As usual, I'm asking advice from my collective readership as to what I should read next year. You should be able to participate in this poll with Twitter, Dreamwidth, Facebook or maybe even Google logins. Make the most of it - I have a feeling that this may be the last time I do this, with the decline of LJ and as my unread books become increasingly obscure.
Your advice is much appreciated, and particular recommendations (of books on the lists below) are very welcome in comments. I got most of the way through last year's recommendations.
NB that the questions for each set of books are slightly different. The first and third polls exclude books on my shelves by white men bought more than a year ago; I'll get to all of them eventually, I hope!
Your advice is much appreciated, and particular recommendations (of books on the lists below) are very welcome in comments. I got most of the way through last year's recommendations.
NB that the questions for each set of books are slightly different. The first and third polls exclude books on my shelves by white men bought more than a year ago; I'll get to all of them eventually, I hope!
Which of these 72 SF books have you read?
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
30(9.7%)
The Past Through Tomorrow by Robert A. Heinlein
20(6.5%)
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
17(5.5%)
Vurt by Jeff Noon
20(6.5%)
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
15(4.9%)
Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams
11(3.6%)
Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock
11(3.6%)
Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
7(2.3%)
The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock
21(6.8%)
The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester
3(1.0%)
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
9(2.9%)
Synners by Pat Cadigan
12(3.9%)
The Fall of Arthur by J. R. R. Tolkien
2(0.6%)
Dragonworld by Byron Preiss
1(0.3%)
Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime 1 by Paul Preuss
0(0.0%)
The Anything Box by Zenna Henderson
8(2.6%)
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
23(7.5%)
Roger Zelazny's The Dawn of Amber by John Gregory Betancourt
2(0.6%)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling
10(3.2%)
Wild Life by Molly Gloss
5(1.6%)
Ginger Star by Leigh Brackett
2(0.6%)
Perilous Dreams by Andre Norton
3(1.0%)
Fools by Pat Cadigan
7(2.3%)
Earth Girl by Janet Edwards
2(0.6%)
Roger Zelazny's Chaos and Amber by John Gregory Betancourt
0(0.0%)
The Harem Of Aman Akbar by Elizabeth Scarborough
4(1.3%)
The Space Machine by Christopher Priest
6(1.9%)
The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog by Doris Lessing
0(0.0%)
Roger Zelazny's To Rule in Amber by John Gregory Betancourt
0(0.0%)
Bitter Angels by C. L. Anderson
3(1.0%)
Jerusalem by Alan Moore
2(0.6%)
At The Edge Of The World by Lord Dunsany
7(2.3%)
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
3(1.0%)
Fugue for a Darkening Island by Christopher Priest
4(1.3%)
A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason
8(2.6%)
Wild Cards: Deuces Down by John Miller
0(0.0%)
Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
1(0.3%)
Roger Zelany's Shadows of Amber by John Gregory Betancourt
0(0.0%)
Beast Master's Planet: A Beast Master Omnibus by Andre Norton
2(0.6%)
Avalanche Soldier by Susan Matthews
0(0.0%)
World's Fair 1992 by Robert Silverberg
0(0.0%)
The Autumnlands, Vol. 1: Tooth and Claw by Kurt Busiek
1(0.3%)
Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen
1(0.3%)
Mostly Void, Partially Stars by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
0(0.0%)
Halo: The Thursday War by Karen Traviss
0(0.0%)
Science Fiction: The Great Years ed. Carol Pohl
0(0.0%)
