THe first is a set of books following the lives of a middle class English family from the mid 19th century into the 20th century. There was a BBC tv series in the late 60s and Masterpiece Theatre did a miniseries a year or two ago.
As for Piers Anthony, his books are good no brainers. Incarnations of Immortaility were the first fantasy novels I read (and am currently brainstorming a campaign in that setting). Xanth was fun, but I stopped reading it around the 20th book in the series. I enjoyed Biography of a Space Tyrant and the Adept series.