I lied. I was going to wait an make a post on Wednesday with my Tell me what to read list and have all of you vote on which book I should read first but I didn’t expect as many suggestions as I got so I’m doing it today, instead. I’ll cut off votes on Wednesday.
A few books have already been “seconded” a few times, so I’ll list the books and how many times they’ve been seconded in parenthesis. All you have to do is tell me in the comments section which book you think I should read first, second, third, whatever. You can either let me know here, on facebook or through twitter.
Thanks SO much for the nominations. You guys really have no idea how excited this makes me. There are a lot of books here I’ve A) never heard of before and B) wouldn’t have thought of reading if it wasn’t for you. I really think this should help me with my “genre diversification” project. It also insures that for the next huge chunk of time I don’t have to worry about what book to read. You’ve done that for me.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the epic list:
Empress – Karen Miller
Cast in Shadow – Michelle Sagara
Hunter’s Oath – Michelle West
Rot & Ruin – Johnathan Maberry
Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang
Use of Weapons – IM Banks
Spirit – G Jones
Dsideria – N. Kornher-Stace
The Etched City – KJ Bishop
Master and Margarita – M Bulgakov
Cloud Atlas – D Mitchell (2 votes)
House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
The Snow Queen – Joan D. Vinge
My Soul to Keep – Tananarive Due
The Dragon Prince Trilogy – Melanie Rawn
Tyrants and Kings Trilogy – John Marco
The Best of Gene Wolfe – Gene Wolfe
Tigana – Guy Gavriel Kay (2 votes)
Zero History – William Gibson
Pattern Recognition – William Gibson (2 votes)
Spook Country – William Gibson
The Anubis Gates – Tim Powers (2 votes)
Shadow & Claw – Gene Wolfe
Someplace to be Flying – Charles deLint
Nightwatch – Sergei Lukyanenko
Whitechapel Gods – S.M. Peters
City of Saints and Madmen – Jeff Vandermeer
Memoirs of a Master Forger – William Heaney
The Prestige – Christopher Priest (2 votes)
Sharp Teeth – Toby Barlow
Last Dragon – J.J. McDermott
Thunderer – Felix Gilman
Sleepless – Charlie Huston
The Long Prince Quartet – Daniel Abraham (3 votes)
The Warlord Trilogy – Bernard Cornwell
The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanderson
Guards! Guards! – Terry Pratchett (2 votes)
Brasyl – Ian McDonald
Changeless – Gail Carriger
The King of Elfland’s Daughter – Lord Dunsany
Tome of the Undergates – Sam Sykes
The Mars-Trilogy – Kim Stanley Robinson
Legends – Robert Silverberg
Tender Morsels – Margo Lanagan
Smoke and Mirrors – Niel Gaiman
Black Juice – Margo Lanagan
The Last Wish – Andrzej Sapkowski
The Sandman Graphic Novels – Neil Gaiman
Fahrenheit 451 Graphic Novel
Slights – Kaaron Warren
Zoo City – Laruen Beukes
Angel of Death – J Robert King
The Amanda Feral series
Fables graphic novels
The Empire Trilogy – Janny Wurts & Raymond E. Feist
Magician – Raymond E. Feist
Ash – Mary Gentle
Myrren’s Gift – Fiona McIntosh
The God Stalker Chronicles – PC Hodgell
Farthing – Jo Walton
WWW: Wake – Robert J. Sawyer
Titus Groan/Gormenghast/ Titus Alone – Mervyn Peake
Little, Big – John Crowley
The Book of Jhereg – Steven Brust
Lifelode – Jo Walton
Rediscovery of Man – Cordwainer Smith
Nova, Babel 17, Einstein Intersection, Dhalgren – Samuel R. Delany
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke
Archangel – Sharon Shinn
Tooth and Claw – Jo Walton
The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle
World War Z – Max Brooks
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
The Monarchies of God – Paul Kearney
Lavinia – Ursula LeGuin
The Orphan’s Tales – Catherynne Valente
Leviathan – Scott Westerfeld
I Am the Messenger – Markus Zusak
Magic Bites – Ilona Andrews
Storm Front – Jim Butcher
There were a few books that were nominated that I’ve already read, so I didn’t add them to my list.
Plan of Action:
1. Let you guys vote or mention what book on the list I absolutely must read first. I’ll let you do that till Wednesday.
2. Wednesday, I’ll make a post with the final list of books, which will be read in the order I list them
3. I will put the final list on the top of my blog next to the Great Index of Reviews. I will mark each book off as I read it, and link them to my review in The Great Index of Reviews so you can keep track of which book I’m on and what I think of whatever books I’ve read so far. Some of the series that have been suggested I will break up and probably not read back-to-back, because I almost never read a series back-to-back.
