1. The Last Herald Mage Trilogy - Mercedes Lackey
2. The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson
3. Crime & Punishment - Dostoevsky
4. Mars Trilogy - Kim Stanley Ronbinson
5. Jude The Obscure - Thomas Hardy
6. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
7. Byzantium (3v) - John Julius Norwich
8. The Island At The Center of the World - Russell Shorto
9. 1491 - Charles C Mann
10. Natasha's Dance - Orlando Figes
2. The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson
3. Crime & Punishment - Dostoevsky
4. Mars Trilogy - Kim Stanley Ronbinson
5. Jude The Obscure - Thomas Hardy
6. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
7. Byzantium (3v) - John Julius Norwich
8. The Island At The Center of the World - Russell Shorto
9. 1491 - Charles C Mann
10. Natasha's Dance - Orlando Figes
Restricting it to SF/F (not hard, although I'd probably have something by Hardy on the list) and leaving Tolkien off the list, ordered by how many times I've re-read the book:
1. Catherine Asaro - Primary Inversion
2. Barbara Hambly - The Ladies of Mandrigyn
3. Catherynne M. Valente - Palimpsest
4. Nicola Griffith - Slow River
5. Tanith Lee - The Birth Grave
6. Vera Nazarian - Lords of Rainbow
7. China Mieville - Perdido Street Station
8. Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars
9. Samuel R. Delany - Tales of Neveryon
10. Storm Constantine - Calenture or Sign for the Sacred [can't choose, really can't]
11. Elizabeth Bear - By the Mountain Bound
I can't get it down to 10. No way. If I had to save 10 books from a fire, I guess I'd let Barbara Hambly go because I've read it enough times. And I'd choose Calenture over Sign for the Sacred, perhaps irrationally. If you made me put Tolkien on the list, I would take off By the Mountain Bound, since it was a recent read and I'm not as attached to it yet.
This message last edited by Aeryn on 22/04/2010 at 03:59:44 AM
5 best books of British Authorship you've ever read
21/04/2010 08:10:56 PM
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Hmmm. Difficult.
21/04/2010 08:15:31 PM
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Harumph.
21/04/2010 08:51:25 PM
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And of course Huxley's Brave New World.
21/04/2010 08:52:49 PM
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Interesting.
21/04/2010 09:08:35 PM
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Re: Interesting.
21/04/2010 09:19:41 PM
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Without rules, peoples' best "5" becomes meaningless. Hard decisions need to be made.
21/04/2010 10:00:08 PM
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Yes, but then the number was arbitrary to begin with...
21/04/2010 10:26:02 PM
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I was forced to read JUDE the OBSCURE in high school.
21/04/2010 09:50:37 PM
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It's in my top ten books of all time.
21/04/2010 10:02:01 PM
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what are the others in your Top 10 of All Time?
21/04/2010 10:11:29 PM
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Here goes,
21/04/2010 10:36:21 PM
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...I think that's the first time I've noticed Lackey on anyone's top books list. <3
22/04/2010 12:13:26 AM
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As a gay teenager, albeit a happy one in NYC, her books were still powerful for me.
22/04/2010 01:00:21 AM
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omg, naming top 10 is impossible.
22/04/2010 03:57:24 AM
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I enjoyed it as well
21/04/2010 10:45:53 PM
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The movie version of Jude the Obscure is bad. Really bad. And doesn't make me want to read the book.
21/04/2010 10:28:44 PM
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Leaving aside the usual suspects (Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, Chaucer, Hardy, Austen)
21/04/2010 10:49:35 PM
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This is a very difficult task.
22/04/2010 02:16:07 AM
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I love your number one. I love that book
22/04/2010 02:51:15 AM
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It was the book I had in mind when talking about Island at the Center of the World.
22/04/2010 02:57:32 AM
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I suppose it depends on definitions...
22/04/2010 04:34:40 PM
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Irish by accident of birth, English to the depths of his soul by the grace of God. *NM*
22/04/2010 10:12:28 PM
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Oh wow.
22/04/2010 02:29:38 AM
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just remembered the Herriot books.
24/04/2010 03:48:18 PM
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James Herriot has a special place in my heart.
25/04/2010 01:45:50 AM
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I'm going to cheat and give you two different lists
22/04/2010 06:54:18 AM
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Ooo
22/04/2010 06:54:21 PM
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If I wanted to be really specific I could say book 1: The Sword in the Stone
23/04/2010 02:37:24 AM
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