Memorable books
*knocks on screen* Anybody in there? Way too quiet around here lately. Everybody just transitioning to summer schedules or nothing worth mentioning?
Anyway, nothing notable from me, so I shall do a book meme.
You're not supposed to think too long or too hard on this one. List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you -- list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don't take too long to think about it.
That's hard. I could pick my favorite series and break 15 with one go. But, I shall be good and only include one book per author. Hmmm, is that good memorable, or bad memorable? I've got some bad memorable, as well. I'll try to stick to good memorable.
01. Laurell K. Hamilton "Guilty Pleasures" (first in the "Anita Blake" series) - urban fantasy tale about a world where vampires and lycanthropes (werewolves, wereleopard, et al) are normal citizens. The series doesn't pull its punches in either violence or sex.
02. Douglas Adams "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (again, first in the series) - a British SF/Fantasy series in which the world is demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. One hapless human hitchhikes his way off the planet just before it's destroyed. SF/Fantasy heavy on the comedy.
03. Marion Zimmer Bradley "The House Between the Worlds" - a SF/Fantasy tale about a scientist who experiments with a drug that ends up taking him to an alternate world where he encounters the fey. When those that control the experiment won't let him continue to test the drug, he needs to find another way across worlds.
04. Frederick Pohl "Outnumbering the Dead" - a SF/Fantasy story about what happens when lifespans are extended indefinitely. Just the opposite of the idea that when you know you're dying you suddenly begin to really live.
05. James P. Hogan "Thrice Upon a Time" - a SF/Fantasy story where rewinding time is possible, and we get to see how easily one little change can lead to huge life-changing events.
06. Jacqueline Carey's "Kushiel's Dart" (first in a series) - a epic fantasy tale set in a country that was founded by a religion whose main precept is "love as thou wilt". The heroine in the first three books is an anguissette, a born sexual masochist.
07. Piers Anthony "For Love of Evil" (another series, "On a Pale Horse" is actually the first book) - this SF/Fantasy series deals with the incarnations of immortality - literally personifications of death, time, fate, war, earth, evil, and goodness. You can guess which book I picked. *g*
08. George Orwell "1984" - it's a classic, I don't think I need to explain that one, your classic dystopia
09. Ray Bradbury "Fahrenheit 451" - another classic, a dystopia where books are burned
10. Daphne du Maurier "Rebecca" - most memorable opening "Last night I went to Manderly again..." - the flashback structure was very memorable
11. Monica Hughes "Keeper of the Isis Light" - a SF/Fantasy geared towards children - a young girl that was born on another planet is kept isolated from the new settlers moving there from Earth
12. John Christopher "The White Mountains" (first in a trilogy) - another SF/Fantasy series geared toward children - aliens have landed and are controlling the population by capping them when boys and girls become teenagers.
13. Storm Constantine "Wraeththu" - SF/Fantasy - what happens when another new generation is born out of the end of humanity; a different play on sex and gender
14. Mary Renault "Fire from Heaven" (the first in her Alexander the Great trilogy) - enough said
15. Wen Spencer "Alien Taste" (first in a series) - a novel SF/Fantasy series - a different take on aliens among us, will appeal to fans of werewolf stories
And, yes, I took way more than 15 minutes. Go figure. *g*
Edit (08/22/2013): Re-reading old entries. Most of these I'd still consider "will always stick with you", except "Wraeththu" and "Alien Taste". I remember enjoying both, but I'm not sure I could describe them in any depth without referencing Goodreads or the books themselves.