Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Science Fiction Book Club Meme

Discovered this book-related meme from Hamikka, which I learnt from this post by Larry Hosken that it's called a Science Fiction Book Club meme (not sure if it's the same as this Science Fiction Book Club).

Instructions:
"Below is a Science Fiction Book Club list most significant SF novels between 1953-2006. The meme part of this works like so: Bold the ones you have read, strike through the ones you read and hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put a star* next to the ones you love."

OK, mine as follows:
1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert*
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick*
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey*
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman*
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein*
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

And the tally:
  • I've read 19 out of 50 (38%) of the Science Fiction Book Club selection
  • There are 6 which I really love
  • None which I've read and hated (I find it hard to hate books -- I may not get them, but hardly "hate")
  • There's 1 that I started but never finished (the Harry Potter story)

Although not specified in the meme, there are two books which I would want to read but never did (for various reasons): "Slaughterhouse-5" by Kurt Vonnegut, and "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson.

All the books I've read, I've borrowed from the public library. Didn't have to spend a single cent on them. How cool is that. Even cooler -- I can probably find some of them from the public library again.

Who shall I tag for this meme? [Scrolling through my blog feeds to see who tends to read]. I'm tagging the following: Siva, Brennan, Kevin, his sister Lynda, Preetam, Kenneth, Vanessa, Chun See, Billy, Lucian, Tinker Tailor, Walter, Sharon (who has a book-dependency problem)... ... CW, Von, QQ, Damien, Diane, Addie (librarians all). Might as well try Cowboy Caleb (who used to visit the NLB libraries a lot before his new job), and mrbrown too (he said he likes the library).

Those whom I've missed out, please feel free to tag to this post/ add a comment with your link/ email me. I'd love to see what we've in common re: Sci Fi readings.

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17 comments:

  1. eh i read none of them ;)

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  2. Anonymous12:55 am

    done-ded, here.

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  3. Anonymous8:03 am

    Thanks for the tag, Ivan! Actually I did the meme a couple of days ago lah: see my blog. I think we have a few books in common...

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  4. Anonymous8:33 am

    I don't know about other books (nice list, though), but it's hard to accept that "The Lord of the Rings", "Interview with the Vampire", "The Sword of Shannara" considered as Science Fictions.

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  5. Anonymous10:08 am

    Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Interview with Vampire, The Colour of Magic considered Science Fiction meh? More like Fantasy to me. Most of the other books... never heard of except for Asimov's and Adam's books. Read all Potter books and LOTR (Return of the King) cos I couldn't wait for the final installment to be screened!ha
    I like Asimov's 2001 Space Odyssey, but it's not in the list...

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  6. Anonymous10:13 am

    Snow Crash's #43.

    These titles bring back memories of long long afternoons lived in other worlds.

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  7. Hi Ivan!
    Came to your blog through Coolinsider.
    Wah, serious? You all read these type of books ah? Sorry, like tinkertailor, I read none of them.
    My son has read several though. Die liao! The generation gap between my son & I is getting wider.
    Are you sure I can find these books in National Library? Will try to read them while my son's away.

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  8. Anonymous9:15 pm

    Interview with Vampire. Is that the movie starring Tom Cruise? Does it qualify as science fiction?

    When I was younger I do read SF. Have not done so for more than 10 years. My list includes:

    On the Beach (Nevil Shute),
    Caves of Steel and The Gods Themselves (Isaac Asimov),
    Sphere, Andromeda Strain and Terminal Man (Michael Crichton),
    1984:Spring - Choice of Futures by Arthur C Clarke (is it SF - I read that in 1985),
    The Methuselah Enzyme by Fred Mustard Steward,
    Outbreak - Robin Cook

    As you can see, most of mine are not in your meme list.

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  9. Anonymous8:52 am

    b.karen: uhm, "2001: A Space Odyssey" was by Arthur C. Clarke.

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  10. Anonymous3:31 pm

    anon_x, thanks for the correction... yes, it's arthur c clarke. I think it had 2 more books to the series, right? memory very bad.. blame it on childbirth. haha. i also read his "Islands in the Sky" or something like that, but never finished it. I think i only read asimov's non-fiction essays.

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  11. Anonymous4:35 am

    Hi Ivan
    Here's mine:
    1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
    3. Dune, Frank Herbert
    4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein*
    5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin*
    21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey*
    30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin*
    41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien*

    Anyone who has not read Margaret Lessing's The Canopus in Argos: Archives Series (1979-1983) is seriously missing out, though!

    D

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  12. Anyone know of a science fiction club in Singapore? My wife and I are looking for a like-minded group, perhaps in time for the Star Trek opening.

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  13. Hi Chillrobot2, I don't know of any. At least not any group that discusses SciFi books and authors. Would you be interested in starting one in Singapore, hosting at the public library? :)

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  14. I've seen the movie I am Legend first and it made me to read the book as well, great story.

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  15. Anonymous7:16 pm

    Can we submit books for review such as 'Quantum Union' which is a Sci-Fi based in Singapore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Submit to whom? Me? I'm open to reviewing works. Email me (my contact info is at my blogger profile)

      Delete

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