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geeky muscle-flex
Thursday, 16 November 2006 09:03 amOoooh, SF memes. My favourite sort. Thanks, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
khoi_boi and herne_kzn.
This is apparently Time's selection of the most significant SF novels between 1953 and 2006. It's an interesting list in that they have chosen to identify significance rather than (necessarily) quality: there are some great works here, but Sword of Shannarra, for example, is a horrible piece of imitative tripe despite being madly influential in its shameless, ground-breaking demonstration of the possibility of simply ripping Tolkien off wholesale. On this rests a whole pulp industry. Yup, influential. The choice of period is also interesting - this kind of list seems odd without Frankenstein, Brave New World and 1984.
I am somewhat embarrassed, given that I'm supposed to teach this stuff, how many of them I haven't read. I've not started reading any of these and given up (hence no italics), but, disclaimer: some of them I read a long time ago and I'd be hard-pressed to say anything meaningful about their content. I think I read Rendezvous with Rama when I was in my first couple of years of high school. Plan for the weekend: dig several of these out of the EL's collection and brush up my sf cred a tad.
Bold means I've read it, strike-through I disliked it, star means I love it.
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 Trooper, 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 am, incidentally, doing this on dial-up. After some connectivity improvement for a couple of days post adware removal, the Iburst had a monumental hissy fit this morning and refuses to connect on either my or the Evil Landlord's computer. I spit. Maybewolverine_nun's super-husband will beat it into submission this evening. Sigh. If not, I'm seriously considering going behind the EL's back and installing ADSL.
khoi_boi and herne_kzn.This is apparently Time's selection of the most significant SF novels between 1953 and 2006. It's an interesting list in that they have chosen to identify significance rather than (necessarily) quality: there are some great works here, but Sword of Shannarra, for example, is a horrible piece of imitative tripe despite being madly influential in its shameless, ground-breaking demonstration of the possibility of simply ripping Tolkien off wholesale. On this rests a whole pulp industry. Yup, influential. The choice of period is also interesting - this kind of list seems odd without Frankenstein, Brave New World and 1984.
I am somewhat embarrassed, given that I'm supposed to teach this stuff, how many of them I haven't read. I've not started reading any of these and given up (hence no italics), but, disclaimer: some of them I read a long time ago and I'd be hard-pressed to say anything meaningful about their content. I think I read Rendezvous with Rama when I was in my first couple of years of high school. Plan for the weekend: dig several of these out of the EL's collection and brush up my sf cred a tad.
Bold means I've read it, strike-through I disliked it, star means I love it.
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*
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
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
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
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
I am, incidentally, doing this on dial-up. After some connectivity improvement for a couple of days post adware removal, the Iburst had a monumental hissy fit this morning and refuses to connect on either my or the Evil Landlord's computer. I spit. Maybe
wolverine_nun's super-husband will beat it into submission this evening. Sigh. If not, I'm seriously considering going behind the EL's back and installing ADSL.