Yes, I realize it will take me half a lifetime to get through all of these books, but I fully plan on doing it. I’m really excited about this huge list and see some titles here that really strike my fancy. So, thanks again for your nominations.
Pretend the whole world was going to explode in a week and the only thing that would stop it was if I read one of the books listed above A.S.A.P. Which book would that be?
*Votes will cut off on Wednesday
P.S. –
Never fear, dear reader, you will be inundated with reviews soon. I’ll have a review posted tomorrow, and another on Thursday. Possibly a third on Friday, depending…
27 Responses
Guards, Guards by Terry Pratchett. There are others, but this is my pick because you can't let the world end without reading another P.Terry book.
Putting in a vote for 'The Hunger Games'
Awesome! Thanks guys, your votes have been added!
Since it's about diversification, I think some of these books like King of Elfland's Daughter you would probably read anyway. I'm going to go with stuff that I truly think you probably wouldn't read otherwise.
1. Storm Front by Jim Butcher
2. Terry Pratchett – Whatever was nominated is cool. I actually think you would like him based on what I've heard about him. I haven't read him either.
3. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Bella's got it spot on. Guards! Guards! is a fantastic read, and it starts of the City Watch storyline, which is the funniest in the Discworld. I'd also recommend the Prestige and the Sandman graphic novels. But Guards! Guards! does indeed have the power to stop such an explosion.
Thanks Carin and Jamie, I'll add your votes 🙂
I've read only a few of those books, although most of them are on my tbr list. I recommend these:
1. Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
2. Storm Front by Jim Butcher
3. The Sandman by Neil Gaiman (actually anything his)
4. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Wow, lots of good books. I'm going to pick The Sandman by Neil Gaiman because that is one I'd definitely have to read before the end of the world if I hadn't read it already.
Oh, and one note about Changeless by Gail Carriger – that is the third book in a series. I don't know if you've read the first two already, but just in case…
Kristen, I haven't read the first book in the series, so I'll start with the first book and work my way to the third when I get to that. thanks for letting me know!
@Kristen I'm sorry you are wrong. The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger are:
1.Soulless
2.Changeless
3.Blameless
-And I suggested Changeless :-P, that was wrong of me. Soulless is the place to start.
— Aleksandra and Kristen, your votes have been added. 🙂
@Weirdmage – you and your chaos starting… tsk tsk 😉 Hey, regardless I'll start with the first book and work my way through the series. Thanks for clearing it up.
Weirdmage – Yes, you're right, sorry. I keep wanting to call Blameless "Changeless" since the names are so similar. The whole time I was reading it I kept catching myself wanting to call it that. 😉
Yeah, Soulless is great, so I recommend it 🙂 I liked Changeless, too…
Storm Front – Jim Butcher
And my vote goes for GUARDS! GUARDS! by Pratchett
Wonderful! Myra and Weirdmage, your votes have been added.
Can we take any off? I wasn't a fan of The Last Wish. Thought the translation was a little off and the characters outside the main protagonist were a little ridicilous.
I've heard that "The Last Wish" has problems in translation before. I almost picked it up from the library a few weeks ago…
The Long Price Quartet – they should be your next four books 🙂
Boo. I liked my plan more. Randomness > Crowd-sourcing.
Right, I'm going to be eloquent. I put up the two books Tooth and Claw and Archangel – BUT there is one book on your list that you cannot survive the rest of your life without experiencing. This book is The Last Unicorn – it is beautifully written, I mean astonishingly lyrically written. It is bittersweet, and yet hopeful. Honestly, I think it's a tour de force.
Well, of *course* you should read the books I've recommended of course, but in the interest of impartiality picking one of the others, I'd suggest an incredibly well-constructed and well-written romp through time and space that is as funny as it is disturbing, or in other words -"The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers.
Another vote for Tigana by G.G. Kay
Wow, so many good ones to choose from!
1. The Book of Jhereg, by Steven Brust (i happen to be reading that right now!)
2.The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers
3. Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman.
and I can't help myself, a bonus:
4.Tome of the Undergates, by Sam Sykes. Personally, I didn't care for it, but I'm crazy curious to know your thoughts.
I'm going to be lame and vote for two of the ones I nominated: The Long Price Quartet and The Last Unicorn. Both are very powerful stories.
This isn't a vote, but I found The Last Wish to be fairly good. I didn't have any problem with the translation myself.
I'm way late to the party and realise the winner has already been announced, but…
1. Shadow & Claw – Gene Wolfe
2. City of Saints and Madmen – Jeff Vandermeer
3. The Etched City – KJ Bishop
4. Memoirs of a Master Forger – William Heaney
5. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The above I want read and reviewed ASAP. No excuses! And to break things up a little (I admit a few of my selections are perhaps a little ponderous) you should also partake of the Fables graphic novels.
Get to it!