Zelazny would go on any list I made, if I was making lists.
That's beautiful. Or taken literally, incredibly gross.
Buffy ,'Potential'
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."
Connie Neil - Aug 11, 2011 11:15:54 am PDT #15912 of 28293
brillig
Ginger - Aug 11, 2011 11:18:34 am PDT #15913 of 28293
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Trying to read Gormenghast was a lot like dental surgery, except without the anesthesia.
DavidS - Aug 11, 2011 11:45:04 am PDT #15914 of 28293
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
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.
Toddson - Aug 11, 2011 11:48:25 am PDT #15915 of 28293
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
I managed to read the entire Gormenghast trilogy. Don't know what, if anything, that says about my reading habits ... persistent if nothing else.
DavidS - Aug 11, 2011 11:50:40 am PDT #15916 of 28293
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
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.
DavidS - Aug 11, 2011 11:53:45 am PDT #15917 of 28293
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
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.
Toddson - Aug 11, 2011 12:19:28 pm PDT #15918 of 28293
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
The entire oeuvre of Mrs. Radcliffe ....
Dana - Aug 11, 2011 12:34:27 pm PDT #15919 of 28293
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
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.
Consuela - Aug 11, 2011 12:44:21 pm PDT #15920 of 28293
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
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::
zuisa - Aug 11, 2011 12:49:52 pm PDT #15921 of 28293
call me jacki; zuisa is an internet nick from ancient times =)
I'm about to be blasphemous, I think, but I don't care much for LeGuin. Unless her stuff for adults is better? I read all the Earthsea books for a class in college and was bored to tears. I found that she wrote really fantastic dialogue, but people hardly ever spoke, and that all the narration was presented in an almost condescending tone, as if I were supposed to know the story already.