memesheep

[rushthatspeaks]

So there's that NPR list of books going around, and it's a terrible list and I'm looking forward to the inevitable future fandom-sourced one in response, but there is one thing I have noticed about it when people I know do it as a meme: the meme is really good at telling me about people's tastes in fantasy and science fiction. It has caused me to build up a neat little winter-holiday-present mental list for just about everyone I've seen do it.

Also, I thought it might be fun to give people the opportunity to try to talk me into reading some of the ones I haven't read.



Bold if I've read it, italicized if I plan to, underlined if I've read part but not all.


1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Once a year or so since I was nine.
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. But I haven't heard the radio plays. I should really do that.
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. I should reread this, because I can't imagine it holding up, but I'd like to see exactly how it doesn't.
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert. Why is this on here as a series? I have read Dune. There I stopped.
5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin. I told all the people who were nagging me about this that I'd read it when A Dance With Dragons came out. I guess now I have no excuse, but I will be really very surprised if I actually enjoy it, because something about Martin is orthogonal to my brain-- I get a lot out of his stuff but it literally gives me massive headaches.
6. 1984, by George Orwell.
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Why do that to myself?
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov. I just reread those last week. Fun times. They probably don't hold up if you didn't read them at ten and/or love The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. I should reread as I was definitely too young for it.
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman is a terrible novelist, fond as I am of the comics. I have not forgiven this book for ignoring Christianity as a cultural element in the U.S.; doing so invalidated his entire premise.
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan. Hell to the no.
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Most traumatic book I picked up in fifth grade because I thought it was about talking animals ever.
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore. ... before I'd read any superhero comics. Doesn't seem to have hurt me any, but I get the feeling that was not the intent.
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein. Both versions. I prefer the cut one.
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss. Quite high on my list of series where I want the next one NOW.
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. ♥
21. ~Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?~, by Philip K. Dick. The tildes are because I have no idea whether I've read this or not. I went through this month or so of reading all the Dick I could get my hands on, which was like twenty of them, but I was very, very depressed at the time, and they have melded together in my brain, except Maze of Death and Galactic Pot-Healer, which are my favorites. Did I read this? Depends on the library, I guess. I'd have to try a reread to check, which I have no immediate intention of doing.
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. HATRED. It's kind of better if you read it as an allegory of her time at Harvard, which I heard somewhere was the original intent. BUT NOT MUCH BETTER.
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King. Left intentionally unfinished because I didn't want it resolved.
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
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. I probably should. There is other Burgess higher on my list, though. I guess maybe eventually?
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams. I have lost track of how many times I have read this.
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey. The first book I ever read with sex in it! I was so confused.
34. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein. Still one of the better depictions of poly family structures.
35. A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. I don't know why, it just never came up.
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. I don't love these as much as most people seem to. Where should a person start on other Zelazny?
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings. NO. NO. NO. AND NO.
42. The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It is amazing how much of the course on Arthuriana I took in college we spent laughing at this book. To be fair, it was funny.
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson. Got halfway through the first. B. would like me to finish them. I would like Brandon Sanderson to go away again. I am sure we will resolve it somehow.
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I have lost track of how many times I have read this.
47. The Once and Future King, by T.H. White. I have lost track of how many times I have read this. Also, as a teenager I used to write bad sonnets to T.H. White.
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman. Please could he go back to the comics. Please.
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke. I think I was too young for this and should try it again.
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons. I read Hyperion, which is brilliant. Then I stopped, because sequels seemed completely unnecessary, and many people have told me that they are.
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. I fail to understand how anyone could perpetrate this novel after having read Hope Mirrlees' Lud-in-the-Mist, which I have proof he did. Aargh.
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks. Not my thing, but so well done that I got sucked through a fair chunk of it anyway.
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle. I have lost track of how many times I have read this.
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett. Serious contender for my favorite Discworld.
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson. Mark me down as one of those people who couldn't get past the rape scene.
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Haven't yet read Cryoburn.
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. VERY VERY NO.
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson. I spent many years unable to locate a copy and then someone dissected the entire plot and its differences from the movie in a review of the movie. Might read it if I can get over my annoyance about that.
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist. JUST NO, OKAY?
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks. I read the first one of these out of sheer incredulity.
68. The Conan the Barbarian Series, by Robert E. Howard. Haven't read all of them, but I love the early short stories I have read. No one will tell me whether or when it starts to suck.
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
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. Although sometimes I wonder why I keep reading them.
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury. By far my favorite Bradbury.
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire. Tried three times and said screw it.
81. The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson. I am not inherently against this if someone gives me a good reason.
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde. HATRED. SO MUCH HATRED.
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks. I like his mainstream novels a lot better, which is odd for me, but there you go.
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart. I KNOW I KNOW I WILL I SWEAR
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson. Maybe if I can forgive him for the ends of the last everything I've ever read of his?
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher. Eh.
87. The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe. Must reread. I was doing a reread with the OED, which did wonderful things for my vocabulary, but then I ran out of energy.
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldon
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock. It is possible I have read all of these, except I don't know how many there actually are? Moorcock's bibliography is large enough that I do not try to keep track of it.
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge. I KNOW I KNOW but I tried when I was way too young and the memory of the bounce has lingered. I will, though.
94. The Caves of Steel, by Isaac Asimov. By far my favorite Asimov. Would hold up for a new reader now.
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson. The way people talk about Kim Stanley Robinson makes his stuff sound like economics textbooks rather than novels. I assume this can't be the case, but it hasn't made me rush out and get any.
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. After The Mote in God's Eye, there was no way I was going anywhere near anything by those two again.
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville. AAGH GIANT TELEPORTING SPIDERS AAGH. Also this book is not as good at city as most people seem to think. But it is better on that than many books.
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony. I went through an Anthony phase as a young teen. Then I noticed the sexism and general creepiness.
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis. Perelandra is one of the books that would make a fair nomination for my favorite book of all time. If someone claimed Perelandra was my favorite, I wouldn't argue very hard against it, though there are two or three other candidates.

So! Why should I read any of the ones I haven't?

Comments

[q10.livejournal.com]

Cat's Cradle is probably my second-favorite Vonnegut novel, after Mother Night (Cat's Cradle is a common favorite - Mother Night is one of the more often forgotten ones). it's also a quick read, so if you don't like it at least it will be over soon. it's from well before the point where he'd settled into the thing where all his novels are basically the same. that last characterization is unfair, but i do sort of feel like everything after maybe Breakfast of Campions is remixing the same stuff. all the earlier novels have more distinct identities. Player Piano is a straight-up dystopia inspired by Vonnegut's experiences in Schenectady working as a PR writer for GE (and lifting heavily from Brave New World). The Sirens of Titan is something he made up on the spot at a party when given the unexpected opportunity to pitch his idea for his second novel, and is every bit as indescribable as you'd expect for something like that coming from somebody like that. Mother Night was what happened when he somehow got convinced it would be a good idea to try to write a spy novel, only to have it evolve into a bleak moral parable about how we inevitably become the people we pretend to be. Cat's Cradle is (again, as a gross oversimplification) his best effort at a loud-but-poetic ‘fuck you!’ directed simultaneously at God and Science, by way of a bunch of inventive absurdities, not the least of which is a fictional religion with a holy book that begins with a warning that everything contained therein is a lie. i'm really not doing it justice. if you get hung up on the worldbuilding you may be annoyed, since it's very very not about worldbuilding. but i adored it (back in high school, which is really the best time to read it), and i do think it's one of those things that has earned it's place on those lists of books everybody is supposed to have read.

also, huge Moby Dick call-out in the first lines, if you're into such things: ‘Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.’