This is an interesting list. It’s missing some of the true great classics, like Frankenstein, and it has a number of unusual, less well known titles, but there’s a lot to like on it. There’s certainly a lot for people to disagree about, but it may well have your less often cited favorites, too. What do you think?
Wow I haven’t read a good chunk of this list, and I thought I was a sci-fi book afficionado. Thanks for adding to my summer reading list! Might start with either Parable of the Sower or Never Let Me Go.
I haven’t yet read Parable of the Sower, but I read Never Let Me Go recently. This is what I wrote about it in my notes to myself (no spoilers - certainly less than this article):
This is an odd book. It’s very slow paced, and not much actually happens. I think it’s best to read it without knowing anything at all, so I’m going to avoid spoilers. It’s a story told first person by a woman who attended a special boarding school. For a quarter of the book, there are barely even hints that there’s anything unusual going on. We don’t get an understanding of it until halfway, and even then not fully. I feel like this might have been better as a novella. That said, it was highly regarded and even made into a movie (that I never saw). The premise is really interesting, and the story moving, but for half the book we’re just reading a woman reminiscing on her school days.
I did enjoy it, but it’s not one of those books that I’d comfortably recommend to anyone and everyone. It depends on the kinds of things you like and don’t like.