Death Draws Five by John J. Miller
0(0.0%)
Spirit: The Princess of Bois Dormant by Gwyneth Jones
4(1.3%)
Gateways ed. Elizabeth Anne Hull
1(0.3%)
The Second 'If' Reader ed. Frederik Pohl
3(1.0%)
Great Glowing Coils of the Universe by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
1(0.3%)
Queen of the States by Josephine Saxton
2(0.6%)
The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women ed. Alex Dally MacFarlane
1(0.3%)
The Race by Nina Allan
6(1.9%)
Aurora: Beyond Equality by Vonda N. and Anderson McIntyre, Susan Janice
0(0.0%)
Collision Course / The Nemesis from Terra by Leigh Brackett
0(0.0%)
The Shape Of Sex To Come by Edited By Douglas Hill
2(0.6%)
The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia by Mary M Talbot and Bryan Talbot
0(0.0%)
Peculiar Lives by Philip Purser-Hallard
1(0.3%)
HWJN by Ibraheem Abbas
0(0.0%)
Creation Machine by Andrew Bannister
0(0.0%)
Galactic Girl by Fiona Richmond
0(0.0%)
Tomes of the Dead Series: Anno Mortis by Rebecca Levene
0(0.0%)
A Woman In Space by Sara Cavanaugh
0(0.0%)
Atlantis Fallen by C. E. Murphy
1(0.3%)
Above/Below by Stephanie Campisi
0(0.0%)
Guy Erma and the Son of Empire by Sally Ann Melia
0(0.0%)
La Femme by Storm Constantine
0(0.0%)
The Best of Ian McDonald by Ian McDonald
1(0.3%)
There Will Be War Volume X by Jerry Pournelle
2(0.6%)
The Company Articles of Edward Teach/Angaelien Apocalypse by Thoraiya Dyer
0(0.0%)
Tangle Of Fates by Leslie Ann Moore
0(0.0%)
Sprawl ed. Alisa Krasnostein
0(0.0%)
Which of these 44 non-genre fiction books have you read, or just sounds interesting?
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
1(0.8%)
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
23(17.4%)
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
8(6.1%)
The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs
0(0.0%)
To Lie with Lions by Dorothy Dunnett
12(9.1%)
Looking For JJ by Anne Cassidy
1(0.8%)
Le Mariage de Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
7(5.3%)
Martin Lukes: Who Moved My Blackberry by Lucy Kellaway
1(0.8%)
Something Like Normal by Trish Doller
0(0.0%)
A Sunless Sea by Anne Perry
4(3.0%)
A Man of Parts by David Lodge
8(6.1%)
Rhyme Stew by Roald Dahl
8(6.1%)
Maigret Loses His Temper by Georges Simenon
4(3.0%)
The Habit of Loving by Doris May Lessing
4(3.0%)
Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe
4(3.0%)
A Close Run Thing by Allan Mallinson
0(0.0%)
Two Brothers by Ben Elton
2(1.5%)
Quoth the Raven by Jane Haddam
3(2.3%)
This Must be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell
1(0.8%)
The Accident by Ismail Kadare
3(2.3%)
Dear Old Dead by Jane Haddam
2(1.5%)
Children are Civilians Too by Heinrich Böll
2(1.5%)
Baptism in Blood by Jane Haddam
2(1.5%)
The Deer Hunter by Eric Corner
2(1.5%)
Listen to the Moon by Michael Morpurgo
3(2.3%)
The Inside of the Cup by Winston S. Churchill
1(0.8%)
In Another Light by Andrew Greig
0(0.0%)
Laatste schooldag by J. G Siebelink
1(0.8%)
See How Much I Love You by Luis Leante
0(0.0%)
One of the 28th: A tale of Waterloo by G. A. Henty
1(0.8%)
A Darker Shade ed.John-Henri Holmberg
4(3.0%)
Local Hero by Bill Forsyth
4(3.0%)
Weapons of Mass Diplomacy by Abel Lanzac
0(0.0%)
Three Daves by Nicki Elson
0(0.0%)
Ghost of Lily Painter by Caitlin Davies
1(0.8%)
Lying Under the Apple Tree by Alice Munro
3(2.3%)
A Ship is Dying by Brian Callison
0(0.0%)
The Prisoner of Brenda by Colin Bateman
3(2.3%)
Every Step You Take by Maureen O'Brien
1(0.8%)
The Ice Cream Army by Jessica Gregson
2(1.5%)
Gallimaufry: A Collection of Short Stories by Colin Baker
1(0.8%)
Alina by Jason Johnson
0(0.0%)
The Double Deckers by Glyn Jones
0(0.0%)
Splinters and the Impolite President by William Whyte
5(3.8%)
Which of these 45 non-fiction books just sounds interesting?
