Tuesday, March 13, 2007

another meme - book related

So there's this "List of 100 Books" meme going around.. tried it out, but omg 100 books?? and who on earth chose the dang things anyway?? Figured I'd only publish such a meme if it was a bit more specific. Then I saw Ranten N Raven's post, of a similar nature, but surprise surprise it's "... a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club."

Of course, I'm already at a disadvantage because for some reason, I love reading fantasy books but NOT sci-fi [conversely, I enjoy[ed] sci-fi movies better than fantasy ones for the longest time - up until recently when CGI could finally do justice to the imagination, anyway!]. A cursory glance at the list already indicates I'm gonna come out of this meme seeming like I'm not well-read, but what the heck, at least I have another list to refer to when I get out of my non-reading mood and start seriously looking at those books on the library shelves again!

Anyways... so here goes...

ANOTHER BOOK MEME: Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk * beside the ones you loved.
  1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien [I tried. TWICE! Gave up and watched the movies instead!]
  2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
  3. Dune, Frank Herbert [I was pleasantly surprised at how good this book is - finally read it after a lot of cajoling by Kosh...]
  4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein [does having heard about 75% of it in book-on-tape format count? i will be picking up the book at some point in the future]
  5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
  6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
  7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
  8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
  9. ***** The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley [only one of my most favouritest books EVAH!]
  10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury [again - book-on-tape, abridged version though! I will be picking up the book at some point in the future]
  11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
  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 [Just have never been attracted to his Discworld world...]
  17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
  18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
  19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
  20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
  21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
  22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
  23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson [on my to-read list, not that I know much about it...]
  24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
  25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
  26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling [my fave is still Book #5]
  27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams [this was fun. but book 2 just didn't "resonate" so didn't bother with the rest of the series]
  28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
  29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice [I'll probably pick this up one day]
  30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
  31. Little, Big, John Crowley
  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 [the thought of reading anything by this verbose author fills me with dread, LoL!]
  42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
  43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
  44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
  45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
  46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein [The movie was horrible!]
  47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
  48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
  49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
  50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

And there you have it... a very lacklustre performance this time around... and frankly there are so many I've never ever heard of! Then again, I'm sure there are many titles I think *should* appear in this list, if only I felt like thinking, LoL!

Anyways, anyone wanna tag themselves, knock yourselves out - just leave me a line/link in the comments so i can see how you responded, k?

and on to other news: Okay, I'm not sleepy but it's past 230am?! time to fake some sleep, I guess!

Ciao!

4 comments:

  1. Ooh a scifi version. I'll have to snag this one myself.

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  2. I have seen the similiar memes you mentioned and stayed away from them because I would not even make a dent on this list! ;)

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  3. I could never read Tolkien either...

    But yes, you should read Fahrenheit 451. It's one of my favorite books to gift. Maybe I should gift it to you?

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  4. Karl> kewl, looking fwd to seeing how you fare [you did better than me on the 100-item list, fyi]

    Kim> yeah, exactly... and I read LOTS of books! But hey, whoever who originates the meme gets to choose the items on the list, I suppose..

    Darius> awww that's sweet! but F451 *and* stranger in a strange land are both easily available on a shelf here in the apartment... they just have not called out to me yet, heehehe! But thanx for the offer, I appreciate it :-)

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I'd love to hear from you, drop me a comment.

about two months later...

 ... hi again. This return to blogging is really not working out, is it? Actually, I am writing, three pages of mind vomit and affirmations ...