Gakked from Makamu

[wiseheart]

Books I've read - or haven't

This is the Science Fiction Book Club's list of the fifty most significant science fiction/fantasy novels published between 1953 and 2002. Bold the ones you've read , strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished ( ETA: , bold and italicize books you have read that are not on this list or those you intend to read before the year is over ) and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.

*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
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

Books I've read and liked: (Not sure about the publication date, though)

*The Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien
*The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
*Marsian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
*Kyberiada by Stanislaw Lem
*The Andromeda Nebula by Ivan Jefremov (Russian author you've probably never heard of)
Eden by Stanislaw Lem
Homecoming by Stanislaw Lem
The Magellanic Nebula by Stanislaw Lem
*Serpent's Heart by Ivan Jefremov (short story only, but excellent)
*The Prydain Chronicles by Larry Alexander
*The Assignment by Péter Zsoldos (Hungarian sci-fi author)

I'm not giving the ungodly long list of books I read and hated. They don't deserve to get advertised. *g*

Comments

Dune?

[crowdaughter.livejournal.com]

I wonder why you hated Dune? It is highly imaginative, albeit the political message is... well, not one I would recommend. But otherwise, as a scince fiction vision (or a socio-fiction vision) and a fantasy novel, I would always highly recommend it! As for "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep", it is even better tan the movie (Blade Runner) they made of it. On another note: Did you read Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and Robert Heinlein's "Friday"? Those are great books, too! And also very visionary, if you ask me.

As for me, I've read (and liked) No. #1,#3, #5, #8, #9, #10, #16 (and nearly everything else from the Discworld cycle), #26, #27, #28 (great book!), #29 (again, great book, if somewhat whiny; but then, Ann Rice was good at the start, for her firswt few books in this cycle, anyway); and #41. I started on #23, #39 and #47, but never got myself to finish them. From your other list, I've read only Bradbury and Toklien...

Re: Dune?

[crowdaughter.livejournal.com]

*Tolkien

ARGH! And I *so* hate it when another writer misspells the name to "Tolkein", or something!

Re: Dune?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Be comforted. I managed to misspell Elronds name in a very rant against illiterate fanbrats once. *g*

Re: Dune?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It was the political message I hated, mostly. Of course, I saw they Lynch-version of the movie before I read the book itself, so I was very much prejudiced, as I greatly disliked the movie. But again, I can't stand poor Kyle McLachlan, so perhaps I was prejudiced against the movie, too. It's a complicated web of dislikes. *g*

Have you seen the TV-miniseries? I liked it more than the movie as a whole, although I was unhappy with some of the casting (the Bene Gesseret woman comes to my mind).

Re: Dune?

[crowdaughter.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the TV-miniseries? I liked it more than the movie as a whole, although I was unhappy with some of the casting (the Bene Gesseret woman comes to my mind).

Nope, I haven't seen the Miniseries. As for the books, I only read the first three; and the Encyclopedia. But I have to say that these were very inspiring. The Bene gesserit, however, are giving me the willies as a concept. Still, as a socio-fiction, there is a lot in those books that is capturing enough!

Aislynn

Re: Dune?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I dunno. Call me strange, but I found Dune kinda... well, boring. But again, I don't like my sci-fi missed with fantasy, which is the reason why I never liked Star Wars, either. I only managed to dig through the first book of Dune - gave up on the second one after the first hundred pages or so and never picked it up again.

If you like good sci-fi, you definitely must read Stanislaw Lem. He's a big enough name to be available in German - in fact, I saw several of his books in Vienna in German translation. His late books like Solaris are fairly depressing sometimes, but Kyberiada is hilarious.

And for fantasy fans, the Prydain Chronicles are a must. They're funny, light-hearted, although dealing with serious material, but in a manner that is pure delight to read.