Genre Book List

[packbat]

Saw this "genre fiction" (how I hate that term!) book list on hmmm_tea's journal - made a few inconsequential alterations to the rules myself...

1) Look at the list, copy and paste it into your own journal.
2) Marks: read one or all of, intend to read (or reread, or finish), loved, hated.
3) Feel free to elaborate wherever you like, whether on the books, the rules, or the list itself.

In no particular order:

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien (I'm not counting "had it read to me as a child".)
2. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (...but I am counting "read as a child".)
3. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Foundation series, Isaac Asimov (I actually own this, but I'm not exactly on a Asimov kick right now.)
5. Robot series, Isaac Asimov ("I, Robot", most thereof.)
6. Dune, Frank Herbert (I know everyone recommends it, but having seen the movie I can't say I'm that interested. Sounds too prophecy-ee.)
7. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
8. Earthsea series, Ursula le Guin (first book so far - #2 is impossible to find.)
9. Neuromancer, William Gibson (Surrendering to peer pressure here. Not that I know anyone who recommended it, but still - peer pressure.)
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham (And "The Midwich Cuckoos" - liked that better, actually.)
12. A Book of the New Sun series, Gene Wolfe (...never heard of this! Does that justify italicizing it?)
13. Discworld series, Terry Pratchett (I just know I'll get killed for not underlining this one...)
14. Sandman series, Neil Gaiman
15. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (Read the radio series scripts, so technically I can't bold this...)
16. Dragonriders of Pern series, Anne McAffery
17. Interview with the Vampire series, Anne Rice (Ugh - no interest whatsoever.)
18. The Shining, Stephen King (Saw the movie, lost interest in the book when King called a 100-watt bulb dim. The disbelief, it could not be suspended.)
19. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula le Guin (Used to be underlined - may be underlined again.)
20. The Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny (Had some of it read to me. It tanked after wossname got cured in Book 1.)
21. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke (Got burned way too bad on the movie to want to see this any time soon.)
22. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
23. Ringworld, Larry Niven (I think I have this somewhere...)
24. Elric of Melnibone series, Michael Moorcock (Also never heard of ... but if I try to italicize everything where I like the title, half the list will be in italics. Never mind.)
25. The Dying Earth series, Jack Vance
26. Lyonesse series, Jack Vance
27. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
28. A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R.R. Martin (Read book one. "Sound and fury", it was.)
29. The Worm Ourobouros, E.R. Eddison
30. Conan series, Robert E. Howard
31. Lankhmar series, Fritz Leiber
32. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
33. The Time Machine, H.G. Wells (A fine piece of writing! I recommend his short stories, too - also the 2001 mini-series "The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells".)
34. The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells
35. The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells
36. Eon, Greg Bear (I was not impressed. So not impressed, in fact, that it spilled over onto Arthur C. Clarke, whom I have never actually read. Go me!)
37. Book of the First Law series, Joe Abercrombie
38. Miss Marple stories, Agatha Christie (I'm sure I read one at some point.)
39. Hercule Poirot stories, Agatha Christie (Likewise.)
40. Lord Peter Wimsey stories, Dorothy L. Sayers (Highly recommended.)
41. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett (Saw the movie. Also, read "The Thin Man", loved that.)
42. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan (Saw the movie - didn't know there was a book.)
43. Sherlock Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Rubbish, but fun.)
44. Cthulhu Mythos, H.P. Lovecraft ("The Shadow Over Innsmouth" - read it in TSAT a few years ago. Don't regret it, but also don't have interest in the rest of the series.)
45. Inspector Wexford stories, Ruth Rendell
46. Adam Dalgliesh stories, P.D. James
47. Philip Marlowe stories, Raymond Chandler ("The Big Sleep", especially - I thought the conclusion of "The Long Goodbye" dragged out a bit.)
48. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
49. The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
50. The Fourth Protocol, Frederick Forsyth
51. Smiley series, John le Carré (I'm sure "The Spy Who Came In from the Cold" doesn't count.)
52. Gentleman Bastard series, Scott Lynch
53. The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson
54. Watchmen series, Alan Moore
55. Maus, Art Spiegelman (May lose its underline someday, but I enjoyed it when I read it.)
56. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Alan Miller
57. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
58. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling (Got bored before they even reached Hogwarts. Some of the fanfic is good, though.)
59. Chrestomanci series, Diana Wynne-Jones
60. Ryhope Wood series, Robert Holdstock
61. Wilt series, Tom Sharpe
62. Riftwar Cycle, Raymond E. Feist
63. Temeraire series, Naomi Novik
64. Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
65. His Dark Materials series, Phillip Pullman (Read book one. Eh.)
66. Dragonlance series, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
67. Twilight saga, Stephanie Meyer (No offense, but so not interested.)
68. The Night's Dawn trilogy, Peter F. Hamilton
69. Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer
70. Honor Harrington series, David Weber (Bought and read the first ten books - underline/italics applies to Books 1 and 2, and maybe 3. If you happen to have stuck it out through Book 5, I'd recommend going on to 6, which may even be better than 3, but I wouldn't bother with the rest of the series.)
71. Hannibal Lecter series, Thomas Harris
72. The Dark Tower series, Stephen King
73. It, Stephen King
74. The Rats series, James Herbert
75. Dirk Gently series, Douglas Adams (Only the first - didn't like the ending.)
76. Jeeves and Wooster stories, P.G. Wodehouse (Had a couple read to me, I think...)
77. The da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
78. The Culture Series, Iain M. Banks
79. The Duncton series, William Horwood
80. The Illuminatus! trilogy, Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
81. The Aberystwyth series, Malcom Pryce
82. Morse stories, Colin Dexter
83. Navajo Tribal Police stories, Tony Hillerman
84. The Ipcress File, Len Deighton
85. Enigma, Robert Harris
86. Fatherland, Robert Harris
87. The Constant Gardener, John le Carre
88. The House of Cards trilogy, Michael Dobbs
89. The Dark is Rising saga, Susan Cooper
90. Psychotechnic League and Polesotechnic League series, Poul Anderson
91. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton
92. Star Wars: Thrawn trilogy, Timothy Zahn
93. Ender's Game series, Orson Scott Card ("Enders Game" and "Ender's Shadow" - plan to check out at least "Speaker for the Dead" eventually.)
94. Gormenghast series, Meryvn Peake
95. Miles Vorkosigan saga, Lois McMaster Bujold (Yes, I am curious.)
96. The Once and Future King, T.H. White (Underline not so much for enjoyment as for being what defined the Arthurian legend for me.)
97. Fighting Fantasy books, Ian Livingston & Steve Jackson
98. The Stainless Steel Rat series, Harry Harrison (Read some book in the middle of the series, once.)
99. The Lensman series, E.E. 'Doc' Smith (Never finished a book - enjoyed the animated movie, though.)
100. The Cadfael stories, Ellis Peters

