At the end of 2018 I set a goal for myself of reading all of the books on the Top 100 Fantasy and Top 100 Science Fiction book lists. It was ambitious. For links to the the full list, see this post. For a quick review of the 44 I’d previously read, see here. Lately I’ve been concentrating on the Sci-Fi books because I had read 69 fantasy books — I’m now at 35 sci-fi books.
Here are my brief thoughts about them:
| A Canticle for Leibowitz | Miller, Walter | Gorgeous writing and a terrifying future, this is the ‘grandfather’ of many a past and current authors’ musings. It has never been out of print for a reason. |
| Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Dick, Philip | Many of the elements of the movie are here, but this is not the movie. Why is it the screenplay writer isn’t celebrated as widely as Dick? This is a strange surreal novella that left an impression. |
| Dust | Bear, Elizabeth | One of the best fantasy-on-scifi template stories I have ever read. Convoluted politics, genetics, religion, and beauty all wrapped into a perfect novel. Technically the first of a series, its fine on its own. |
| Arrival | Chiang, Ted | This short story is haunting, lyrical and very very weird. Like Bladerunner, the screenplay author took an interesting premise and made a much better movie. |
| Amatka | Tidbeck, Karin | Very creepy. A simple premise that takes language into a new realm. Worth it for that (but you’ll need to give the fairly flat characters a pass) |