When I was first plucked from the pool of data-entry temps to join the Science Fiction team at Powell's, I thought I was pretty well-read in the genre.  Then my senior teammate walked me along the aisles of my new fiefdom and pulled out a few dozen books that she thought I should read just to be halfway up to speed.  I don't read as much SF and Fantasy as I did during my 3 years in that job, but I still go there not so much for escape as for hope and a broadening of vision.  I admire classic authors like Bester and Tolkien, but I also appreciate the world-building and character development gifts of Lois McMaster Bujold, the ethereal wonder of Ursula Le Guin, and the mythopoeic darkness of Neil Gaiman.