I like lists. I like books. I have compiled “greatest hits”-type lists for each genre, and will read them all this year. The lists are meant to be semi-representative of the different sub-genres in each of the larger genres. I am exploring, see.
The Ought-To Books
1. Literary: Ulysses by James Joyce
2. Satire: Catch-22 by The Guy Who Is Not Kurt Vonnegut
3. Can’t Finish It: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
4. Epic Poetry: The Iliad by Homer
5. To Prove I Still Hate Steinbeck: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
6. Political, With Animals: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Science Fiction Books
1. I Dunno, I Like the Title: Neuromancer by William Gibson
2. Hard: Foundation 1 by Isaac Asimov
3. Cerebral: 2001 by Arthur C. Clarke
4. Old-Time: War of the Worlds by HG Wells
5. Modern: Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson
6. Ditto to #1: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
Mystery Books
1. Old: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
2. Noir: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
3. 1950s: Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
4. Historical: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
5. Modern: The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin
6. Cozy: Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown
Romance Books
1. Steamy: Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
2. Improper: Room With a View by E.M. Forster
3. Written By A Man: Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
(I’m quite sure Sparks will make me physically ill.)
4. Classic Trash: Whatever book I can get ahold of by Danielle Steel
5. The Bodice Ripper: The Last Viking by Sandra Hill (It was meant to be…)
6. Naughty: The Story of O by Pauline Reage
Fantasy Books
1. Nearly Canonical: The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
2. Blowhard: Game of Thrones by George R. R. R. R. R. R. Martin
3. The Rare Standalone: Tigana by Guy Gaveriel Kay
4. Mythical: The Once and Future King by T.H. White
5. Blowhard, Take II: The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
6. Modern: The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Horror Books
1. Uncle Stevie: Pet Sematary by Stephen King
2. It’s a Squid, Everyone: The Call of Cthulu and Other Such Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
3. Monsters: The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene
4. Morality Tale: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
5. Haunted House: Hell House by Richard Matheson
6. They Say He’s Good: The Books of Blood by Clive Barker
Non-Fiction/Biography Books
1. Historical Autobiography: The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
2. History: The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel Brown
3. Hollywood Biography: Love Is Nothing: Ava Gardner by Lee Server
4. Historical Biography: The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius
5. Confucius Say What?: The Analects of Confucius by Someone (I Do Not Remember)
6. Science: Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice To All Creation by Olivia Judson
It pains me that you put Game of Thrones and the Wheel of Time in the same category. Trash on Robert Jordan if you like, but you be nice to George (until his 4th book anyway)
1. I love Game of Thrones. Lol. But I love your list, if only to hear you rant about some of them.
2. I hate Steinbeck and Joyce but I wonder sometimes if a decade would change my mind about them…
3. Bah, I can’t finish Solitude either.
4. Your SciFi list is awesome. Not that I’ve ever read any of them (^_^) but they are masters.
5. Same goes for your Mystery list, although I love Rita Mae. I’ve read her Mrs. Murphy books, but I read them for the corgi, not so much the mystery. :)
6. Yes, Sparks and Steele will make you ill. I love romance novels though. Mindless summer reads. And Story of O isn’t quite so racy in this day and age.
7. I’m curious what you’ll think of Powers book. He was my writing professor in college.
8. Horror. Eek! You know I can’t read any, although Clive is a wonderful speaker. Not a fan of his non-horror stuff though; I’d had high hopes.
9. Interesting bio picks. :)
Dodds-E: We’ll see if he does better the second time around. He’s very serious about his work. Plus, that stupid girl, I hate. THE ONE WITH THE DOG. YOU KNOW THE ONE I MEAN.
Ai: Hey, after I finish Solitude, I’m going to eat sushi. That means I’ll need a sushi buddy… ;)
One Hundred Years of Solitude was…yeah. Have fun with that one. I think it’ll go faster if you read it in the original Spanish, then the incomprehensibility will be explained via language barrier.
Also…dead fish?