SF books meme.

[elwen]

Jacked from freeradical42:

50 Most Significant SF/F Books

Bold is "I read this"
Italics is "I started this"
Underline is "This *really* rocked"
Strikeout is "I disliked this"


There are probably more that should be underlined, but some of them I read so long ago I don't remember. :(

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury [Yes, I know. I always get flamed for this.]
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

I was going to use italics for "I want to read this", since you'll notice I didn't mark any as started but unfinished, but then I realized that I've only heard of a few beyond what I've read, and the only one I really want to read is Mists of Avalon. And maybe Earthsea, if only to understand Gedo Senki (the new Miyazaki movie) when/if I see it. ["If" may be a real possibility, considering I still haven't seen Howl's Moving Castle.]

Comments

[freeradical42.livejournal.com]

Eh, 451 *isn't* actually a very good book. While the message is excellent, Bradbury's style can be very slow and rambling and just doesn't have the descriptive appeal that I look for. So I can see where you might be coming from on that.

[ctrl-a.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there were a lot of concepts and themes in Fahrenheit 451 that I liked, but I couldn't stand reading it. Then again, I was reading it for a book report in 7th grade, so maybe there were external biasing factors. Now and then I wonder if I should reread it to see if my impression will be different, but... well, when I have such a huge "to read" list, why should I put something on there that I read once and didn't like?