I Would Jump Off The Cliff, Too
Irradiated by LabRat
All the cool kids are doing it, but more to the point, it’s really simple content. Kang is starting to find her feet at mothering, but we really could use another day or so of caught sleep. In general.
The apparently NPR-generated sci-fi and fantasy reading list. Bold is stuff I’ve read, italic is stuff I’ve started and didn’t finish, and commentary is in parentheses. I realize this will make the list much more difficult to copy and I don’t care, this counts as substantial content if I add commentary, right?
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien (I realize this makes a substantial chunk of the geek population want to strip me of my Vulcan ears, but I found Tolkien unutterably boring. I realize a lot of later fantasy builds on, rips off, or riffs on Tolkien, but at least a lot of them do it with a far better sense of humor.)
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (This was on my fifth grade summer reading list. Why, I have no idea, but I’m glad it was. I actually like the Dirk Gently series much more, even though no one else seems to have read those than me.)
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card (I think smart kids are required to read this between the ages of ten and seventeen. I tried to read the first sequel. I didn’t get far before I got the sensation of having disappeared up Card’s ass.)
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert (The spice must flow, but I’ll let it flow right on past me.)
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin (Friends don’t let friends read giant epic cycles if the author has no idea where he’s going or appears to be losing interest.)
6. 1984, by George Orwell (I’m not a huge fan of depressing dystopian fiction no matter how classic. Stingray is, however, and his copy is well-worn.)
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (Assigned reading, seventh grade. I like basically every single other thing Bradbury has written more. See also, dystopias aren’t my cup of tea.)
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov (I knew someone who loved this series so much I could just about bet money I therefore wouldn’t. You’d understand if you’d met the guy.)
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (Not me, but again Stingray’s copy is well-worn.)
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (Several times. I <3 Gneil.)
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman (The movie was better.)
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan (See my comment on Martin.)
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell (Assigned reading, seventh grade again. Come to think of it my English teacher that year had a huge hardon for both dystopias and bleak commentaries on the human condition. He also assigned The Oxbow Incident.)
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson (Not me, but Stingray again. When the first reason someone can come up with for why I’d want to read something is that it defined a genre, not because it’s fun, I’m usually satisfied with skipping it on the assumption the genre therefore covers it. Stingray wishes me to note that HE thought it was fun, but he thinks nearly all things cyberpunk are fun.)
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore (Book and movie both. They were both good in their own way.)
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov (No, but I did read The Positronic Man, for which Robin Williams should be shot for daring to adapt.)
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein (This was not a good introduction to Heinlein. I haven’t really been able to overcome my irritation with him accumulated over the course of the book. I read the author’s original cut, I understand a lot of the more objectionable stuff was cut out in later editions, which may explain why I remember it so much less fondly.)
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss (What, and who?)
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut (Pass.)
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (Very, very different from most of the movie adaptations. If you look at it with your ladybusiness glasses on it’s also a really interesting dark fiction pretty clearly inspired at least in part by her rough experiences with birth.)
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick (No, though I did read Man In the High Castle.)
22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood (People take this one way too goddamn seriously. As a light read it’s not half bad.)
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King (Only everything subsequent to the first book, which contrary to the opinion of a lot of King fans, sucks. Sorry.)
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke (I slept through large portions of the movie, twice. does that count?)
25. The Stand, by Stephen King (The unabridged edition. I kind of wanted a medal at the end. The whole thing was somehow less than the sum of its parts.)
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson (I was bored and annoyed in equal measure at the end of the first two or three chapters. Stingray loved it.)
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury (Bits and pieces.)
28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut (Vonnegut peaked with this one in my opinion. Pity it was so early on.)
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman (Oh Neil. Along with Alan Moore he reset the bar for comics writing.)
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess (More assigned reading. Far more interesting as a book than a movie.)
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein (Still haven’t forgiven him for Stranger.)
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams (Among the more hair-raising children’s fiction out there. The Plague Dogs is even worse. Adams missed a calling as a horror writer.)
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey (My first exposure to McCaffrey is how BATSHIT she is with her fans. Pass.)
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller (Never heard of it.)
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells (I went through a Wells phase in high school and read pretty much all of ‘em. This was by far the weirdest.)
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne (I think I read a comic version. I was unimpressed.)
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 (Oh yeah… Zelazny. He exists. I can say pretty much the same about the next several books/authors on the list.)
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven (I actually do mean to, one of these days.)
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien (Tolkien gets, if that were possible, even stuffier!)
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman (Meh. The protagonist made me want to punch him pretty much every scene he was in. Neil didn’t really master novel-length fiction with no pictures until American Gods if you ask me.)
