As Dean Winchester would say...

[rabid1st]

"Son of a bitch!"

I managed to get my new computer out of its packing foam. The foam was INSIDE the computer. And I managed to set it up and go through the Windows 7 access and activation and install all of my components and get it to talk to all of the external hardware. Then, I started installing the essential software...Adobe Flash Player and Google Chrome and Adobe Reader and VLC media player and Virus Protection and Malware Protection and Firewalls.

And I fought, fought, fought with Windows 7 as I attempted to figure out what all of the new names for things mean and why it won't just let me see MY COMPUTER and why for some ridiculous reason 64-Bit doesn't recognize Adobe products. I mean, REALLY?

So, after all that, before I started on Instant Messengers and Vidding Software and Writing Software installs, I thought I would take a moment to enjoy some music videos. And that's when I noticed that I only have one harddrive. Yes, I should have noticed that when I unpacked the thing, but it was my first time ever looking inside a computer and I was mainly thinking about making sure everything was attached and what I had ordered--that is, the BRANDS, I had ordered. I did get 2TB of harddrive space, but it is all on the C: drive. There should be a D: drive, too.

So, the computer has to be stripped of all my personal settings and repacked for return shipping and I'm going to be without a computer for another month or however long it takes them to fix this situation. I mean, I suppose they could just send me another hard drive and call it even, but they probably won't do that.

"Son of a bitch!"

Meanwhile...here is a meme which I gakked from ramblinsuze to keep you all entertained while I'm gone.

I was raised on SciFi. When other kids were reading the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in fourth grade, I was reading Howard and Heinlein and Asimov and Burroughs. Let me tell you, the original Conan can give you some serious nightmares when you are 12 years old. It's no wonder I turned out like this. But I gave up most scifi when they started doing alternative histories and virtual worlds, which was just after I started working full time after college.

Bold for read it
Italics for partially read
Underline for planning to read it
Strike-through for never ever reading
Question Marks for NEVER HEARD OF IT
Plain Text for Undecided.


1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien I just couldn't stand these books. Gave up half-way through the Two Towers. Still don't regret it.
2. The Hitchhiker,s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman ????
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan - I gave up after book one. It looked like something that would drag on forever to me. Was sooo right about that!
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
22. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
23. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
24. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King - I have looked at it a few times. Can't say I will read it.
25. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
26. The Stand, by Stephen King One of my favorite books, even though it is very poorly written and edited.
27. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson ???? - But I am intrigued by this title and will look it up.
28. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury Not as good as I expected them to be. Why isn't there a "I regret reading this!" choice. I could have put it on Dune and Lord of the Rings.
29. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
30. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
31. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
32. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings ???? I need to look closer at this one.
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman - I like me some Gaiman. But he is largely after my time reading SciFi, so I need to catch up on him sometime.
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons ???? - I have some vague idea about this one, but no real recall.
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett Suze hasn't read Pratchett. Any of you who haven't read Pratchett, get to it. Man is a genius. However, I wouldn't start with this one.
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy The Stand gets the literary treatment and editting it was looking for...and fewer characters I understand. But still, when there is no Mad Max, why bother?
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb Let's just replace this entry with The Farseer Trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer and call it read.
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger I will just watch the Moffat version over and over again, thanks.
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore What the HELL is this guy doing on a best of list, anyway? This is why I gave up SciFi reading...THIS!
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson ????
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde Didn't care for these, sorry Kes!
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks Finally, something that looks interesting to me.
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart And why not THIS whole series when you have all of Jordan on this thing. Jordan and Salvatore?
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis



Have fun. But feel very bad that this list didn't include Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert J. Sawyer. Read Hominids or Factoring God or the Farseer Trilogy. And read some Pratchett. Start with The Wyrd Sisters, I think, if you like some Shakespeare. I should be around for the next couple of days as I won't hear back from them until Monday.

Comments

[auntiesuze.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of "WTF is that doing on there???" and "why isn't that on there???" with this list. It's an odd mix, that's for sure.

So, if I shouldn't start with "Small Gods"..."The Wyrd Sisters" you say? I can do that. :)

I liked the Belgariad series. It's your basic wizard, boy hero fantasy series. I read it...geez...must be 15+ years ago now.

And good luck with your computer! Stupid technology.... *grumble*

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I am really seriously thinking of starting my own list of SciFi people should read. I mean, Marrow is not on this list. The Sparrow is not on this list. And several other books that do not rhyme with Marrow. :grin:

Rae
who should make a better list for sure.

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

I love everything Robin Hobb wrote. Is there a reason for crossing out the Farseer trilogy? It's one of the real gems I stumbled on while waiting for George R. R. Martin to release a new book :)Try the Game of Throne TV series for Martin. Get through the first ep which is mainly preposition and then it really starts rolling. The books are even better :) And they are no Wheel of Time either. I stopped that one at volume three.

