my favourite genre right next to Military SciFi and Fantasy. Great book.

The Lord of the Rings is my favorite book. (Yes I know it is three books.) I've read it around ten times.

My favorite series is A Song of Ice and Fire, although the last book was too long, and quite boring, and now George R.R. Martin seems to have lost the plot.

My favorite author is H.P. Lovecraft, and I collect old pulp paperbacks of his short stories. I've probably read most of his work, but maybe one or two stories I have missed.

My favorite genre is horror, and my other favorite horror authors are Clive Barker, Brian Lumley, Ann Rice and Stephen King, even though King is more of a story-teller than a horror author.

@"RafftheSweetling" I've had LotR and a couple other of Tolkien's works laying around, picked up those black versions of the books for like $3 each and the boxset of LotR for $5, yet to actually get around to reading it but I plan to soon, I also have ASOIAF laying around, I used to work at a bookstore so I used to buy a lot of books to read later. Ive most of the Wheel of Time series for the same reason, and thats next on my list to read.

I've also got a collection of H.P. Lovecraft I finished a while ago, love his stuff. You've got good taste!

the harry potter franchis,the lotr series , the dexter morgan book (the ones the show was based on) the autobiography of felicia day , the jason bourne books is another great series

It, The stand and The Dark Tower series. All by Stephen King haha.

@"paradoxwing" Personally never could get into Harry Potter stuff, I dont know why. It might have to do with wands, for some reason I dont like them. I like staffs haha. I gotta get around to reading that autobiography though! Shes fantastic.

@"Crash244" Ive watched the movie for It and The Stand and loved them, cant wait for The Dark Tower, I LOVE Idris Elba. Btw, nice gif

Like some have said already, my favourite books are easily The Lord of The Rings. I've loved them ever since I was a kid and I have a habit of reading them at least once a year. Been doing that for about 9 years now!
Other books include the Horus Heresy series for Warhammer 40K, I think my favourite one out of those is "Know No Fear". I'm also a big fan of the Ciaphas Cain novels for 40K as well.

Was Lord of the Rings mentioned? Yes? Ok just checking.
My short list is:
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach (Childhood Fav)
Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard (Yes the Scientology guy. He was a writer of fiction and science fiction before the whole Scientology thing. )
The Prince Rodger series by David Weber and John Ringo. (Best Series)
The RCN series by David Drake (Fav Author)
The Undead series by R. R. Haywood (Latest listening)

This is a very short list for me. I have a few hundred audio books in itunes or on my backup hard drive.