Oh, what the hell

[johnridley]

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 (pretty sure)
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett (but I didn't like it)
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 (3 times, most of the rest of the series only twice. Two times each ALOUD to kids)
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 (started a few times, going to try the unabridged audiobook soon)
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

That's 23/50. I hadn't thought I'd read that many of them. I'm a horrendously slow reader, and honestly I've had entire YEARS recently where I don't think I read an entire novel. I'm doing better lately, finishing a couple of novels a month, 3 if you count unabridged audiobooks. I do better when I'm in a phase when I'm carrying my PDA, which is mainly what I read on.

Comments on audiobooks? Personally I like them. I get an extra book or two a month done that way, and honestly I remember the books I did as audiobooks better than those that I read. I only do unabridged.

Being more historically based is a help for me; I'm more likely to read Hal Clement than some new author.

There are some in there that I'm just not all that interested in starting on, but I see some that I should probably read.

I was going to say something about some listings being trilogies, but I guess it's fair. LotR really is one book. The foundation trilogy, ditto. Potter, well, I guess it's one or all seven; it's one story arc, designed that way from the start.

Ender's Game gets all the attention in lists like this, perhaps rightfully so since it started the series, but IMHO Ender's Shadow is just as good; I think I like any of the stories centered around Bean better than those around Ender. I like them all, even the somewhat bizarre Xenocide.

Comments

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I'm still resisting this, on the grounds that I would rather hear you say what you think about one or more books than read a list of fifty books. But my resistance is wearing down.

So I do appreciate your remarks at the bottom.

Am re-reading Jack Williamson's autobiography. Man, he knew everybody.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Well, in that case, a little more:
As discussed on the GT list, _The Colour of Magic_ may be the first in the Discworld series, but it's not the best. In fact, to be consistent with the rest of the list, it should also include _The Light Fantastic_ which finishes the story, and thankfully lets up a bit on the "Hey look at me guys, I'm writing a PARODY!" sledgehammer.

_Caves of Steel_ is interesting in that not only is it the first of a very imaginative and successful series, it's also possibly the best, which is saying something because IMHO almost all of them are at least pretty good.

_Stranger in a Strange Land_. Hmm, I dunno if I'd want that to be the one Heinlein volume I put in the time capsule. I think Future History or one of the other short story compilations would be better. It's hard to choose though. Certainly nothing written after Stranger. I'm rather partial to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress myself. It's a little grittier, and a little more prescient, and I had a lot more fun reading it.

If this were supposed to be in any kind of order, I'd move The Stars My Destination way farther up the list.

Of course, there are some books I'd try to squeeze onto the list, but since I've read so few of these I wouldn't presume to push them off in favor of mine. But, for instance, I'd be happy to push The Colour of Magic off in favor of something like, oh, something by Doc Smith. Skylark, or Lensman, whatever. Sure it's cheap space opera, but CoM isn't literary gold either, and I'd argue for Doc Smith's stuff being more influential, and at least as much fun to read.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Oops, I just realized that The Moon is a Harsh Mistress WAS written after Stranger in a Strange Land. So I sit corrected by myself. I think he peaked with MiaHM.
But as you can guess from my praise for Lensman etc, I'm a fan of cheap thrills, so I like Heinlein juvies as well, though sadly since I've become more used to complex plots, I can't enjoy them quite as much as when I was a wide-eyed kid. More's the pity.