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman
17(4.9%)
The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig
10(2.9%)
Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry by Jane Hirshfield
4(1.2%)
Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper
11(3.2%)
The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses by Kevin Birmingham
15(4.3%)
Diplomatic Baggage: The Adventures of a Trailing Spouse by Brigid Keenan
14(4.0%)
Europe In The Sixteenth Century by H. G. Koenigsberger and George L. Mosse
17(4.9%)
The Number Mysteries: A Mathematical Odyssey Through Everyday Life by Marcus Du Sautoy
9(2.6%)
52 Ways of Looking at a Poem: A Poem for Every Week of the Year by Ruth Padel
11(3.2%)
Common People: The History of an English Family by Alison Light
17(4.9%)
Alexander the Corrector: The Tormented Genius Whose Cruden's Concordance Unwrote the Bible by Julia Keay
6(1.7%)
Zink by David Van Reybrouck
1(0.3%)
A Brief History of Stonehenge by Aubrey Burl
11(3.2%)
The Face of Britain: A History of the Nation Through Its Portraits by Simon Schama
10(2.9%)
Presentations by Daria Price Bowman
0(0.0%)
Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution by Margarette Lincoln
19(5.5%)
Helen Waddell by Felicitas Corrigan
4(1.2%)
Script Doctor: the Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986-1989 by Andrew Cartmel
14(4.0%)
The Shape of Irish History by A.T.Q. Stewart
5(1.4%)
Virgins, Weeders and Queens: A History of Women in the Garden by Twigs Way
9(2.6%)
T.K. Whitaker: Portrait of a Patriot by Anne Chambers
0(0.0%)
No Going Back To Moldova by Anna Robertson
4(1.2%)
Adventures in Kate Bush and Theory by Deborah M. Withers
9(2.6%)
First Generation: The Autobiography of Mary Tamm by Mary Tamm
6(1.7%)
God is No Thing: Coherent Christianity by Rupert Shortt
4(1.2%)
Make Your Brain Work: How to Maximize Your Efficiency, Productivity and Effectiveness by Amy Brann
2(0.6%)
Fair Trade: The Challenges of Transforming Globalization by Laura Raynolds
8(2.3%)
Franco-Irish Relations, 1500-1610: Politics, Migration and Trade by Mary Ann Lyons
8(2.3%)
Faith in Politics: A collection of essays on politics, economics, history and religion by John Bruton
3(0.9%)
Elizabeth I and Ireland by Brendan Kane
5(1.4%)
A Crocodile in the Fernery: An A-Z of Animals in the Garden by Twigs Way
3(0.9%)
Setting the Truth Free: The Inside Story of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign by Julieann Campbell
5(1.4%)
Diary of a Witchcraft Shop 2 by Trevor Jones and Liz Williams
12(3.5%)
A Short Guide to Irish Science Fiction by Jack Fenn
15(4.3%)
What Made Now in Northern Ireland by Maurna Crozier
1(0.3%)
Yugoslavia's Implosion: The Fatal Attraction of Serbian Nationalism by Sonja Biserko
8(2.3%)
Europe, a Leap into the Unknown: A Journey Back in Time to Meet the Founders of the European Union by Victoria Martin De La Torre
8(2.3%)
CBT Workbook - Teach Yourself by Stephanie Fitzgerald
2(0.6%)
The Ahtisaari legacy : resolve and negotiate by Nina Suomalainen
2(0.6%)
Representing Europeans by Richard Rose
2(0.6%)
The Deep State of Europe: Welcome to Hell by Basil Coronakis
6(1.7%)
American Gridlock: The Sources, Character, and Impact of Political Polarization by James A. Thurber
6(1.7%)
City of Soldiers: A Year of Life, Death and Survival in Afghanistan by Kate Fearon
9(2.6%)
Rauf Denktaş, a Private Portrait by Yvonne Cerkez
0(0.0%)
Seychelles: The Saga of a Small Nation Navigating the Cross-Currents of a Big World by Sir James Mancham
10(2.9%)
Can You Solve My Problems?: Ingenious, Perplexing, and Totally Satisfying Math and Logic Puzzles by Alex Bellos
5(1.4%)
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Comments
Dancers at the Edge of Time - mainly read to satisfy a completist urge, not really my thing
A Suitable Boy - I did like this, I'd recommend it but I see it's next on your list anyway...
