I don't think of myself as a sci fi reader at all, and I've read at least one book per category except for space travel. Weird. Dystopians, one of my favorite subgenres, are not what I think of when I think of sci fi!
I want to torture you. I used to love it, and it's been a long time. I mean, the last time I tortured someone, they didn't even have chainsaws.
Angel ,'Chosen'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Kat - Sep 01, 2010 12:12:14 pm PDT #12260 of 28333
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
§ ita § - Sep 01, 2010 12:20:44 pm PDT #12261 of 28333
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Dystopians, one of my favorite subgenres, are not what I think of when I think of sci fi!
Well, all the dystopias they list but one I think are sci fi, because they involve advanced science in some way. Are alternate histories sci fi? I think that's up for debate. I'm pretty inclusive myself.
I do consider myself a sci fi reader. Space travel is my weakest category. I've read more than one book they list, but I don't remember them in any detail. I'm attached to at least one book in each of their others, pretty much.
-t - Sep 01, 2010 1:16:18 pm PDT #12262 of 28333
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I explicitly include dystopias (and utopias) and alternate histories in sci fi, but I accept that not everyone would.
Space Travel is definitely my weakes category. I've only read Downbelow Station, and I only read that fairly recently. I find Doc Smith unreadable. I could have sworn I'd read The Sparrow but that plot summary is not familiar to me at all. I've only read a little Banks, and it didn't make me want to read more of his stuff, and it wasn't the book on the list. I don't think. I don't remember that well.
My other weakness is, surprisingly, Aliens. i love a good alien story, but I've only read one of those the short story. I've known for ages that I need to read Octavia Butler and the other novel sounds good, too. Which is why I like these lists, they give me things to look for (or remind me that I meant to look for something).
sj - Sep 01, 2010 1:19:07 pm PDT #12263 of 28333
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
I explicitly include dystopias (and utopias) and alternate histories in sci fi, but I accept that not everyone would.
Me too. I could see them as a sub-genre but not a separate genre.
Ginger - Sep 01, 2010 2:08:23 pm PDT #12264 of 28333
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I've read all but 4 1/2, the half being my complete inability to finish Dhalgren. I wouldn't visit Dhalgren on a beginner. I wouldn't include Orlando, because I don't consider it sf. I'd include Clifford Simak's City under robots and any number of other books for aliens, including Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity, Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy and LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness rather than The Dispossessed in dystopias. I don't think you can really have a complete list without another category: post-apocalyptic. I can't buy into a list that doesn't manage to include Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut or A Canticle for Leibowitz .
Laga - Sep 01, 2010 3:39:40 pm PDT #12265 of 28333
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
Buffistas, I have discovered your newest desire: Postertext.
of course I desperately covet Moby Dick. Now I realize a lot of the credit for my finally reading that book goes to you, P-C for introducing me to "Ahab" by MC Lars.
Volans - Sep 01, 2010 4:31:41 pm PDT #12266 of 28333
move out and draw fire
Everything Ginger said, except I don't think I even made it halfway through Dhalgren.
Polter-Cow - Sep 01, 2010 5:23:44 pm PDT #12267 of 28333
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Now I realize a lot of the credit for my finally reading that book goes to you, P-C for introducing me to "Ahab" by MC Lars.
Ha, awesome! Don't you appreciate the song even more now?
The first one to spot him gets this gold dubloon
Now excuse me while I go be melancholy in my room
Atropa - Sep 01, 2010 5:24:23 pm PDT #12268 of 28333
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
I hadn't looked at the list yet, but if it doesn't include Bradbury, it's not a complete list.
Laga - Sep 01, 2010 5:38:09 pm PDT #12269 of 28333
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
peg leg sperm whale jaw bone, what?!