49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke (Yet more assigned reading, this time on a summer reading list. Someone in my school’s English staff was a huge sci fi fan, in retrospect. I liked it a lot, and went through a later Clarke phase because of it. Tales From The White Hart is my favorite. No, I can’t explain why I skipped 2001.)
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan (By the time you finish Sagan trying to do fiction, you will have counted each of the billions and billions of seconds of lost time.)
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman (See Neverwhere. The movie was better.)
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson (See Snow Crash. Stingray loves it, I still can’t stand Stephenson.)
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks (I was- am- quite heartily sick of dystopias and zombies alike, but when Stingray finally badgered me into this one I LOVED IT LOVED IT. One of the best things I’ve read in the last several years.)
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle (Another one I mean to read, someday.)
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett (If Pratchett wrote it, I’ve read it. I like this one in particular because I’ve heard atheists describe it to me as an anti-religion polemic and believers describe it to me as a powerful defense of faith.)
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Some. I like it well enough, but not enough to buckle down and devour the rest.)
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett (See Small Gods. Although why on earth Going Postal is in here but Hogfather or Reaper Man or Night Watch isn’t is a complete mystery to me.)
61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind (Described to me succintly as Conan the Libertarian. So far pass.)
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (Mean to, haven’t yet.)
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (No, but I’ve read a bunch of other Matheson.)
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard (I’m uncomfortable with quite that level of Walter Mitty.)
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger (Haven’t, mean to)
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne (Good grief did Verne like journeys.)
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore (I’m allergic to elves.)
74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi (A strong start and Scalzi’s only gotten better, IMO.)
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke (No, but I can’t see why on earth I didn’t in the aforementioned Clarke phase.)
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey (No, I mean to.)
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury (Bradbury at his most gloriously purple. I liked it anyway.)
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire (I think I need to try this one again. I think I was just young enough the point sailed over my head.)
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde (Not that it inspired me to read more of the series. Neat concept, dull execution.)
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson (Even Stingray gave up in defeat after the first ten percent inspired no “and then what happened”, but DID require homework.)
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher (Ehhhh pass. I don’t want to read Butcher taking himself seriously, thanks.)
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock (I was nowhere NEAR emo enough a teenager for Moorcock.)
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury (Bradbury is strongest at short fiction, if you ask me.)
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson (The first book is sitting on my bookshelf, never been gotten around to yet.)
96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
August 25th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
You sure you didn’t mean that Watership Down was hare-raising?
August 25th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Dear labRat,
what DO you like? I mean, seriously. you just trashed every single positive memory I have of adolescence.
August 25th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
“Stranger” was the first Heinlein you read? You really are a child. I discovered “Have Space Suit, will Travel”, and “Starship Troopers,” and “Red Planet” and “Space Patrol” and the rest, before I was out of Jr. high school, back in ’62 or ’63, I think it was. Permanently warped my mind they did, and I mean “warped” in a good way.
August 25th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Have Space Suit Will Travel rocked, damn, I’d forgotten that one. Starship Troopers was good too, though I didn’t care for alot of his other stuff.
August 25th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Starship Troopers, Door Into Summer, Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Double star, Tunnel in the Sky were all good Heinlein. Time Enough for Love was… something.
August 25th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
You might give Starship Troopers and The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress another shot; they’re different not only from Stranger, but from each other as well. Stay well away from The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, though; it’s basically Heinlein writing his own fanfic.
I think you’d either adore or despise Iain M. Banks. Excession should be pretty good if you’ve never met the Culture series before.
August 25th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Chad: aw hey, I did say I liked some of them!
Don’t mind me, I’m just opinionated as hell. But from adolescence my favorites were, let’s see… most of what Stephen King wrote minus the first Gunslinger and a few of his ones written while he was both relatively immature as a writer AND high out of his mind, To Kill A Mockingbird was a huge favorite, Phantom Tollbooth really never did get old, there was all that H.G. Wells, I really did love Ender’s Game even if I found I hated the sequels (I liked some of Card’s other standalones though- turns out he’s a pretty good horror writer), there was Laurell K. Hamilton before she went insane, I liked Richard Adams because he WAS a good horror writer and that was an early love…
…Douglas Adams I adored all around, I just liked Gently more than Hitchhiker and was disappointed in how the latter series ended…
And then there was a bunch of stuff I simply refuse to admit to. You won’t find it on anyone’s list of classics, though.
August 25th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Allow me, as someone who had _exactly_ the same reaction to the Ender so-called sequels, to reccomend the “Shadow” series to you. Card learned a _lot_ about writing novels between the first series of Ender books and his return to the same universe in Shadow. They’ll probably never be as iconic as Ender’s Game, but they are better.
