I sensed a challenge, and accepted.
As with the usual protocol with memes of this kind, titles in bold are books I've read, titles in italics are books I own but haven't read yet, and books
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus MARY SHELLEY 1818
Journey to the Centre of the Earth JULES VERNE 1863
(though I read both of the above so long ago that I've essentially forgotten them, and I probably read abridged editions for kids in the first place)
After London RICHARD JEFFRIES 1885
The Time Machine HG WELLS 1895
The House on the Borderland WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON 1912
We YEVGENY ZAMIATIN 1924
Brave New World ALDOUS HUXLEY 1932
Star Maker OLAF STAPLEDON 1937
1984 GEORGE ORWELL 1949
I, Robot, ISAAC ASIMOV 1950
The Martian Chronicles RAY BRADBURY 1950
The Dying Earth JACK VANCE 1950
Childhood’s End ARTHUR C CLARKE 1953
The Space Merchants CM KORNBLUTH & FREDERIK POHL 1953
Tiger! Tiger! ALFRED BESTER 1956
The Death of Grass JOHN CHRISTOPHER 1956
The Seedling Stars JAMES BLISH 1957
The Midwich Cuckoos JOHN WYNDHAM 1957
Starship Troopers ROBERT A HEINLEIN 1959
A Canticle for Liebowitz WALTER M MILLER JR 1959
Solaris STANSLAW LEM 1961
Hothouse BRIAN ALDISS 1962
A Clockwork Orange ANTONY BURGESS 1962
Cat’s Cradle KURT VONNEGUT JR 1963
Martian Time-Slip PHILIP K DICK 1964
Dune FRANK HERBERT 1965
The Crystal World JG BALLARD 1966
Flowers For Algernon DANIEL KEYES 1966
Lord of Light ROGER ZELAZNY 1967
Nova SAMUEL R DELANY 1968
Pavane KEITH ROBERTS 1968
The Left Hand of Darkness URSULA K LE GUIN 1969
Roadside Picnic ARKADY AND BORIS STRUGATSKI 1969
334 THOMAS M DISCH 1972
Dying Inside ROBERT SILVERBERG 1972
The Fifth Head of Cerberus GENE WOLFE 1972
Ten Thousand Light Years From Home JAMES TIPTREE JR 1973
(I've read many Tiptree stories, but not this collection as a book itself.)
The Forever War JOE HALDEMAN 1974
Inverted World CHRISTOPHER PRIEST 1974
The Female Man JOANNA RUSS 1975
Arslan MJ ENGH 1976
The Ophiuchi Hotline JOHN VARLEY 1977
The Final Programme MICHAEL MOORCOCK 1968
Kindred OCTAVIA BUTLER 1979
Engine Summer JOHN CROWLEY 1979
Timescape GREGORY BENFORD 1980
Neuromancer WILLIAM GIBSON 1984
Divine Endurance GWYNETH JONES 1984
As it turned out, I didn't need to strikethrough anything -- though that's possibly because the books I would have objected to most strenuously are the ones I haven't read in the first place.
I've read three-quarters of the books on the list, and know of all of the others -- some are books I intend to read, one day, and others will likely only get my attention if I'm stranded on a desert island with them and nothing else. But that's the way it always goes. It's a good list, all in all.
1 comment:
An interesting and (of course) quirky list. Americans taking this as a reading list should note that Tiger! Tiger! is also known as The Stars My Destination, and The Death of Grass as No Blade of Grass.
Kindred is my favorite novel that I've never read, as my wife kept me enthralled with detailed daily updates as she read it.
My favorites of the ones you haven't read yet would probably be The Left Hand of Darkness and 334.
Often I was pleased with McCauley's choice for a writer's best work -- Dying Inside is my favorite Silverberg, and while I don't know what Ballard's best book might be, The Crystal World probably is my favorite.
On the other hand, if I were to reread a Wyndham, it would probably be The Day of the Triffids. And is Starship Troopers really Heinlein's best book?
Ten Thousand Light-Years From Home was Tiptree's first collection, and certainly not her best. Most of the stories in it have seldom if at all been reprinted, though, and I'm rereading them for the first time in many years while preparing a new edition, and I'm having fun rediscovering them.
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