SF & Fantasy Books Meme from kathyh and others

[selenak]

Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you intend to read, underline the ones you’ve read part of, and strike through the ones you never intend to read.



1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card Unfortunately, I've read too many off-putting statements from the author. Unfair of me, considering I enjoy, for example, Wagner operas and he said absolutely revolting antisemitic things, but Wagner is dead, and OSC is not, which I find makes a difference for me.
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert - I've read the first three, then stopped.
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin - All but the last one. Entertaining, but I'm not a fan which you can see by the fact I'm waiting till A Dance With Dragons is out as paperback.
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury - I saw the film, though.
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan - life is short, the books are long, and I haven't heard anything that distinguishes them from a great many others in the genre.
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson - should I?
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov - Oh, Susan Calvin, I do love you quite a lot. Hooray for middle-aged female scientists!
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein - I must admit Heinlein's reputation as ultramale writer is a put off
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss - never heard of them, are they good?
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King - I'll get around to it one of these days, considering I like S.K.
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson - again: never heard of it, is it good?
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess - oh Anthony Burgess, you and your linguistic experiments. I read two of his other books, but this one I couldn't get through yet. I did hear a complete radio dramatization. Still haven't seen the fillm.
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein - see above re: Heinlein.
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey - eh, not sure? I read one of her dragon books ages ago when I was still in school, no idea whether it was this one. It didn't leave much of an impression.
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller - do tell?
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings - amend that to "probably not". The other Eddings I've read wasn't exactly inspiring to read more of his work.
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley - it was a revelation when I was 13 and a huge, huge influence, but I am very afraid to reread it now, because I suspect it may be one of those books which age badly and don't hold up to your adult self.
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson - tell me more?
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons - didn't he write those Greek myth in sci fi clothing things what rob the myths of all that's interesting about them?
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks - huh?
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman - is that the Haldeman who used to work for Nixon? If so, I might out of sheer curiosity.
57.Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever - not sure. I've heard both good and bad things about it. Maybe.
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind - I read the first three, then gave up. The tv show is more appealing, though.
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson - saw the Charlton Heston film version, Omega Man.
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist - do tell?
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson - huh?
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore - read some one of his D& D books, don't need more.
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi - ?
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson - ?
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey - I have the first book but haven't gotten around to it yet.
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson - ?
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde - browsed through it, decided I wouldn't like it.
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks - ?
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson - ?
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher - ?
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe - ?
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn. Yes, but I still can't see what the fuss is about.
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldon - I read the first book when stuck at an airport because of a storm. Have not the slightest intention of reading more.
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley - ?
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge - ?
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov - the first thing of Asimov's I ever read. Dad is a big fan.
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson - ?
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis - changed my ideas on time travel. Made many other books dealing with the Plague feel second rate.
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony - one book, which did not induce me to read more.
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

La Grande Nation is ably represented by Jules Verne, but I must complain about the lack of Germans. What about Michael Ende, at the very least? Otfried Preußler? And for God's sake, if you put a Star Wars media tie-in in, then I would like to mention the longest running Sci Fi pulp series of the world (Perry Rhodan, oh non-Germans).

Comments

[lilacsigil]

eruthros is collecting nominations for an alternate list!

[littlerhymes]

I think Ende is most famous in the English speaking world for Neverending Story (though I keep meaning to track down Momo) and sadly children's/ya was deliberately excluded from the list, so as to keep out the JK Rowlings, etc.

On some of your ?s - I liked Scalzi's Old Man's War, in a page-turn-y way, and he had a good blog post about the list with lots of suggestions/debates in the comments.

I loved Neuromancer as a teenager but it would probably feel superdated today; his recent stuff is good though. Neal Stephenson does cyberpunk/genre-mashing sf and I don't like him much, though as you can tell from the list a lot of people would disagree! Robin McKinley wrote some good female-centric ya fantasy in the 90s (The Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown, Deerskin), though I didn't enjoy Sunshine.

[selenak]

Children's books being excluded explains a lot, though I am baffled that a series like the Shannara one or the Star Wars media tie-in counts as non adolescent. :)

Thanks for the explanations about the other books!

[cremains]

Not only is OSC not dead, but some of his rather gross ideas are very alive in Ender's Game. I know I've linked this essay to death, but it's such a great critique of the weird-ass morality and superman fantasies of OSC's Ender fiction; it's also enjoyable if you haven't read the book and don't plan to do so.

I loved The Diamond Age up until something like halfway through, when it jumps the shark with a meaningless glowstick orgy under the sea scene and kind of goes downhill from there. But I'd read that first half again, and recommend it!