July 04, 2008
Sci-Fi Reads.
Tags: books, reading, scifiHot on the literary heels of my list of books that kinda-sorta changed my life (or not), here’s a list of 32 must-read Sci Fi books. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve only read one more than a handful of them, and there’s a few that people would gasp to learn I haven’t read: Animal Farm, Slaughterhouse 5, any Gibson.
I’m puzzled by the inclusion of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. I think Cory Doctorow is a plenty talented writer, but I struggled to get in to this book and never finished it. I suspect the attempt to get Boing Boinged may have had something to do with it.
Unlike my previous list, I’m not going to try to make my own, as I don’t think my Sci Fi reading history is up to the task. I’ll leave that to the Heron.
However, the writer includes a list of several more books at the bottom and I probably would have elevated A Canticle for Liebowitz but I’m also puzzled by the inclusion of Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. There seems to be a groundswell of support for this book, and while I found it entertaining and workmanly written, it was also a rehash of Starship Troopers and virtually every army movie ever made, plus Gomer Pyle. The fact that there is a twist, that all the soldiers are genetically modified old people, does not a classic make.
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I love it! Your list is sweet. Yours are also some of my very favorites. Animal Farm (my Dad MADE ME read this when I was young, I read it again recently); 1984, Fahrenheit , Timeline (yes! a total sleeper and classic imo!) , Atlas Shrugged (argh you are a masochist–I had to write a paper on this in an attempt to win a scholarship back in college days and of course I did NOT win).
I am going to read some of your other suggestions.
Also, check out Airframe by MC also. Another terrific sleeper.
J
July 07, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
Oops, I see that was not your list.. but hey it’s a great list! Although I agree Atlas is NOT a sci fi book. Again it is a masochist’s cookbook
July 07, 2008 @ 5:04 pm