Sometimes, I run out of reading material, but not really. I just run out of books that I haven’t read and can figure out which ones I haven’t, or if I do figure that bit out, which book to read first. I think it’s because of that charity book-bin compulsion. Or just seeing any used-book bin, or a free book bin. I just have to look and see what looks interesting. If it looks interesting enough, it becomes part of my collection. Once more out of reading material, and apparently bored for no reason, I went through my entire library (this doesn’t mean a room with shelves filled with books, this means books in rooms and sometimes on shelves), and pulled out all the books I’d yet to read.

I don’t know where to start. Actually, that’s a lie. I do. I’ve started with 1984 because I only pretend-read it in high school. See, they told me to read it, and of course, I didn’t. But recently (upon discovering a copy in a used book bin alongside Cliffs notes, Silas Marner, and Animal Farm), I realized that 1984 is exactly the sort of book I’d like—a dystopia. A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of two other books I possessed and hadn’t read—Fool’s Run and The Doomsday Book—and I liked both of them (Doomsday, I loved). So I’ve come to realize, a bit belatedly, that my friends know what I like. So, help me, dear friends, figure out what to read after 1984, and what to read after that. Here’s the book list:

• The Hall of the Mountain King, Judith Tarr
• The Lady of Han-Gilen, Judith Tarr
• Broca’s Brain, Carl Sagan
• Rusalka, C.J. Cherryh
• Ringworld, Larry Niven
• The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
• The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov (actually, with this one, I just need to be convinced to finish the last five or so pages).
• The Oathbound, Mercedes Lackey
• The Gate to Women’s Country, Sheri S. Tepper
• Star of Danger, Marion Zimmer Bradley
• The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke
• Catspaw, Joan D. Vinge
• Hellspark, Janet Kagan
• 17 Where Do We Go From Here?, Edited by Isaac Asimov
• Tunnel in the Sky, Robert A. Heinlein
• The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
• JOB: A Comedy of Justice, Robert A. Heinlein
• A Feast for Crows, George R.R. Martin (this is another ‘convince me to finish’ as I made it about halfway through and lost interest)
• American Empire: Blood and Iron, Harry Turtledove
• Magician: Apprentice, Raymond E. Feist (I vaguely recall reading this in middle school)
• Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson (yet again, convince me to finish after I stopped around halfway through)
• Everything’s Eventual, Stephen King
• Lisey’s Story, Stephen King
• The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman (I’ve read The Golden Compass)
• The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman
• The Namesake, Jhumpra Lahiri
• Mona in the Promised Land, Gish Jen
• Lancelot, Walker Percy
• Guardian of the Horizon, Elizabeth Peters
• Butterfly Sunday, David Hill
• The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
• What If?, Edited by Robery Cowley

Categories: books