Hi Ted,
I have been pondering the strength of the Fantasy writers on Authonomy and couldn't help but notice that 4 out of 5 of your must reads are fantasy the 5th being Faust's Butterfly. I have no problem with the market determining what is fashionable and what will sell but I have to ask the question. Is it becoming harder to write something that will break into the fantasy market as ideas get used and reused and modified and regurgitated? Is reading mainly in your own writing genre a help or a hindrance in the long term? On Authonomy sticking to Fantasy reads and playing only in your own sandpit seems to be a recipe for success. Does it produce better books? I would like everyone's shelf to have 5 different genre spots to force wider reading and ensure great books don't get overlooked. The Butterfly and The Wheel as an example. Interested to hear your opinion. 
Everyone has their own tastes. Some have very broad tastes and others have little time for reading, so they focus on a narrower range of books. I am one of the latter. Given all the time in the world to read, I would read across a broader spectrum (though even then there are certain genres that simply don't interest me, such as romance, chick lit, urban fantasy, paranormal, religious, etc.). I have little reading time, so what I have I devote to my very favorites -- fantasy, sci-fi, history, historical fiction, horror, thriller.
Each writer is different, too, so some can thrive by reading across diverse genres, while others will do better to focus. I think that my current book will work best if I read heavily in cyberpunk, since those themes need to be covered very well, while I already know Russia pretty well.