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Top 12 all-time SFF books
Hank wrote: "Was that sigh from the air leaking out of your lungs because the book dead tree dropped on your chest? ;)"Partly that, and partly mimicking his characters, who *all* sigh. A lot. And I mean *all* of them. All. The. Time..
Anthony wrote: "...And last bit certainly not least...that book in your number 1 spot...?Sigh."
*hah* How many were they again?
(Disclaimer: I actually did enjoy the book, but also recognize the complaints).
Anthony wrote: "Hank wrote: "Was that sigh from the air leaking out of your lungs because the book dead tree dropped on your chest? ;)"Partly that, and partly mimicking his characters, who *all* sigh. A lot. And..."
Maybe that is just the sighn of a great character. Sigh.
What a fun challenge. My list has both early or formative reads for me and more recent reads which had a big impact on me. In 6 months or a year, some books will certainly still be on this list, but some could easily be shifted off by new reads (like those on folk's lists above!). It was hard to narrow things down, that's for sure.(in no particular order)
The Hobbit or There and Back Again
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series
To Say Nothing of the Dog (my first Connie Willis)
Neverwhere (my first Neil Gaiman)
Ancillary Justice and rest of series
The Fifth Season and the rest of the series
Ender's Game
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Rosemary and Rue (and the others I've read so far in this series)
Perdido Street Station/The Scar (I haven't read Iron Council yet)
Ammonite
Dreamsnake
@Gabi or Anna, since you seem to be the most numbers-oriented, spreadsheety, organized among us, would you care to total up the top mentioned books including and then beyond the three that were highlighted earlier?
Anthony wrote: "@Gabi or Anna, since you seem to be the most numbers-oriented, spreadsheety, organized among us, would you care to total up the top mentioned books including and then beyond the three that were hig..."I'd like to see that, too, but not yet! I'm sure I'm not the only person dragging heels....
I really like Way of Kings, but you're right: there are 141 sighs in this novel!! That's almost as many rapes as in SoIaF... Personally, I'm less bothered by people sighing a lot than raping/getting raped a lot in my books. :D But he should definitely tone it down with the sighing.
Mind if I (a sleepless night). The tally thus far:IIIIIIIIII - The Fifth Season / The Broken Earth
IIIIII - The Dispossessed
IIIII - The Left Hand of Darkness
IIIII - Perdido Street Station
IIIII - Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota)
IIIII - All Systems Red / Murderbot Diaries
IIIII - Ancillary Justice
IIII - Assassin's Apprentice / The Farseer Trilogy
IIII - Children of Time
IIII - Hyperion (Cantos)
IIII - Parable of the Sower
IIII - The Way of Kings
IIII - Red Mars / Green Mars / Mars Trilogy
IIII - The Martian
IIII - Dune
IIII - The Handmaid's Tale
III - Doomsday Book
III - Tigana
III - His Dark Materials
III - A Wizard of Earthsea / Earthsea
III - A Closed and Common Orbit
III - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
III - The Lord of the Rings
III - Ready Player One
III - Dreamsnake
III - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
II - All the Birds in the Sky
II - The Calculating Stars
II - Downbelow Station
II - Tehanu
II - Small Gods
II - The Cloud Roads (Raksura)
II - Dawn (Xenogenesis)
II - The Sparrow
II - Oryx and Crake
II - Wool Omnibus
II - Childhood's End
II - A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones
II - Ender's Game
II - The Forever War
II - 1984
II - Snow Crash
II - The Last Unicorn
II - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
II - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
II - Ammonite
II - The Night Circus
II - Neverwhere
The once mentioned: (view spoiler)
Thank you! and your beauty sleep time!!!
Eva wrote: "I really like Way of Kings, but you're right: there are 141 sighs in this novel!! That's almost as many rapes as in SoIaF... Personally, I'm less bothered by people sighing a lot than raping/getti..."
There are far more than 141. I did a search at one point and it averages to a sigh every four pages or so.
Not to mention the prevalence of one-eyebrow raises and eye rolls.
I mean all of those behaviors are repeated over and over and over by just about every character. Don’t get me wrong, there are some very cool things in the book. But man does it need a more attentive and aggressive editor.
Yes, you're right about needing a more attentive editor - I think many very successful authors seem to get edited much more sparingly with their success and it hurts their prose. But the 141 results was from a kindle search in the book (of "sigh") and I do think that's a lot. And it doesn't improve in the sequels! I'm astonished that I never noticed it.
