I'm starting with The Mysterious Island based on two facts. First it's a story that I am unfamiliar with, where most of his other works have been done to death in movies and TV shows. I will move on to them later, but for now I want a few surprises.

Secondly there is a new translation that better conforms to modern English sentence structure and grammer. Anyone who speaks a foreign language knows the problems with translations, often you have to be unfaithful in exact text to be faithful in spirit, and this is said to be doubly so when dealing with the hodgepodge language that English has become. From what I've read so far MI is a great read and the translater has done an excellent job keeping the period descriptions intact and preserving the fast paced style that Verne intended. Other than learning French yourself, this is the best you can hope for.

This one is simple, you start with the first book and continue until you are done.

The book order is: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window, The Miserable Mill, The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, The Carnivourous Carnival, The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril, and The End

I haven't purchased any of the companion books, so I would recomend buying a few of the series before commiting yourself any deeper with the extras books. I will speculate that the companions, if written by Snicket, will be well worth the time and money judging from the authors excellent wit and style.

Earlene Fowler is one of those authors that works in serial format, as in each book stems from ideas and characters in previous versions. It isn't absolutly necesary to read them in order, but it is recomened.

I have a personal preference for anthologies and short stories. Louis L'Amour is well known for his short stories so I am going to start there, and I recomend others do the same.

See if you can find ISBN 0553803573

One word of warning though, this is a series of anthologies that many L'Amour fans have shunned. L'Amour's short stories are available in genre sets and this anthology is basically just combining and re-ordering stories already in print. To me this is fine, but to some it is better to buy the stories as L'Amour compiled them.

I haven't read a Zane Grey book, but since no one else is talking I will pass on what advice has been given to me.

I'm told that the best place to start with westerns is with either Zane Grey or Louis L'Amour. With Zane there is one book that stands head and shoulders above the rest and that is Riders of the Purple Sage.

RofPS was censored when it was released in the early 1900's for political reasons, yes PC has always been around. I'm told the major problem was it's negative stereotypes towards Mormans, but that's second hand info.

There is a newly restored version which represents Zane's prefered edition ISBN 1594141304

You have a few options when it comes to Lewis Carrol and some are more complete than others.

If you are going to read one of the Alice books then I recomend you get both, and indeed they are often sold that way. Also you may want to find one with the original illustrations. Even if you don't purchase that copy then you should at least see what you are missing.

My prefered copy is now out of print but should be easily found ISBN 0787119784
It omits the original illustrations but does include photos from the NBC movie.

I'm going to say read Hitchhiker's first, then the Dirk Gently novels, then continue with the Hitchhiker's series. The Dirk Gently novels are very different from the Hitchhiker's series so I think breaking it up will give you a quicker feel for the total Adams experience.

Don't forget that the radio plays are available and are excellent. Not the audio books, but the radio plays.

If it's Dante then the next word that springs to mind is invariably Inferno. Dante's Inferno is the beginning of a trilogy know as the Divine Comedy which spans from hell, to purgatory, and to paradise.

You know some of the stories but you may not have read any of them. First, if you are going to buy a book there are several anthologies of his short storeis, which would be a good way to gat started. One lovely harback edition ISBN 0890092087 for example has the stories as printed in the original magazines, with illustrations.

Now as for stories, I'd say The Time Machine or First Men in the Moon. Personally I found the style of War of the Worlds a bit hard to get through so save it for a while. It's a bit dry and there are parts of it where the descriptions verge into the long winded.

With Poe it's simple to know what to buy first. Any collection of his that has all of his poems and short stories in one large book. That is easily found and often they are cheap. There is no copyright so you could also get a good selection for free on the internet.

As for what stories to read, first the poem "The Raven" for it's whimsy, then the story "The Black Cat". Both will give you a sample of Poe's great vision but somewhat dry execution.