Also the Culture series is pretty good. The books are not per se connected to each other although they play in the same world, so you can read them any way you want. I just finished "Player of Games" which took a long time to get moving but ended up being quite good and memorable. I've also recently read "The Wasp Factory" by Ian Banks (the M. is only when he writes SF) and it was quite excellent, although very disturbing. Think Dexter.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I love Dexter. Darkly Dreaming Dexter is one of the books I went out on a limb for when I was buying for the library and really scored big on. One of the others was Twilight, which was pretty well written off, at first, in our neck of the woods.

These days I don't read Fantasy at all, so that's why the Farseer Trilogy was out and so is George R.R. Martin, probably. I was just giving him a little benefit of the doubt there. I have watched episode one of Game of Thrones and found it sucked. But I have considered giving it some more of my time. The thing is when you are raised on Robert Howard and Burroughs and such you don't have a lot of patience with sweaty furs and leather and broadswords and sorcerers after a time. I think I sort of outgrew the whole fantasy realm and never went back to it. I'm sure there are good books out there, but I don't have the patience anymore to go through an EPIC series of anything.

I actually don't think most stories deserve A sequel, never mind 18 of them.

Rae
who saw that Hobbs was well regarded on Amazon. And, to her credit, it is a trilogy and not 18 books.

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

Well then you should definitely give "The Wasp Factory" a try. I think it's the first book that Ian Banks got published even thought it's not the first he wrote. Definitely has a strong Dexter vibe going :)

I understand what you mean about epic fantasy. I loved Tad Williams in the beginning but he just kept on writing and writing and writing and filling books with details that I didn't care about. Give me characters, give me plot, that's what I want! Robin Hobb is great with the characters and not bad on world building and plot. Definitely falls in the "good romp" category.

GoT had me really disappointed at the first ep even though I knew the books and knew that it would take some time. But even I thought that people who had no idea would not get it at all. My bf wasn't taken either. But after ep 2 it started picking up and it was a hell of a ride after that. It's in the top of my bfs series list this year now (and mine too) even though he's not a fantasy guy. It's actually the best thing I saw this year.

I think trilogies are fine. I don't mind them. But as soon as people start going on and on it get's tedious a lot of the time. I usually don't start reading series until they're finished as I don't like waiting (which is why I haven't read the last Martin books, I'll re-read it once it's finished). Sometimes I do though as they get such great recs and I rarely regret it. Usually there's enough other stuff to read and keep me occupied until a new volume comes out. In case of Martin though: his world is so complex and he takes so damn long that I'll rather wait till he's finished. Some re-read all books when a new one comes out, but I'd rather read something new :)

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

The rereading thing is what is stopping me from finishing with Jean Auel. Well, that and her fourth book was starting to bore me.

I have read some fantasy recently. I read Graceling and loved that. So it is somewhat possible I might give Hobbs a try based on your recommendation.

Rae

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

I just found out about her a year ago and I've finished nearly all her books by now (3 trilogies and another book series, all set in the Farseer world, and her short story collection). I really love her characters, especially one of them that is in most of the books. Sadly she got a lot of crap about the ending of the last Farseer book and decided not to continue for now... I still hope she changes her mind on this. I can understand not wanting to write though if you have bad feelings due to fan reactions...

[susanb03.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed for the most part Clan of the Cave Bear series......Auel

[susanb03.livejournal.com]

OH ugh about your computer!

Totally reccommend the Jacquline Carey books...Kushiel and Naamah.

Barnes and Noble recc'd American Gods by Neil Gaiman.. not really sure.....

And if Tolkein's on that list where's Terry Brooks MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE...SOLD books????

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

You are so right about Magic Kingdom for Sale...Sold! I would put it right up there with Sword of Shannara. And were is the Black Cauldron series? Instead we get Watership Down? I'm not saying that isn't a fine book, but I don't think of it as SciFi.

[susanb03.livejournal.com]

Just found you can get the first three Magic Kingdom for sale...Sold, the Black Unicorn, and Wizard at Large together from BN for 9.99 as a Nookbook!

[susanb03.livejournal.com]

Then they get you. The last three are sold as 2 for 11.99 and the third for 7.99 respectively. So they sucker you in with a great deal of 3 for 9.99 and then charge you MORE for the Nookbooks than the hard backs for the last three :(

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

The bastards! LOL

[susanb03.livejournal.com]

Still 30 dollars for 6 books is not a bad deal....

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

::high-fives you about #1::

Why don't you want to read World War Z? It's surprisingly well-constructed! Also, it goes nicely with The Zombie Survival Guide.