Obvious lacunae - Richard Adams (at least "Watership Down", and I'd add "Shardik"), Hal Clement ("Needle", "Mission of Gravity", but probably not "Still River", however much I love that book), Vernor freakin' Vinge ("A Fire Upon the Deep", I haven't read "A Deepness in the Sky", "True Names"), Edgar Allan Poe (anything, for cripe's sake), Bruce Sterling ("Islands in the Net", for one), Bram Stoker ("Dracula")...

Comments

[bourgeoisify.livejournal.com]

Long Dark Teatime of the Soul was a book I couldn't get through because I hated Kate Schechter.

Awww, shame, I loved the His Dark Materials series. It makes my agnostic heart sing!

Maus is often built up to be something it isn't, but I really enjoyed it.

I really hated LOTR. I could not get through the first twenty pages. It was so boring.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

LDTotS: Was she the cellist girlfriend? I don't recall her being interesting.

His Dark Materials: I might read other books later, but I usually like standalone novels.

Maus: I can imagine - very few books can withstand that kind of hype.

LOTR: Hmm ... actually, I think I petered out somewhere around that far in when I was trying to "re"read it...

[bourgeoisify.livejournal.com]

She was the person who wanted to have pizza delivered to her door instead of having to pick it up at the place. Transplanted from NYC to England. Was hospitalized after a man exploded in an airport. She was nowhere near as awesome as Trillian, which is a shame.

There are editions with all three packed into one. A stage play was made (I would have loved to have seen it -- apparently, it stuck more closely with the book than the movie did, though I did like the movie!) that encompassed two books in one part and the last in the next. I didn't like the Amber Spyglass as much as I liked the other two, but it was a nice resolution. Okay, rant over; you should at least try reading those books.

Couldn't agree more. I'm afraid to read Persepolis for the same reason; people tell me it's so great and I don't want it to be a letdown.

There's something a lot more enchanting about being read those types of stories than reading them yourself. If your storyteller is particularly expressive, it's especially good.

[packbat.livejournal.com]

1. Ah, okay. (Trillian was seriously awesome, I must agree.)

2. Hm! I might pick it up if I see it.

3. You're right on there; I honestly think "Maus" is better than "Persepolis". The latter an autobiography of a moderately interesting person, competently executed, and worth reading as a way to broaden one's horizons - I would hesitate to praise it any further.

4. ...I wonder how it would be as book on tape.