Blimix's Favorite Books

You see a collection of books labeled "Absolute All-Time Greats":

• Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's trilogy¹
• John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar
• Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens
• Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
• Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
• Frank Herbert, Dune
• Douglas Hofstadter, Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid²
• Barry Hughart, Bridge of Birds
• R.F. Laird, The Boomer Bible
• Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
• Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
• Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy
• Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
• J.R.R. Tolkein, the Lord of the Rings trilogy

The next collection over is labeled "Really Good, Not To Be Missed":

• Douglas Adams, the Dirk Gently series
• Richard Adams, Watership Down
• Dave Barry, Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys
• Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon
• David Brin, Sundiver
• Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead
• Noam Chomsky, Understanding Power: The Indispensible Chomsky
• David Eddings, the Belgariad and the Mallorean
• Richard Feynman, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
• Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett, The Mind's I
• John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
• Richard Preston, The Hot Zone
• Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat
• Anything at all by Spider Robinson
• Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
• Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
• Raymond Smullyan, This Book Needs No Title⁴
• Voltaire, Candide
• Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends
• Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber (both cycles)
• Lots of SF short story collections by Asmiov, Zelazny, Silverburg, etc.

You also notice some scattered comics and graphic novels, including:

• "Astro City"
• "The Books of Magic"
• "Hellblazer"
• "Johnny The Homicidal Maniac"
• "Kingdom Come"
• "Mage"
• "Sandman"
• "Sluggy Freelance"
• "Swamp Thing"
• "The Tick"
• "V for Vendetta"
• "Watchmen"

• Examine the rest of the bookshelf.
• Leave the bookshelf.

1. I can never figure out which of the two categories is more appropriate for THGTTG - there is better and more sophisticated writing out there, but the enjoyment value (and cultural value) is immense. It was certainly my favorite series in my youth.
2. If the time and effort involved in mining this for its many great bits of philosophy are scarse, move it to the next level down.
4. This is so easy, quick and rewarding to read that there's no excuse for not doing so. In my opinion.

Entrance | Yindex | © 1999-2008