THE GORMENGHAST TRILOGY by Mervyn Peake

Mervyn Peake, who’s been called "better than Tolkein,” is bafflingly underread. His GORMENGHAST trilogy combines fantastic courtly antics with obsessively beautiful prose and original ink drawings by Peake himself, all set within the eves and battlements of a gothic castle. Pass if you fear a run-on sentence and/or fun names like Steerpike, Titus Groan and Prunesquallor.