Other than “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” (about which you’ll hear the same thing I’d say from plenty of other people you know better and trust more), I basically agree with everything else you’ve said. Yes, including preferring Dirk Gently to Hitchhiker’s Guide.
August 25th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
I agree with you on Tolkien I liked the Hobbit but I drifted off and didn’t finish the first book of lord of the rings.
Dirk Gently was great I should reread that one sometime
I didn’t find Enders Game until I was in my 30’s does that make me a not smart kid?
2001, I’ve fallen asleep to the movie at least three times, but the book was a good read, I finished it in about a week when I was in the 9th grade, mostly reading in class.
Cat’s Cradle is the only Vonnegut I’ve read I liked it but it didn’t drive me to go and find his other books.
August 26th, 2011 at 12:58 am
I think Labrat is a callow, ignorant kid, when it comes to SF. I write as someone who has just entered into his seventh decade on this-here planet.
August 26th, 2011 at 1:11 am
Oh, LabRat? Callow, ignorant kid that you are, I advise you to ignore me, all of the other commenters, the list of SF books, and just look out for the pups. I’m sure Zydeco will understand. (It might be advisable to pay some attention to StingRay)
August 26th, 2011 at 2:46 am
I’m with Stingray on the Neal Stephenson stuff. You need to knuckle down and try it out. Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon.
Although I’m a bit surprised to see Cryptonomicon included on a fantasy/sci-fi list. It IS one of the best books I’ve ever read.
August 26th, 2011 at 5:31 am
I don’t know if I’m surprised that you don’t know Canticle for Leibowitz
It is one of those books that’s been republished regularly since ~1960, but the author never published anything else in book form. I had a hard-to-describe reaction to it at the age of 12, and later rediscovered it and liked it.
I will say, though, that if you didn’t like Tolkien, you may not like the Canticle. So I don’t know if I would recommend it.
On the subject of Ender’s Game and its sequels, I had the same response. Somewhere in book two or three I gave up. Later, I discovered OSC’s other stuff. Some of it is good, some of it less so.
August 26th, 2011 at 6:07 am
Rendezvous With Rama: Don’t skip this because you feel a need to read all of the Rama books. Read just Rendezvous With Rama. The sequels are horsecrap.
August 26th, 2011 at 7:12 am
You really shouldn’t judge McCaffrey’s books by any recent behavior towards her fans. The Pern books (at least the first 4, plus the Harper series) are good stuff, IMHO. Similarly, don’t let one bad book turn you off an author completely. I think you’d appreciate Starship Troopers, despite the hideously bad movie adaptation and any ill feeling you harbor towards Heinlein. And not reading Asimov because some moron turned you off of it? Illogical. Make up your own mind, rather than letting someone do it for you.
August 26th, 2011 at 8:08 am
The kingkiller chronicles are currently two books in a series by this guy who’s work was pimped by, among others, the writer of schlock mercenary. Which is they they made it onto an internet poll. They’re pretty good fantasy, although given the majority of the story is told in flashback with the present day being quite doom and gloom one gets the feeling that the ending will either be everybody dies or some form of deus ex machina in which the solution to defeat the baddies appears out of thin air.
August 26th, 2011 at 8:21 am
LR,
“…why I’d want to read something is that it defined a genre, not because it’s fun…”
I am not a huge fan of cyberpunk-qua-cyberpunk. I like Gibson because he writes pretty and creates some very interesting characters. (And Neuromancer is a genuinely fun read. Moreso than anything else he’s written.)
August 26th, 2011 at 9:11 am
I’ll take callow ignorant kid over paranoid, racist, socially retarded, condescending serial bloviator any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
August 26th, 2011 at 9:25 am
You don’t HAVE to force yourself to read ANYTHING, ever.
If you want to see if you like Larry Niven, find one of his short story collections in a used book store. If you’re not in love with his writing by the third story, move on.
I agree, read Rendevous with Rama, skip the sequels. Clarke’s age is showing in them.
Heinlein: Stranger is one of his weirdest. Try Starship Troopers, but be prepared for a HEAVY dose of his political views. The movie had none of the good stuff from the book. Moon is a Harsh Mistress is also good.
And I feel for you on Lord of the Rings. It took me four tries to get through the first book. I know I’ll get tarred and feathered for this, but Jackson’s movies make the LotR actually enjoyable.
Read on!
August 26th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Overheard At Roseholme Cottage:
Me: “You haven’t read Contact? Oh, it was…”
RX: “I’ve seen the movie. Have no desire to read the book.”
