Okay, so I’ve set myself a new task, of reading all the winners in the Hugo for Best Novel category, figuring it would give me a broad overview of the genre that I love. (Plus there’s a lot of good books there that I haven’t read.)
But this leads me to the obvious question: What would you consider somebody who’s well-read in science fiction (and heck, we’ll throw in fantasy, too, as several of the Hugo winners are fantasy) to have read? In some ways, a canon of speculative fiction is what I’m asking about.
I haven’t thought it over totally, but I think some of the books on my list would be:
The Foundation trilogy and I, Robot by Asimov
Childhood’s End, 2001, and Rendezvous with Rama by Clarke
Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein
Ringworld by Niven
Canticle for Leibowitz by Miller
Man in the High Castle by Dick (There should be more Dick here, but I’m drawing a blank.)
Forever War by Haldeman
The Lathe of Heaven and The Dispossessed by LeGuin
Snow Crash by Stephenson
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by Tolkien
And this is a very incomplete list, I point out, this is just off the top of my head. So what am I missing? What would you think required reading for a science fiction geek?
I’m locking posts on this on LJ, because I want the discussion to happen over at my blog. :)