Zoe ,'Heart Of Gold'
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."
I've read a bunch of the books on your list David, but I don't necessarily agree they're the best ones. For instance, I think that Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber collection is more important (and interesting!) than The Magic Toyshop. And while Gormenghast is hugely important, I don't know many people who've made it through the entire trilogy. (Heaven knows I haven't.)
Plus, no Tanith Lee? No Ray Bradbury? Crazyheads.
Zelazny would go on any list I made, if I was making lists.
Trying to read Gormenghast was a lot like dental surgery, except without the anesthesia.
Yeah, your list is completely foreign to me.
It is a connoisseur's list. ::sniff::
No, I riffed with Knut knowing that we'd have some of the same touchstones and overlap but also some divergence. My taste was really shaped by Lin Carter's Ballantine Adult Fantasy series from the early 70s.
Though it really shouldn't be that obscure. Fritz Leiber and Jack Vance are grandmasters of the genre, and Circus of Dr. Lao and Lud In The Mist are both famous among hardcore fantasy fans.
I managed to read the entire Gormenghast trilogy. Don't know what, if anything, that says about my reading habits ... persistent if nothing else.
I've read a bunch of the books on your list David, but I don't necessarily agree they're the best ones. For instance, I think that Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber collection is more important (and interesting!) than The Magic Toyshop.
More influential, certainly. I'm not even there there is a supernatural element in The Magic Toyshop, though it's certainly gothic.
And while Gormenghast is hugely important, I don't know many people who've made it through the entire trilogy.
I don't think anybody really needs to read Titus Alone.
Plus, no Tanith Lee?
Well, we were riffing off the top of our heads. We would've gotten to her eventually. What would you suggest for a Tanith Lee in the fantasy category? (distinct from horror)
No Ray Bradbury?
Ditto, though I think we were trying to diverge from the NPR list. I would definitely have plumped for Something Wicked This Way Comes though I think Bradbury's greater influence is from his short stories.
Don't know what, if anything, that says about my reading habits ... persistent if nothing else.
Todd, you've read vintage gothic doorstops like The Monk and Mysteries of Udolpho. You're extremely persistent.
The entire oeuvre of Mrs. Radcliffe ....
From the Glen Weldon article:
Gary K. Wolfe, again: "It surprises me a bit that you have to get down to #20 (Frankenstein) before you come to the first work by a woman, or that there are only 5 women authors in the top 50."
I am the opposite of surprised.
Me too, Dana.
James Nicoll has a list of the women: [link]
Shocking and disappointing that LeGuin doesn't show up until #45, in fact after McCaffrey and MZB. Seriously? ::sigh::