babbling blue

I came across this list of “most significant” fantasy & sci-fi books a few years ago and started reading the books on it that I hadn’t yet. But then I kind of forgot about it. I tracked it down again and decided to post it here for the benefit of…well mainly myself. But if anyone else finds this useful, all the better. The ones I’ve read (to the best of my tattered memory) are in bold. I’d like to start working on the list again.

The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley (Started it but got distracted)
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
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Coming soon to a bookstore near you, a new and improved literary classic. . .

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action.

By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

I think I’ll have to suggest this for my book club as soon as it’s available (after April 15th).

Just found out about this… Tor is giving away free fantasy and sci-fi ebooks (and some high-res wallpapers) in a variety of formats through this coming Sunday, July 27th. There are no strings attached, no registration required. The selection isn’t huge, and I am not familiar with most of the books, but I recognize a number of the authors. Free is free, so I’ll probably grab them now and check them out at some point. To me, there is no substitute for a real, paper book. . . but I’m willing to give this new-fangled electronic book thingie a shot.

Click here for the goodies!