I can also recommend Planetfall by Emma Newman
You have now read out my significant past, pretty much. Most of the ones I've actually read in these 3 lists are rather less important to me than books I've read on your previous lists.
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I bounced off the one Anne Perry I've read, my Mum loves Jane Haddam and I have enjoyed every Ben Elton I have read.
Peculiar Lives is very, very, good, but has little connection with the other Time Hunter books -- it's basically a riff on Last And First Men, with a Stapledon-by-any-other-name narrator meeting up with not-Bernard-Shaw. As you'd expect from PPH it's very idea-dense eschatological SF. I loved it, but I can see it being a very divisive one.
I ticked The Past Through Tomorrow, but there are a couple of different editions with *radically* different contents -- the version I've read is the one with all the Future History stories in one volume, including Back To Methuselah and the three stories that became Revolt In 2100. It's my favourite Heinlein stuff all in one volume, but what I like from Heinlein is very different from what Heinlein fans seem to...
Inspired by you, I am reading "War and Peace" a chapter at a time.
As the above commenter said, I think there are a number of versions of the Heinlein collection but I liked the one I read a lot.
I will never quite get used to seeing a book of mine on a list of yours. :)
I like Anne Perry, tho I haven't read that particular book.
Both Henderson's collections (not including the NESFA one) have some excellent stories.
I'm sure I've said before that I prefer Niccolo's story to Lymond's so I'm quite happy that you're reading through that series.
c
Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution by Margarette Lincoln 18Europe In The Sixteenth Century by H. G. Koenigsberger and George L. Mosse 17
Common People: The History of an English Family by Alison Light 16
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman 15
The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses by Kevin Birmingham 14
A Short Guide to Irish Science Fiction by Jack Fenn 13Script Doctor: the Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986-1989 by Andrew Cartmel 13
Diary of a Witchcraft Shop 2 by Trevor Jones and Liz Williams 12
A Brief History of Stonehenge by Aubrey Burl 11
Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper 11Seychelles: The Saga of a Small Nation Navigating the Cross-Currents of a Big World by Sir James Mancham 10
The Face of Britain: A History of the Nation Through Its Portraits by Simon Schama 10
52 Ways of Looking at a Poem: A Poem for Every Week of the Year by Ruth Padel 10
f
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 21To Lie with Lions by Dorothy Dunnett 12
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro 8
Rhyme Stew by Roald Dahl 7
A Man of Parts by David Lodge 7
Le Mariage de Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais 5
Splinters and the Impolite President by William Whyte 4
Local Hero by Bill Forsyth 4
Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe 4
The Habit of Loving by Doris May Lessing 4Maigret Loses His Temper by Georges Simenon 4
The Prisoner of Brenda by Colin Bateman 3
Lying Under the Apple Tree by Alice Munro 3
A Darker Shade ed.John-Henri Holmberg 3
The Accident by Ismail Kadare 3
A Sunless Sea by Anne Perry 3
i
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury 26Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold 22
Vurt by Jeff Noon 20
The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock 19
The Past Through Tomorrow by Robert A. Heinlein 17Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy 15
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith 13
Synners by Pat Cadigan 11Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling 9
Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock 9
Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams 9
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders 8A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason 7
At The Edge Of The World by Lord Dunsany 7
x
A Fall Of Stardust, by Neil GaimanThe Habit of Loving, by Doris Lessing
Austerity Britain, 1945-1951, by David Kynaston
Guided by the Beauty of their Weapons, by Philip Sandifer
Spirit: the Princess of Bois Dormant, by Gwyneth Jones
Quoth the Raven, by Jane Haddam
A Sunless Sea, by Anne Perry
Wild Life, by Molly Gloss
So, Anyway..., by John Cleese
Edited at 2017-10-03 10:14 am (UTC)