Eva wrote: "But the 141 results was from a kindle search in the book (of "sigh") and I do think that's a lot."I just did a search on “sighed” and it returned 247 hits. “Sigh” returns “sighted” and “insight”, but boy it’s a hecka lot.
Jemppu wrote: "Mind if I (a sleepless night). The tally thus far:...
Thank you Jemppu!
Anthony wrote: "...I mean all of those behaviors are repeated over and over and over by just about every character. Don’t get me wrong, there are some very cool things in the book. But man does it need a more attentive and aggressive editor...."You were not bothered by the 360 or so "starts" in Blackout / All Clear? ;) Those stood out to me in terms of repeated words, which might've used some selective editing.
I didn’t notice it, no. Perhaps because I’m an actor, I pay closer attention to how characters’ behavior is depicted than other possibly repetitious aspects of the prose.
Oh great, I wake up and this thread turned into another hate-Way-of-the-Kings lament ... ^^'
My list at the momentDoomsday Book
A Fire Upon the Deep
The Curse of Chalion
The Snow Queen
The Left Hand of Darkness
Tigana
Perdido Street Station
Children of Time
The Fifth Season
Anathem
Among Others
and the three I would have said fifty years ago
Dune
A Wrinkle in Time
The Last Astronaut
Anthony wrote: "I didn’t notice it, no. Perhaps because I’m an actor, I pay closer attention to how characters’ behavior is depicted than other possibly repetitious aspects of the prose."Where as my daily tasks often include cutting out exactly the sort of repetitions in text. Those characters starting up and starting down, starting across and along, starting in and starting out, starting left and right... would've not necessarily made the cut ^^'
That said: I did not pay attention to the sighs and eyebrow raises in the Way of Kings until you pointed them out. I'm certain, that the level of engagement one has with the story has a lot to do with how much one has mind to get distracted with such peculiarities in prose, too.
@Gabi I’m truly sorry that’s your impression. I don’t hate it, nor have I said that I do.
@Gabi, no hating on anything ^^ Just a bit of (over)analyzing? *hah*
Anthony wrote: "@Gabi I’m truly sorry that’s your impression. I don’t hate it, nor have I said that I do."All well! I just wasn't expecting it when I opened the thread. Guess I would have needed a CW.
Oh, I hadn’t noticed all the sighing in Way of King’s. But I will now. Sigh. I listened to Wil Wheaton narrate John Scalzi’s Redshirts and was completely distracted by all the He said/she saids. It was literally for every single speech. Scallions said, if he could redo that one he’d cut out a goodly number. When eye-reading you automatically skip over stuff like that but you can’t in audio.
This is an interesting discussion, maybe someone wants to start a thread about things that drive you nuts in books? So we can get back to everyone's top 12 SFF books!
You are such a task master, Anna! 😏😄
Can I just take a moment, though, Anna, to delight in the auto correcting of Scalzi to Scallions?
CBRetriever wrote: "sorry, I was just hoping to get more of a what books really changed/impacted you or deeply moved you and not just favorite books. Some of my favorites are none of the above but i love them anyway"My list is both. A book doesn't make a favorite for me if it doesn't somehow move me, or open up a new world. These aren't just books I enjoyed, they're books I love. Because they moved me or introduced me to a new world.
Anthony wrote: "Can I just take a moment, though, Anna, to delight in the auto correcting of Scalzi to Scallions?"https://youtu.be/_bpS-cOBK6Q
Ok, I've mulled this over long enough. Atm, this is my offer:My list of personal favorites that I reread (and recommend) still because they give more to me each time I do:
Fahrenheit 451 and a few others Ray Bradbury
Way Station and others Clifford D. Simak
Asimov's Robot stories
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and sequels
From These Ashes Fredric Brown
The Kin Peter Dickinson
The Princess and the Goblin & others George MacDonald
These I have reread in the past because they offered more to me back then:
The Host Stephenie Meyer
Frankenstein
Flowers for Algernon
Replay Ken Grimwood
Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel
Wrinkle in Time
These I love & would reread given another Group Read & would recommend:
Children of Time
China Mountain Zhang
The Martian
Trading in Danger and sequels
The Giver
Fledgling
Used to like, feel moved & inspired by, I have to admit:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Animorphs (yes, I was an adult at the time I read them, but part of my appreciation for them was watching my kids enjoy them)
I seem to have an issue with auto correct lately. And Trike also seems to delight in them: Way of Kong’s and Scalzi/Scallions. Glad my posts are so chuckle worthy.
