SCI-FI AND FANTASY MUST READS
I was asked by a friend to compile a list of the essential texts in sci-fi and fantasy and this was the very personal list I came up with, one that includes a chunk of fairy tales and mythology since so much of the genre springs from that same well.
1. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
2. Watership Down by Richard Adams
3. The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson (any edition that looks like it's for adults and not kids)
4. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov (He kept adding to the Foundation series, but read the definitive trilogy first and then wait a while before reading more if you want)
5. I. Robot by Isaac Asimov
6. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
7. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
8. Peter Pan by JM Barrie (the full novel, obviously, not some picture book or abridged version)
9. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (learn Spanish first or, if you must, read it translated into English)
10. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
11. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
12. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
13. Tarzan Of The Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
14. Arabian NIghts: The Marvels and Wonders Of The Thousand and One Nights by Richard Burton and edited by Jack Zipes (two volumes)
15. The Complete Cosmic Comics by Italo Calvino
16. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (the only one worth reading of his)
17. Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
18. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
19. Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
20. The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland
21. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
22. The First Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson (Lord Foul's Bane; The Illearth War; and The Power That Preserves)
23. Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
24. To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
25. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
26. Neuromancer by William Gibson
27. The Bible by God (Cheeky of me, no? But whether you're a believer or an atheist, you really must read the Bible at least once or you'll miss way too many references and allusions in the arts. So which versions should you read? There are hundreds if not thousands of translations of all or parts of the Bible in countless languages. In English, the King James Version in general; Thomas Jefferson's Bible for his take on the Gospels; the Five Books of Moses by Everett Fox; any translations by Stephen Mitchell, who has done Proverbs, the Book Of Job, his own Gospel According To Jesus and so on. And yes, you can skip the begats)
28. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
29. The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales edited by Jack Zipes
30. The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
32. Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
33. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
34. Dune by Frank Herbert (really it's the only one you need to read)
35. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
36. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
37. Just-So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
38. King Matt The First by Januzs Korzcak
39. The Blue Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang
40. The Red Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang
41. Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
42. Le Morte d'Artur by Sir Thomas Malory
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Song Of Ice And Fire by George RR Martin
45. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (original trilogy: Dragonflight, Dragon Quest, The White Dragon)
46. Martin Dressler: The Story Of An American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser
47. We Others: New and Selected Stories by Steven Millhauser
48. A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
49. Winnie The Pooh by AA MIlne
50. The House At Pooh Corner by AA Milne
51. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
52. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
53. Ringworld by Larry Niven
54. Animal Farm by George Orwell
55. 1984 by George Orwell
56. The Gormenghast Novels by Mervyn Peake
57. The Complete Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe
58. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullmam
59. The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars)
60. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
61. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
62. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
63. Abel's Island by William Steig
64. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
65. Dracula by Bram Stoker
66. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
67. The Lord Of The Rings by JRR Tolkien
68. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne
No comments:
Post a Comment