Being aware of the Western canon is pretty much the place to start for a serious discussion on best things ever in literature, even though you might end up preferring stuff that's quite different from it.
I strongly disagree, actually. Works that're part of the Western canon aren't necessarily the best in the Western literary tradition, and they aren't necessarily read for their quality -- although many of them genuinely are very good. They're defined more by being influential, and reading them is more about gaining a better understanding of the context of literature: its history and the mechanics of its evolution. People like Shakespeare are to English literature what people like Aristotle are to Western philosophy: not the best by some set of quasi-objective standards, nor the most gratifying to taste, but the headwaters from which later traditions flow. There's a certain amount of survivorship bias involved, too; Sappho for example was arguably the best Classical Greek poet by her contemporaries' standards, and we can be almost sure of her influence, but so little of her stuff is left that she's not a major part of the canon.
There's an argument to be had over whether this is necessarily the best way to teach or learn about literature, of course, just as we could have the same argument over philosophy. But that's not really the point.
They're defined more by being influential, and reading them is more about gaining a better understanding of the context of literature: its history and the mechanics of its evolution.
I'm not disagreeing. The main point is that the literature canon is the most influential starting point for discussing literature that's considered really very good. Not that the books themselves would necessarily be the best ever.
And for the purposes of the original discussion, it's not even necessary to find the absolutely best literature ever, only examples of literature ...
This may be old news to some people, especially the Russian speakers, but I didn't see an article about it here.
In 1999, Kirill Yeskov, a Russian paleontologist, wrote The Last Ringbearer, a 270-page take on Lord of the Rings from the point of view of a medic in Mordor's dying armies who is also a "skeptic and a rationalist." In fact, Mordor represents the forces of reason in this retelling of the story. As a Nazgúl (himself a former mathematician) explains, Mordor is "the little oasis of Reason in which your light-minded civilization had so comfortably nestled." Barad-dur is "that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic."
The story has been newly translated and is available in free PDF form -- in English and the original Russian. There's a recent review from Salon as well.