So basically I was unschooled, and the amount of books I’ve read in my life is embarrassingly low. It was never emforced like in a school, and with my family’s religious hangups, I never tried getting into new things because I never knew what would be deemed “offensive”.
But I’m always interested when I hear people talk about both storycraft and also literary criticism, so I want to take an earnest stab at getting into books.
No real criteria, I don’t know what I like so I can’t tell you what I’m looking for, other than it needs to be in English or have an English translation. Just wanna know what y’all think would make good or important reading.
ETA holy shit thanks for all the suggestions! Definitely gonna make a list
The best science fiction has to offer:
Metro 2033
Sphere
Jurassic Park
Roadside Picnic
Metamorphosis
Add from Stephen King:
Night Shift
4 Minutes to Midnight
(Both are novellas/story collections)
And also:
The Call of Cthulhu and other weird tales
I agree with more than one of these, but I would call out The Metamorphosis as one that everybody should read. You can appreciate it at any age (well, within reason–maybe not for the 8-year-olds), it’s dramatic and captivating, and it’s short.
I always try to recommend books of short stories to my friends who like to read but don’t have much time for it.
Your “best of sf” doesn’t include many recognized classics. That’s weird. No LeGuin, no Bester?
Michael Crichton in a list of “best sci-fi”? Really? He just does mass market pulp. It can be entertaining, in the same way a Transformers movie can, but it hardly qualifies as “best”.