I'm surprised how many of my LJ friends have also read Xanth. I got through the first 25, then got tired of the pun density. Still, parts of that series are embedded in me now. Curses, foiled again!

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I am not a big fan of zombies. I Am Legend falls in that category and I did watch Night of the Comet and Zombieland. But mostly, I don't like zombies.

I used to have a lot of Xanth style puns up my sleeve. The only one that comes to mind just now is the Cat Ass Trophy, from, I think Ogre, Ogre, which I thought was horrible at the time. It really made me groan.

I know there were ones that made me laugh though!

Have you read Pratchett? He also likes that sort of humor but he's very clever.

My fave quote of his is, "If you give a man a fire, he's warm for the day. But if you set him on fire, he's warm for the rest of his life."

There is, also, "The truth shall make thee fret."

I always laugh my way through his books.

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, about the zombies. And heh, I actually don't think Xanth is Anthony's best work, even though he forever ruined the words "striation" and "demonstration" for me. The Bio of a Space Tyrant series is my favorite of his, I think.

"If you give a man a fire, he's warm for the day. But if you set him on fire, he's warm for the rest of his life."

My roommate actually tells me this a lot.

I tried a Pratchett book once, but I find I don't like to read British humor authors very much. I can't even articulate why. I never even finished The Hitchhiker's Guide, which is a fact that, when shared, gets me the most ridiculous, fish-like expressions from people. Maybe I'll give Pratchett another chance at some point, though.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Well, one of the things about Pratchett is that his books are tailored to mock certain things and he has a few different styles. Sadly, the first book in the series is a Rincewind/Wizard novel and I really am not a fan of the wizards. I like the witches. But my favorite character is easily Death. So, I would recommend you start with Mort...which is Death takes on an apprentice.

There's poor Mort waiting at Ye Olde Faire to be apprenticed out to some trade. All the other lads get picked and he's still standing there. It gets dark and spooky and then a man rides up on a pale horse. A horse named Binky. And Mort is off on a grand adventure commanding time and space and life and death and making a few improvements on how things are done.

Which reminds me...another quote...Death is in all CAPS. Because he's DEATH!

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN?

The Death of Rats looked up from his feast of potato.

SQUEAK, he said.

Death waved a hand dismissively. WELL, YES, OBVIOUSLY ME, he said. I JUST WONDERED IF THERE WAS ANYONE ELSE.

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

Hehe. That sounds like a cracked out version of On a Pale Horse.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Yes! And there's a great book, too! I love On A Pale Horse! Though I didn't love all of the Incarnations books.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

You know...I say that about On A Pale Horse, but I read that book when I was 15 or so. I think I should probably reread it and see if I still love it.

It is interesting though, because I can really enjoy a book that isn't written in particularly good prose. I find interesting ideas more valuable than line by line good writing, I suppose. Though, I know that Anthony often tested me with his airheaded female characters always being sexpots. He rarely had a strong female lead in his books, even those about women like With A Tangled Skein.

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

I read OaPH at about 16, but it's been on my mind a lot lately, what with Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Anthony is a dirty old man. That's just something I realized and accepted forever ago; I sometimes read a book of his and have to slap my forehead or shake my head, "Oh, Anthony, people born in 1934 are weird."

In other news, reading The Color of her Panties at school was fun. I think I made a book cover out of loose leaf...

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I am looking at you with a fish-like expression.

However, I think that Pratchett can be more accessible than Hitchhiker.

As I was saying...Pratchett's books are tailored to mock certain ideas.

The Truth goes after journalism and sensationalism.

Jingo goes after patriotism and nation building.

Small Gods goes after religion.

Pyramids goes after religion and cults and ancient Egypt.

Carpe Jugulum goes after the vampire trend.

Wyrd Sisters mocks Shakespeare.

And, since I gave you a taste of Death...here's what Wikipedia says about Granny Weatherwax, my second favorite character.

Granny Weatherwax, if she can help it, wears a plain black dress, a somewhat battered black cloak and a tall, pointed witch's hat, skewered to her 'iron-hard grey bun' hairstyle with multiple hatpins. She is thin, and, while not really that tall, has such a commanding presence that she seems tall. Many references are given to her blue eyes, penetrating gaze, and apparently height-boosting confidence. Her physical description in Equal Rites is described as "handsome", having an excellent complexion, no warts, and all her teeth, although it is implied she finds this a bit inappropriate for a witch.

Granny Weatherwax has a near-unshakeable belief in her own abilities, which has thus far proved accurate, and an extreme distrust of stories. She was intended by nature to be a "wicked witch" but, at an early age, realised she had to be "the good one" to balance her sister, Lily (Lilith).

Lily gives people what they want. Granny gives them what they need.