Me: “That’s like saying that because you’ve seen Starship Troopers, that… well, actually the movie of Starship Troopers was closer to the book than the movie of Contact. I mean, at least they had bugs and spaceships in it…“”
August 26th, 2011 at 10:33 am
LabRat,
The Shadow series by Card is worth a look if you don’t find Peter or Bean abysmal. Agree completely with you on Heinlein. Dune, just the first one, there are no further Dune books just like there are only three Indiana Jones movies.
I think you’d really enjoy Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Also, how are you liking Bad Monkeys?
August 26th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Spear,
“…there are only three Indiana Jones movies.”
Really? What are the other two?
August 26th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
No Crusade?
You are dead to me now.
August 26th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Heh.
I suggest trying Zelazny’s Creatures of Light and Darkness.
( if nothing else, do not miss the Agnostics Prayer in the first few chapters )
The Amber series is a bit too cumbersome to jump into cold, IMO.
August 26th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Love the comments
August 26th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
I agree with most of your reactions (though of course not all) so my two cents… the vorkosigan series I think gets better and better as it goes- I started them in one of the more recent books and i’m glad of it, I think I would have stopped reading them too if I started at number one. “a civil campaign” is laugh out loud funny, and her main character has definitely grown up to less annoying! there is enough explaining to make it possible to jump in at a late point in the series without any annoying “recap everything that has ever happened”
I read the first kingkiller chronicle one, and enjoyed it enough that I will read the others, but the second one is at the bottom of my “to read” pile because I know the series still have one or two more books to come.
Pratchett is one of the few authors that get an automatic buy from me when there is a new book… most wait for libraries or gift cards
August 26th, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Sting, I was kidding, o ye of small sense of humor. Besides, looking at both of y’all from my age, y’all are indeed callow, ignorant kids.
RACISS! is an all-purpose meaningless insult, these days.
What’s wrong with being a socially retarded serial bloviator, at least on the internet?
How can I be paranoid when I am quite certain that dang near everyone doesn’t even know that I exist?
I’ll see you over at VDARE.com.
Yes, I am partial to people who resemble me.
August 26th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
When it comes to Niven and Pournelle - honestly, they were extremely good for each other. Niven tends to wander off to the next shiny thing, which is why his short stories are so good and his novels are tricky. Pournelle gets depressing (did you know that America is doomed/privileged to become an empire and it’s all the fault of welfare?). Put the two of them together and you end up with books that go on an even keel, have nice shiny things and hope, but also some degree of focus and a coherent plot.
August 26th, 2011 at 6:40 pm
LR,
“No Crusade?”
It didn’t suck, but I’ll forever consider it non-canon.
August 26th, 2011 at 7:28 pm
I couldn’t believe they put A Canticle for Leibowitz on that list- I read it a few years back, having been told how profound and breathtaking it was. It was a drip-fest with no there there, and it was only slightly more cerebral Zardoz. Only with no Sean Connery in a loin cloth.
August 27th, 2011 at 10:53 am
Hmmm. Not having a young Sean Connery running around in a red diaper and a Webley is a failing of many SF stories.
August 27th, 2011 at 11:44 am
OH MY GOD THE BELGARIAD IS ON THAT LAST. AND DRAGONFLIGHT. Though honestly, the Dragonriders of Pern series gets a little less good each consecutive time I read it. The Belgariad, as much as it loves using every single High Fantasy trope to man, is a really fun read because all of the characters are a combination of witty, likable, and genre-savvy (without being entirely self-referential and postmodern).
“(Assigned reading, seventh grade. I like basically every single other thing Bradbury has written more. See also, dystopias aren’t my cup of tea.)”
That’s funny, because from my experience, all of his stories take place in a dystopia (There Will Come Soft Rains, which is more of a “everyone has been nuked to death” dystopia) or ends in one (A Sound of Thunder). I love his short stories…
August 27th, 2011 at 11:47 am
Also, I read Ender’s Game, loved it. A very interesting character study. As for Heinlein, the only book of his that I’ve read all the way through has been Starship Troopers. I’ve read through most of Tunnel in the Sky and a little bit of Red Planet, and that’s pretty much it.
I had to read Slaughterhouse Five for my AP English class (after the teacher literally laughed at me for me asking if I could read Starship Troopers for the essay). It was…odd.
August 29th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
LabRat wrote:
Adams missed a calling as a horror writer.
Now there’s an interesting thought. I’d like to see a horror story from Adams. Alas, he’s 91, and unlikely to take up such a task.
In his autobiography, Adams writes that people identify either as the victim as the perpetrator; as a masochist or a sadist. He also says that the greatest evil is instilling in innocents the desire to inflict cruelty. There’s potential for a full-length horror story in those ideas.