[adamhepner]

Actually, the whole Dune series, and risking to be controversial - the extended universe with the abomination of books by Frank Herbert's son. Yes, they break the rules, yes, they are rushed and yes some explanations plain don't make sense, but ohmygod the additional tens of thousands of years added to the story just put on so much more grandure... But why I like it: I open random page, and I just enjoy falling back to the epic story and remembering small details, discovering new ones, pondering upon the small artificial quotes before the chapters. Those books have so much going on for them, and thanks to the time spans involved you can actually pretty much jump in at any moment.

Other one is Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison, those are very funny and don't attempt to take themselves too seriously, and have the same principle - you can jump into the story at any moment and just enjoy rapid pace of events splashed with humorous commentary. Plus the protagonist is a very much self made man in a world where it doesn't come easily, so there's that bit of hope for you.

Thirdly - Discworld. I guess it does not need comment, does it?