Perpetual Reading Lists
So, that_cad asked for a list of "OMG! You haven't read insert title?" books, and my friends list is disjoint enough from his that I'm going to ask this here, as well.
Basically, everyone has their own opinions on what books everyone should read. Mine has varied wildly as I've aged, and it's presently a bit skewed toward speculative fiction, but I know that I should broaden my horizons (even within specfic, as I don't have the time to sit down and read as much as I'd like). Consequently, I turn to you folks to tell me what I should read. Even if you're fairly certain that "someone like Kyle has certainly read that," I want you to recommend it anyway, particularly if someone else hasn't recommended it yet in this post. Bonus points if you can point to a decent audiobook rendition of the book, since that's where I absorb much of my literature at this point.
Go to, bibliophiles!
I'll start you folks off with a list of ten books I think everyone should read:
Basically, everyone has their own opinions on what books everyone should read. Mine has varied wildly as I've aged, and it's presently a bit skewed toward speculative fiction, but I know that I should broaden my horizons (even within specfic, as I don't have the time to sit down and read as much as I'd like). Consequently, I turn to you folks to tell me what I should read. Even if you're fairly certain that "someone like Kyle has certainly read that," I want you to recommend it anyway, particularly if someone else hasn't recommended it yet in this post. Bonus points if you can point to a decent audiobook rendition of the book, since that's where I absorb much of my literature at this point.
Go to, bibliophiles!
I'll start you folks off with a list of ten books I think everyone should read:
- Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay: Kay is one of my favorite specfic authors, and if I have to pick a single book of his that really floored me, it'd be this one. A beautiful alternate world that resonates with ours. He writes great stuff.
- The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran: My friend Katrina introduced me to this in college, though I know my parents had a copy while I was growing up that I never bothered to crack. It's been in print continuously for nearly a century, and it really does have some amazing insights into the human condition. It's a quick read, too.
- The Alchemy of Stars, eds. Roger Dutcher and Mike Allen: I really hadn't paid attention to speculative fiction poetry before I started working at Strange Horizons, and it was only when Greg Beatty started writing a series of essays on the Rhysling-Award-winners that I bothered reading any of it. I was really floored at how good it can be, and while it's arguable that these poems are the best you can find, they're all award-winners, and they're all top notch, many by some fairly prestigious novelists and short story writers that you might have heard of before.
- Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson: This one hasn't held up as well with the passage of time, but it really kicked me in the teeth when I first read it, shortly after reading Neuromancer, by William Gibson (which has also aged somewhat). Stephenson is evocative, compelling, and imaginative, even if he can't write an ending to save his life.
- The Thirteen Clocks, by James Thurber: A quick, awesome read by one of the masters of twentieth century prose, this book is still out of print, but it's really worth reading over and over again. Written as a children's fairy story in 1950, this has some of the best turns of phrase and descriptions that I've ever encountered, and I really need to get our copy back from kitsune_zen so I can read it again.
- Godel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter: This is really only for those who enjoy reading authors who love mathematics and music, in my view, but many of my friends do, and if they've not read this yet, then they're in for a treat. I have some issues with some of the book, but on the whole, it's a phenomenal piece of work.
- Something by H. P. Lovecraft: princeofcairo has been doing a survey of Lovecraft's work (he began here), and if you've not read any of H.P.L.'s work, you really should. He's one of the fathers of 20th century weird fiction, and for all his purple prose and grandiloquent turns of phrase, there really are some chilling moments in his fiction. Not to mention how influential he is.
- The Harry Potter series, by J. K. Rowling: Rowling's not the best writer to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, and she's not even the best writer out there writing children's speculative fiction. For that, I'd probably point to Diana Wynne Jones. ...but she is one of the most successful, and for the cultural literacy alone, I recommend this stuff. Plus, it's a quick read and pretty entertaining, to boot.
- Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett: I could have picked any number of books by these guys, but this is, in my view, one of their strongest, even considering the rest of their fairly extensive work. It has Gaiman's strong plotting, Pratchett's entertaining asides, and a wonderful premise. If you read one apocalyptic humor book, make it this one.
- Exerpts from the King James Bible: In my case, I figure that the important bits are Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Song of Solomon, at least one of the Gospels, and Revelations. Frankly, the Bible (particularly the KJV) has some amazing poetry and literature in it, and from a cultural literacy perspective, you really can't get around it.