Diane wrote: "Oh, I hadn’t noticed all the sighing in Way of King’s. But I will now. Sigh. I listened to Wil Wheaton narrate John Scalzi’s Redshirts and was completely distracted by all the He said/she saids. ..."
I found the exact same thing! I was surprised that Wheaton didn’t ask Spring Onions to edit a few of them out.
Scallions and hellions and everyone else who wants to continue this delightful discussion, please move on over to the thread Beth kindly started! :)https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Anna wrote: "Scallions and hellions and everyone else who wants to continue this delightful discussion, please move on over to the thread Beth kindly started! :) ..."*psst* Anna, you might want to fix the link - it goes to the Halloween discussion ^^'
Jemppu wrote: "Mind if I (a sleepless night). The tally thus far:IIIIIIIIII - The Fifth Season / The Broken Earth
IIIIII - The Dispossessed
IIIII - [book:The Left Hand of Darkness|1..."
Great! That's a list to investigate further!
Oh this was hard – my first list was 18 – what was hard was refining it to 12!Gene wolf – the Book of the New Sun
Kim Stanley Robinson – New York 2140
Mervyn Peake – Titus Groan
Neal Stephenson – The Diamond Age
Ursula Le Guin –The Left Hand of Darkness
Margaret Atwood – The Oryx and Crake series
Neil Gaiman – Coraline
N K Jeminson –The Fifth Season
Paul McCauley – The Quiet War series
M R Carey – The Girl with all the Gifts
Maureen F McHugh – China Mountain Zhang
Cory Doctorow – Walkaway
I really wanted to include books by Delaney and Ballard but couldn’t come up with an individual title!
Anyway this is just for now – I can change my mind tomorrow.
@Glynis you’re the only person I know who’s read NY 2140. Im looking forward to reading that myself, as scary as it might be, being a New Yorker, to imagine the scenario depicted in that book. Our mayor just announced an ambitious plan to combat water levels, and hopefully that plan, or something like it, will get passed and implemented. Always happy to see love given to The Book of the New Sun, which is one of the more fascinating series I’ve ever read.
I haven’t yet read any Cory Doctorow, but I do have a couple of his books, although I haven’t heard of that one.`
And as always, happy to see China Mountain Zhang mentioned.
Thanks for sharing your list!
Ok, my list, in no particular order:A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb
Iron Council by China Mieville
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance
The Swords of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber
Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Anthony wrote: "@Glynis you’re the only person I know who’s read NY 2140.."Make that two, I've read it too :)
It is interesting to see that quite a few lists have predominantly 'new' books (last 20 years), while original list in another thread had mainly stuff from the 50s-70s.
Diane wrote: "Oh, I hadn’t noticed all the sighing in Way of King’s. But I will now. Sigh. I listened to Wil Wheaton narrate John Scalzi’s Redshirts and was completely distracted by all the He said/she saids. ..."
I have noticed that in a bit of Scalzi's work. I note it, shrug, and continue enjoying it.
The discussion about author tics continues in the new thread:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Oleksandr wrote: "It is interesting to see that quite a few lists have predominantly 'new' books (last 20 years), while original list in another thread had mainly stuff from the 50s-70s."In thinking about this, I discovered I was guilty of perusing books from my Goodreads list. As a result, I may have overlooked things like:
The Stories of Ray Bradbury - I discovered this collection in junior high. It definitely had an impact on me.
Anything by Edgar Allan Poe - I was born a creepster
Down to a Sunless Sea
Timeline
I don't know what this does to my Top 12. Perhaps I'll just pretend that these choices live in a pocket dimension. They count, but they don't count.
Sigh. (teehee)
Mod
Valerie wrote: ""Sigh. (teehee)Our newest SciFi book club meme! Every time we respond to one of Anthony's comments we will all sigh at the end (sorry-not-sorry Anthony)
The discussion about author tics continues in the new thread:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Yes, I'm going to keep posting this for all eternity. I dressed up as an infinite loop for Halloween, and got stuck.
I could have easily just have put all of Philip K. Dick's books here, but … in no particular order:Hyperion & The Fall of Hyperion
Dune
The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit or There and Back Again
The Forge of God
Ubik
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
A Scanner Darkly
Excession
Revelation Space
Pandora's Star
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I felt the same. It crept up on me and the more I would reflect, the more I liked it.