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9/12/06 17:01![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
owlectomyI brought home my new Mac last night, reasoning that (a) we had to go to the mall anyway, and (b) the ten days after Christmas left too little time for buying furnishings and housewares, and (c) I really really really wanted one. The nice thing is that, because it has built-in wifi, I now have an extra internet-connected computer--since the other one's being used by Littlest Sister for her homework and college applications.
It has not changed my opinion about Macs, which is that:
-In terms of form and function, yes, the Mac OS is better than Windows. (I also note that their Japanese fonts are prettier.)
-In terms of security, yes, the Mac is better if you're dumb enough not to protect yourself against viruses and spyware, which I am not, so it doesn't really make a difference to me.
-This superiority nonwithstanding, I still think that XP was a perfectly decent operating system for my purposes, and the partisanship is kind of silly.
And now:
I don't have solid memories of lots of the classics of science fiction, because if I read them it was generally in 8th grade or 9th grade.
1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
I made it halfway through. Precisely halfway; I stopped after the first section of The Two Towers with Rohan and Aragorn and so on. I always had trouble adjusting to prose styles that I found sloggy and old-fashioned and unnecessarily descriptive, a fault I place entirely on me and not the writers.
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
I tried to read this three times out of a mistaken conviction that it was a Classic of Science Fiction and therefore I would grow into it. Never made it more than 40 pages.
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
Found it boring and confusing at 13; haven't tried it since.
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
Thought it was weird. Made it halfway through.
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Reading books in school always changes the dynamic; there were good bits and then there were bits I found dull and preachy. I liked the ideas contained therein but didn't necessarily want to read fiction expounding those ideas.
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
Never read.
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Never read; gave off an impression of self-congratulatory pagan revisionism.
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Adored with the heat of a thousand suns at thirteen; haven't reread for fear that it wouldn't hold up.
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
I read the first book, Shadow of the Torturer. Very nice prose style. Lots of big words. Would've read further, but I got distracted.
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Nope.
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
I've read and greatly enjoyed the scattered Ellison stories I've read --"A Boy and His Dog," "Jefty is Five," "'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman." But haven't read his collections, and won't.
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Nope.
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
I went through a phase where I read absolutely everything by McCaffrey. I don't remember why.
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
I really liked it, and liked the sequel even more. Shamefully, I must admit I still read his weekly non-political columns, because our tastes are surprisingly similar once you discount the "family-friendly" bias, but you wouldn't catch me dead reading his fiction.
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Stephen R. Donaldson
No.
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Began it when I was young and innocent. Something startled me very early on and I did not continue.
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
No.
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
Wouldn't have read it, but Littlest Sister had the books; they're popcorn, but not bad popcorn.
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Yes, yes, and yes. I am possibly the only person alive who genuinely loves "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish."
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Bought it. Will get to it any day now.
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
I really should.
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Okay, so I'm a little underread.
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Just loved it. Read it in high school when I was still prone to books changing my life.
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
I have read none of these.
1. George MacDonald, Phantastes, 1858
2. William Morris, The Well at the World’s End, 1896
3. E.R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, 1922
4. H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu, 1928
5. Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan, 1946
6. Robert E. Howard, Conan the Barbarian, 1950
7. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 1950s
What I said before about sloggy old-fashioned prose explains why I have read none of these.
8. C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, 1950
Read it at eight with affection; again much more recently, and it held up quite well. I got bored before The Last Battle, perhaps fortunately, though I was so uneducated with regards to Christianity that I mightn't have noticed any preaching.
10. T.H. White, The Once & Future King, 1958
Nope.
11. Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962
I have possibly never adored a book so much before or since, which is why I haven't reread it.
14. Alan Garner, Elidor, 1965
Struck me as far too terse and underwritten; no space for giving meaning to everything that was going on.
16. Peter Beagle, The Last Unicorn, 1968
One of those books I really really should read.
17. Fritz Leiber, Ill Met in Lankhmar, 1970
18. Roger Zelazny, Nine Princes in Amber, 1970
Nope.
19. Richard Adams, Watership Down, 1972
Yes. Fantastic worldbuilding.
20. Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising, 1973
Isn't it nice to read books when you're still young enough not to analyze their values?
21. William Goldman, The Princess Bride, 1973
Nope.
22. Patricia McKillip, The Riddle-Master of Hed, 1976
Loved it. Haven't got around to the sequels yet, despite the horrible cliffhanger ending.
23. Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsong, 1976
Can't remember whether I read this McCaffrey or not, though I didn't leave many holes in my McCaffrey-reading; possibly I've forgotten it, or possibly I avoided it because it was shelved in YA instead of adult.
24. Terry Brooks, The Sword of Shannara, 1977
25. Steven Donaldson, The (First) Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, 1977
26. Piers Anthony, A Spell for Chameleon, 1977
27. Walter Wangerin, The Book of the Dun Cow, 1978
28. Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun, 1980
29. John Crowley, Little, Big, 1981
30. Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon, 1982
31. David Eddings, The Belgariad, 1982
32. Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic, 1983
Nope.
33. Robert Holdstock, Mythago Wood, 1984
One of my acquirings at the county book sale, which means I'll get to it eventually.
34. Margarert Weis & Tracy Hickman, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, 1984
My only comment is that an ex-friend and I (ex for other reasons) once fought about whether Weis & Hickman or J.K. Rowling were better writers.
35. Orson Scott Card, Seventh Son, 1987
No.
36. Ellen Kushner, Swordspoint, 1987
No, but I gave it as a gift.
37. Mercedes Lackey, The Last Herald-Mage, 1990
Hmmm. I can't remember whether or not this was the Lackey I read, but aren't they all kind of the same? No, I think I must have read the first book of the Storm trilogy. Scared me off at thirteen, liked it just fine a few years later, but not well enough to read anything else by her.
38. Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana, 1990
No.
39. Tad Williams, Stone of Farewell, 1990
Yes, and I don't understand why Williams got hailed as a non-derivative, highly original fantasy writer, when all he does is use way too many metaphors and turn a few cliches around in a rather obvious way.
40. Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World, 1990
I started it. Little did I know how smart I was not to finish it.
41. Stephen King, The Waste Lands, 1991
42. Neil Gaiman, The Season of Mists, 1991
43. C.S. Friedman, Black Sun Rising, 1991
No.
44. Tim Powers, Last Call, 1992
Tim Powers is generally good, but no.
45. Philip Pullman, Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, 1995
I loved the big shiny ideas. I am the only person in the world to like the last book, but it had gay angels in it.
46. George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones, 1996
Started it.
48. Sean Stewart, Mockingbird, 1998
No.
49. China Mieville, Perdido Street Station, 2000
A fantastic book when you're severely jetlagged, in a new country, and awake at three a.m.
50. Susannah Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, 2004
Took me forever to get through it, but I'm so glad that I did.
It has not changed my opinion about Macs, which is that:
-In terms of form and function, yes, the Mac OS is better than Windows. (I also note that their Japanese fonts are prettier.)
-In terms of security, yes, the Mac is better if you're dumb enough not to protect yourself against viruses and spyware, which I am not, so it doesn't really make a difference to me.
-This superiority nonwithstanding, I still think that XP was a perfectly decent operating system for my purposes, and the partisanship is kind of silly.
And now:
I don't have solid memories of lots of the classics of science fiction, because if I read them it was generally in 8th grade or 9th grade.
1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
I made it halfway through. Precisely halfway; I stopped after the first section of The Two Towers with Rohan and Aragorn and so on. I always had trouble adjusting to prose styles that I found sloggy and old-fashioned and unnecessarily descriptive, a fault I place entirely on me and not the writers.
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
I tried to read this three times out of a mistaken conviction that it was a Classic of Science Fiction and therefore I would grow into it. Never made it more than 40 pages.
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
Found it boring and confusing at 13; haven't tried it since.
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
Thought it was weird. Made it halfway through.
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Reading books in school always changes the dynamic; there were good bits and then there were bits I found dull and preachy. I liked the ideas contained therein but didn't necessarily want to read fiction expounding those ideas.
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
Never read.
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Never read; gave off an impression of self-congratulatory pagan revisionism.
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Adored with the heat of a thousand suns at thirteen; haven't reread for fear that it wouldn't hold up.
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
I read the first book, Shadow of the Torturer. Very nice prose style. Lots of big words. Would've read further, but I got distracted.
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Nope.
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
I've read and greatly enjoyed the scattered Ellison stories I've read --"A Boy and His Dog," "Jefty is Five," "'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman." But haven't read his collections, and won't.
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Nope.
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
I went through a phase where I read absolutely everything by McCaffrey. I don't remember why.
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
I really liked it, and liked the sequel even more. Shamefully, I must admit I still read his weekly non-political columns, because our tastes are surprisingly similar once you discount the "family-friendly" bias, but you wouldn't catch me dead reading his fiction.
