Significantly more than the average American, in fact. I can’t find the figures now, but I remember calculating that I could bring a couple blocks around my house up to average even if the neighborhood was deserted. My books aren’t organized or displayed properly, however, because I have a fairly small house. Most of my books are in boxes in the crawlspace.
That just makes me drool even more over these beautiful libraries.
Via Known Unknowns.
It was one of the few science fiction novels I knew of that was set in Denver (at least partly). Now, it’s a webcomic.
It appears that there is no longer any need to read the books to see how it all turned out.
So I curled up with a bad book.
Well, you certainly don’t have to. I found the list here, and was surprised by how many of them I’ve actually read. It seems like a pretty personal list, in the sense that there are books I wouldn’t have put on the list, and other books I would have expected to be there. Then again, the list is promulgated by someone who goes by “booboo,” and not by a publisher’s organization or group of literature critics or professors.
I suspect that it’s actually a compendium of those things that “booboo” has read, because there is no apparent organization, nor does any entry have an actual reason stating why you should read that particular book, as opposed to another. I mean, Philip Roth’s The Breast is on the list, and I can’t think of a reason why, other than the possibility that Philip Roth is presumed to be so important that everyone should read every word he’s written. I mean, I’ve read the damn thing, and I don’t know why anyone should, unless it’s assigned as coursework.
I have similar problems with other entries, but I won’t go into them. I’m sure anyone reading the list will have their own reservations about the “Have To Read”-itness of various entries.
In any case, my annotated copy of the list is after the fold.
Today marks the centennial of Robert Heinlein‘s birth. To mark the occasion, there is a convention in Kansas City this weekend. I’m sorry I’m missing it, but I’m seldom able to attend out-of-town conventions these days.
He’s one of my favorite SF authors, and, though I never met him, we have something in common – besides being graduates of the U. S. Naval Academy (although he predated me by a number of years), we both fenced for Navy. In Starship Troopers, one of the characters shares the last name of Andre Deladrier, who was my coach at Navy.
In his office in the fencing loft, Coach Deladrier kept a rusty antique rapier, which he once told me had belonged to his incarnation in an earlier life. I can’t say I believe in reincarnation, but I think I’d like to know about my earlier lives, if there were any. If there is reincarnation, though, I’m not certain my future incarnations would care to know about this life.
Continuing with the theme, here we have a spreadsheet of important science fiction. My numbers, based on my recollection, are:
50% of the Hugo winners,
32% of the Hugo nominees,
37% of the Nebula winners,
40% of the Locus award winners,
58% of the anthologies, and,
34.5% of the works listed.
I think my actual numbers would be higher, although not by much. Anything with a familiar-sounding title that I wasn’t certain of, I left off the list. I do note that most of my reading is in the earlier works; there’s little I’ve read that came out since about 1999.
And, speaking of science fiction writers, many of them don’t know what they’re talking about.
Find out here, maybe.
Via Boing Boing.
JunkYardBlog points to an obituary of Lloyd Alexander, who died on the 17th. He outlived both his wife and his adopted daughter.
I came across his books fairly late, but I’m glad that I read the Prydain Chronicles before seeing the Disney movie – I really didn’t care for it, and that would probably have turned me off looking for them.
I have two copies of the Prydain Chronicles (one hardback omnibus edition, and one set of paperbacks). The omnibus edition is currently lent out to a co-worker’s son. I also have a copy of Time Cat. I had no idea he had written as many books as he had.