@Brandon - For me Arkham House's volume "At the Mountains of Madness" contains some of the very best of Lovecraft's work. Some unknowable horror stuff, but also the witch house story and the cycle of Dunsany-inspired Randolph Carter "Dreamland" stories. I really loved those and they had a huge impact on me when I first read them, in French, circa end of high-school. Agree Re. Mieville, "Perdido Street Station" is one of my favorite SF novels of the last... Blast, I went to check the date and it came out more than 10 years ago, and then the other one I was going to mention among best "in last 10 years" (Swanwick's "Iron Dragon's Daughter") is even older. Well, at least Gene Wolfe had the usual bunch of great books in the last 10 years. Thanks for the 韩少功 recommendation. I will definitely try.

Regarding Burton, the tragic thing is, I generally tremendously enjoy good magical realism. I have high respect for Burton's vision and skill. Unfortunately there is something about the aesthetics of his movies that completely creeps me out in a not-enjoyable-at-all way (compared, say, to Burton's big influence, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," which creeps me out in a good way). It's something about color and the arrangement of objects. What I feel is a combination of nausea and the impression of going back home to find it has been burglarred. :-)