/lit/ - Literature

Decided to read through the triad of sword & sorcery (Howard, Leiber, and Moorcock), but I only wanted to read the best of the best, not having to slog through some of their lesser stories (like the ones they clearly just wrote for money); after reading tons of internet blogs run by old greybeards and scouring decades-old forums that have long since been abandoned, this seems to be the general consensus for what the best of each is; I'm posting this here to generate some discussion (What do you guys think of this list, those of you who've read through these stories?) and for anybody else who likewise would like to read through them :

Conan the Barbarian, RE Howard; all of these stories are highly recommended reading
>Red Nails (1936)
>The Queen of the Black Coast (1934)
>The Frost Giant's Daughter (posthumous, 1976)
>The Tower of the Elephant (1933)
>Beyond the Black River (1935)
>The People of the Black Circle (1934)
>Rogues in the House (1934).
Also worth reading by Howard are the poem 'Cimmeria' (1932) and the short story Worms of the Earth (1932).

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Fritz Leiber; this entire list gives a nice rounded feel for the entire series, but if you only want the absolute best of the best, start with the ones marked with an asterisk (*)
>Jewels in the Forest (also known as 'Two Sought Adventure') (1939)*
>The Bleak Shore (1940)
>The Howling Tower (1941)
>The Sunken Land (1942)
>Thieves' House (1943)*
>Adept's Gambit (1947)*
>The Claws from the Night (also known as 'Dark Vengeance') (1951)
>The Seven Black Priests (1953)
>Induction (1957)
>The Swords of Lankhmar (1968)
>Ill Met in Lankhmar (1970)
>Lean Times in Lankhmar (posthumous? 1996)*

Elric of Melnibone, Michael Moorcock; this guy wrote everything all over the place and all out of order, but it is generally agreed that the best stories are some of his earlier ones; technically, these are all short story collections, and they should be read in this order:
>Elric of Melnibone (1972)
>The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (1976)
>The Weird of the White Wolf (1961)
>The Sleeping Sorceress (also known as 'The Vanishing Tower') (1970)
>The Bane of the Black Sword (1962)
>Stormbringer (1963)