Memes

[tarigwaemir]

Lowell House on the Feast of St. Andrew

Came back from lab exactly one hour ago (12:40 AM). Mind feels like a taut wire vibrating at some insane supersonic frequency.

From sub_divided and worldserpent: 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.

I'm adding another twist: underline the ones you want to read.

SCI FI AND FANTASY

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien *
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card *
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams *
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin *
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien *
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson *
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Timescape, Gregory Benford
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

FANTASY-ONLY

George MacDonald, Phantastes, 1858
William Morris, The Well at the World’s End, 1896
E.R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, 1922
H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu, 1928
Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan, 1946
Robert E. Howard, Conan the Barbarian, 1950
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, 1950 *
T.H. White, The Once & Future King, 1958
Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, 1962 *
Lloyd Alexander, The Black Cauldron, 1965 *
Alan Garner, Elidor, 1965
Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968
Peter Beagle, The Last Unicorn, 1968
Fritz Leiber, Ill Met in Lankhmar, 1970
Roger Zelazny, Nine Princes in Amber, 1970
Richard Adams, Watership Down, 1972
Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising, 1973 *
William Goldman, The Princess Bride, 1973
Patricia McKillip, The Riddle-Master of Hed, 1976 *
Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsong, 1976
Piers Anthony, A Spell for Chameleon, 1977
Walter Wangerin, The Book of the Dun Cow, 1978
Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun, 1980
John Crowley, Little, Big, 1981
David Eddings, The Belgariad, 1982
Robert Holdstock, Mythago Wood, 1984
Margarert Weis & Tracy Hickman, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, 1984
Orson Scott Card, Seventh Son, 1987
Ellen Kushner, Swordspoint, 1987 *
Mercedes Lackey, The Last Herald-Mage, 1990 *
Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana, 1990
Tad Williams, Stone of Farewell, 1990 *
Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World, 1990
Stephen King, The Waste Lands, 1991
Neil Gaiman, The Season of Mists, 1991
C.S. Friedman, Black Sun Rising, 1991
Tim Powers, Last Call, 1992
Philip Pullman, Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, 1995 *
George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones, 1996
Sean Stewart, Mockingbird, 1998
China Mieville, Perdido Street Station, 2000
Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, 2004 *

I can't say that I loved Foundation or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, but those books probably had a greater impact on me than many of the titles that I did mark with an asterisk. Also, I feel a little guilty for saying I loved The Last Herald-Mage, but I must be honest and admit that I did. I outgrew Lackey after eighth grade, but I still sobbed over Vanyel when I reread the trilogy in senior year of high school, purple prose and all. I didn't hate The Eye of the World, but I certainly grew to hate the sequels. I also probably would not have hated A Spell for Chameleon if I had encountered it before reading Adams and Pratchett...or possibly after I developed a looser sense of humor. By the time I got around to it though, it felt really heavy-handed. It's really unusual that Stone of Farewell is the book listed, because it's actually the second book in the trilogy. Although come to think of it, Stone of Farewell had the most exciting worldbuilding.

From issen4 and petronia:



What a frivolous quiz. But the Flash format was kind of neat. Actually, I think this quiz was targeted towards males. O_O

I still need to finish my reading. Oh, and submit my themes list for the 31_days exchange.

Yours &c.

Comments

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

Crap, now I have to go back and underline. XD

With you on the Last-Herald Mage. I think it's a relatively common secret shame.

[troisroyaumes]

Ah, you did the meme too? ::goes over to read::

Yes, Vanyel was the embodiment of all my preteen angst, for which I will always forgive him his silver eyes and bazillion psychic powers. XD

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

Silver eyes, oh god, I'd forgotten. Or blocked it out. Can't forget the telepathic horsies, though.

Why hasn't Japan adapted that trilogy into a BL manga series, srsly.

[troisroyaumes]

*_* I would buy it in a heartbeat if they did make a manga out of it. XD

[ramble-corner.livejournal.com]

oh ♥ for the book list ^_______^
I always love book list, and *g* my reaction was can be seen over at canis_m 's list ^__^

[troisroyaumes]

Yes, aren't book lists nice? They're my favorite sort of meme these days. XD

[issen4.livejournal.com]

Wow, this list is memorable for all the books that I tried to read... and gave up. Like Lord of the Rings. The Color of Magic.

*takes list home to do*

[troisroyaumes]

The Colour of Magic isn't the best of Pratchett, I admit, especially since he parodies old-school fantasy, and it can be hard to catch the jokes. I think Lord of the Rings is one of those hit-or-miss books...either you love it or you find it tedious. ^_^;;

Yay! ::goes to look at your list::

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Aren't the Valdemar books the embodiment of all preteen and early emo teen angst though? Fluffy animal companion books + "Woes! No one understands me!" = Perfect formula.

[troisroyaumes]

Yes indeed! ^_^ My friend and I used to sit around in eighth grade daydreaming about what sort of Herald-Mages we wanted to be and what our Companions would be called. XD I still have a soft spot for the series, even after all these years.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Ha! I read those books until I was a senior in high school. I had a discussion with a couple people once about Lackey's Valdemar novels and how even though older fantasy readers (20s and up, I suppose) tend not to like them, they still play a significant role because anything that appeals to teens and inspires that level of devotion is important. Lackey writes a certain type of book and does it very well, but it's not a type that ages well (in terms of readers growing older) or necessarily encourages innovation and originality.

I still have a soft spot for Tarma and Kethry. I always wanted to go gallivanting off on adventures and fighting for justice.

...and maybe I still do? XD

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

I was so sad when Nan told me you were at lab to work on your apps, but you're probably further along than I am now. My goal of finishing by Friday is definitely not happening, as I've only finished drafts of three of the eight essays >_> I admire your diligence for that.

[troisroyaumes]

O_O Aren't you reusing your SOP from the NSF application? Anyway, I'm not further along at all because I haven't even gotten around to thinking about the essays yet; I'm still filling out the forms and registering recommenders and uploading my CV. I don't know...I don't think I can finish by Friday either, but I really can't afford to let this drag on into the weekend because I'm so behind on class readings, and I still have two papers and the final presentation for bio... T_T I kind of split into total panic mode yesterday, does it show? (Still in panic mode now actually.)

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

You can't reuse it entirely because each school wants different things, different lengths, blah blah...yours might be in better shape though. In any case, I'm trying to say a little about why I want to go to that particular school. I still have forms and stuff to fill out too (including which departments I'm interested in at most places, haha, I pretty much made up my UCSF hierarchy randomly).

I don't know if it shows that you're in panic mode because I haven't seen you since 7 am yesterday...

[troisroyaumes]

Hm, I wrote mine while looking at all the SOP questions at once. ^_^;; I still need to add a sentence or two about why I want to go to each school though. What I'm more worried about are the extra Stanford and Berkeley essays. -_-

[fable.livejournal.com]

I cried when I read the Herald-Mage series, too. XD;; And, I do recommend CS Friedman's Black Sun Rising; its the beginning of what's probably my favorite fantasy trilogy.

[troisroyaumes]

The Last Herald-Mage trilogy is kind of like a shared fandom childhood experience, isn't it?

Oh, I've seen it on the shelves but never thought to pick it up; thanks for the rec. XD

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I second the rec for the Coldfire trilogy. I loved those books in high school.