“The Sword of Shannara” was the book that made me love reading. I was twelve and my new step-brothers gave it to me for Christmas. Till then I was not into reading novels. I picked that up, got hooked and it made me become an avid reader.
I will not try to defend it as great literature (I’ve certainly read much better since then) but it holds a special place in my heart.
That said I remember meeting Terry Brooks at some convention (I was maybe 13-14 at the time) and he was a total dick (I promise I was nowhere near being obnoxious or annoying…Brooks was legitimately a dick). Haven’t picked up a book of his since.
Hell, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction has been doing it since 1949, and is still in print even, which I discovered to my surprise recently when buying a back issue off ebay landed me a subscription.
And the biggest award in the field recognizes both genres of books. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire have both won Hugos.
Yes, there are some books that are unambiguously one or the other, but there’s also a huge blurry middle ground.
I don’t buy it - those are not sci-fi books at to me - they create a totally different reading experience. Perhaps this is subjective. If you want to group everything under “speculative fiction” then that would make sense.
…with apologies to the OP for hijacking this thread.
Understood. I read it too, and enjoyed it when I did - but that was before I had read much of anything (maybe after I read LotR). I think it was the first novel I bought for myself (I had read some of the serialized newspaper comic version of the book, and wanted to find out how it ended).
I’m not sure if you saw my link. That’s exactly the grouping I’m referencing. And no, I don’t really see much difference in reading experience between my favourite science fiction and fantasy authors - possibly because most of the authors I like best do both - Le Guin for instance, or Miéville.
I dunno about “vast,” but I’ve read 28 of the books on that list. Standouts for me: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (naturally), Old Man’s War, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, The Forever War, I, Robot, Starship Troopers, Childhood’s End, The Martian and Game of Thrones. But gahh, that Amazon formatting!
I’ve read 40 of these, including 9 of the top 10 (omitting only Gaiman’s American Gods). Glad to see Watchmen and The Mote in God’s Eye on this list. I would’ve cut Sagan’s Contact - a much better movie than book IMHO.
I was a little surprised to see Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife on both lists. I enjoyed it, and have recommended it to others, but didn’t know it had become so beloved, and I’m not quite sure it’s that good.
I’ve read 43 of these, including all of their Top 10. Harry Potter is definitely overrepresented.
I have to admit I’m not a fan of Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz. Just didn’t do anything for me. Maybe I should give it another try sometime.
Hey, I’m a Protestant, and I loved Canticle. But there’s a whole generation or more of people who grew up after the Cold War, and the post-nuclear apocalypse may resonate a lot less with them (and of course, even older people aren’t required to like everything I like - it’s just encouraged, not required).
I have to agree with the description ‘to read in a lifetime’. Because if you’ve got a lifetime and are interested in books, you should read those books.
But any other period would be to short to bother reading some of those books.
If you think all books are the same, a lifetime would be too sort to read that list. If you don’t think all books are the same, you will surely find something to dislike in that collection
And now this thread will turn into a long, boring argument on what the genres are.
Incidentally, can someone show me how to do a list on the new version of the SDMB without the board insisting on showing a picture of each item in the list? I just did it above by linking together the links by repeated use of “and”, but that’s not what I wanted to do. I wanted a list of the links with each link being on a separate line with no picture of each item (and no repeats of the word “and”, but the board won’t let me do that. I hate those stupid pictures.
I’m Episcopalian. I’ve enjoyed other Catholic-themed sf (most notably George R.R. Martin’s short story “The Way of Cross and Dragon”), so I don’t think that’s the issue.