Posted on 08/01/2015 1:29:27 PM PDT by EveningStar
Science fiction and fantasy offer a rich legacy of great books--but that abundant pile of reading material can also be daunting. So sometimes, it's easier to fake it. We asked some of our favorite writers, and they told us the 10 books that everyone pretends to have read. And why you should actually read them.
From Asimov to Pynchon, science fiction contains some fantastic, ambitious works of genre fiction. But a lot of us get overwhelmed. And it's not that hard to fake a first-hand knowledge of these books, because they're everywhere, and we've heard people talk about them so many times. We SF fans are good at pretending. But these books are classics for a reason -- and they're worth reading.
(Excerpt) Read more at io9.com ...
Dune
Foundation Trilogy+
1984
A Canticle for Lebowitz.
The Martian Chronicles
On The Beach
Atlas Shrugged
I, Robot (collection)
Enders Game (half way - thought it was boring)
Brave New World
Alas Babylon
Have you read the rest of the "Alex Benedict" series?
A Talent For War
Polaris
Seeker
The Devil's Eye
Echo
Firebird
Coming Home
One of the things about the Thomas Covenant series that makes it hard to get through for me was that the main character is a leper. The character has some really serious problems, and he cocks things up repeatedly.
Not sure I like what he is doing with the series lately but the first books were pure delight.
Maybe a little...
Look up Castalia House (Vox Day).
John C. Wright is very good.
For non-Christian stuff, Keith Laumer's Retief short stories and novels, and of course, Poul Andersons Polyseotechnic civilization saga (Nicholas van Rijn), and the Dominic Flanders novels.
No Starship Troopers?
Gene Wolfe is a Christian??
Oh, and for Fantasy -- Stephen Lawhead did a great series on the Arthurian legend...and a couple of quasi-historical novels on St. Patrick, and on Robin Hood.
Go Google "Minnesotans for Global Warming" ;-)
Bkmk
Neal Stephenson is one of the best modern authors. For those who want to stay out of the deep end of SF, read Snow Crash or Reamed. FReepers will especially like Reamed—a novel set in the northwest with backwoods prepper protagonists.
Awesome book!
I read a compendium of Philip K. Dick short stories as a teen. Loved it!
I think people on this thread would love it. I also think film making has reached the point where it could be done justice to.
Read Dune. Liked it. Barely made it through the 1st sequel and got only part of the way through the second
Foundation trilogy. Read it multiple times. Enjoyed immensely but could not say the same for the decades lapsed sequels. Asimov had lost his edge.
1984.....quite the dystopian drama. Fits right in with the current regime
Have never heard the of the others.
Dune, the other two of the trilogy, the prequels written by Herbert's son: I found the first book and the prequels better reading than the second and third books of the trilogy.
The prequels are great books in their own right, imho.
Gravity's Rainbow: Read it, too, but it took a couple of tries to get into it.
Foundation: great read.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: Haven't read it. It has been turned into a series on BBC America.
1984: read it a few times, along with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited. Still worth reading, still relevant, even if the technology has changed or become commonplace in discussion, if not practice.
First and Last Men and Starmaker: Haven't read either.
The Long Tomorrow: Never read it, but would like to.
Dhalgren: Read part of it and did not finish--a rarity for me, but in that case I became separated from the copy I had been reading for a while and never picked it back up.
Infinite Jest: Nope, didn't read that one either.
Great story, lost my copy in a fire.
I liked The Stand, too.
I have read Illusions a few times. Every time I get a copy, it seems I give it away to someone who needs to read it.
Just for fun, I’d throw in 1632 by Eric Flint. (Ring of Fire)
hehe I know what you mean. I found a hard back copy a few years ago that I keep, I’ve given away a half dozen paperback copies...
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