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Stephen R. Donaldson
No.
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Began it when I was young and innocent. Something startled me very early on and I did not continue.
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
No.
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
Wouldn't have read it, but Littlest Sister had the books; they're popcorn, but not bad popcorn.
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Yes, yes, and yes. I am possibly the only person alive who genuinely loves "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish."
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Bought it. Will get to it any day now.
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
I really should.
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Okay, so I'm a little underread.
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Just loved it. Read it in high school when I was still prone to books changing my life.
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
I have read none of these.
1. George MacDonald, Phantastes, 1858
2. William Morris, The Well at the World’s End, 1896
3. E.R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, 1922
4. H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu, 1928
5. Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan, 1946
6. Robert E. Howard, Conan the Barbarian, 1950
7. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, 1950s
What I said before about sloggy old-fashioned prose explains why I have read none of these.
8. C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, 1950
Read it at eight with affection; again much more recently, and it held up quite well. I got bored before The Last Battle, perhaps fortunately, though I was so uneducated with regards to Christianity that I mightn't have noticed any preaching.
10. T.H. White, The Once & Future King, 1958
Nope.
11. Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962
I have possibly never adored a book so much before or since, which is why I haven't reread it.
14. Alan Garner, Elidor, 1965
Struck me as far too terse and underwritten; no space for giving meaning to everything that was going on.
16. Peter Beagle, The Last Unicorn, 1968
One of those books I really really should read.
17. Fritz Leiber, Ill Met in Lankhmar, 1970
18. Roger Zelazny, Nine Princes in Amber, 1970
Nope.
19. Richard Adams, Watership Down, 1972
Yes. Fantastic worldbuilding.
20. Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising, 1973
Isn't it nice to read books when you're still young enough not to analyze their values?
21. William Goldman, The Princess Bride, 1973
Nope.
22. Patricia McKillip, The Riddle-Master of Hed, 1976
Loved it. Haven't got around to the sequels yet, despite the horrible cliffhanger ending.
23. Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsong, 1976
Can't remember whether I read this McCaffrey or not, though I didn't leave many holes in my McCaffrey-reading; possibly I've forgotten it, or possibly I avoided it because it was shelved in YA instead of adult.
24. Terry Brooks, The Sword of Shannara, 1977
25. Steven Donaldson, The (First) Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, 1977
26. Piers Anthony, A Spell for Chameleon, 1977
27. Walter Wangerin, The Book of the Dun Cow, 1978
28. Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun, 1980
29. John Crowley, Little, Big, 1981
30. Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon, 1982
31. David Eddings, The Belgariad, 1982
32. Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic, 1983
Nope.
33. Robert Holdstock, Mythago Wood, 1984
One of my acquirings at the county book sale, which means I'll get to it eventually.
34. Margarert Weis & Tracy Hickman, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, 1984
My only comment is that an ex-friend and I (ex for other reasons) once fought about whether Weis & Hickman or J.K. Rowling were better writers.
35. Orson Scott Card, Seventh Son, 1987
No.
36. Ellen Kushner, Swordspoint, 1987
No, but I gave it as a gift.
37. Mercedes Lackey, The Last Herald-Mage, 1990
Hmmm. I can't remember whether or not this was the Lackey I read, but aren't they all kind of the same? No, I think I must have read the first book of the Storm trilogy. Scared me off at thirteen, liked it just fine a few years later, but not well enough to read anything else by her.
38. Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana, 1990
No.
39. Tad Williams, Stone of Farewell, 1990
Yes, and I don't understand why Williams got hailed as a non-derivative, highly original fantasy writer, when all he does is use way too many metaphors and turn a few cliches around in a rather obvious way.
40. Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World, 1990
I started it. Little did I know how smart I was not to finish it.
41. Stephen King, The Waste Lands, 1991
42. Neil Gaiman, The Season of Mists, 1991
43. C.S. Friedman, Black Sun Rising, 1991
No.
44. Tim Powers, Last Call, 1992
Tim Powers is generally good, but no.
45. Philip Pullman, Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, 1995
I loved the big shiny ideas. I am the only person in the world to like the last book, but it had gay angels in it.
46. George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones, 1996
Started it.
48. Sean Stewart, Mockingbird, 1998
No.
49. China Mieville, Perdido Street Station, 2000
A fantastic book when you're severely jetlagged, in a new country, and awake at three a.m.
50. Susannah Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, 2004
Took me forever to get through it, but I'm so glad that I did.