buter's BABY blog

Jarv recently posted about her NaNoWriMo efforts - she's introduced me to the term dystopian novel.

After looking it up on wikipedia, I realise that I've actually read (and enjoyed) a lot of dystopian novels. That makes me feel all posh and educated (or something). But then, as Jarv said, I wouldn't necessarily want to go ahead with reading books just *because* they are in that category.

Someone told me recently that I must be a fast reader. Why? Because I have read so many books, that I must finish them quickly. Well, maybe. I guess I do read quite fast, which makes it less of an investment for me to re-read something.

I know I've done a list before, of sci-fi that I've read and appreciated, so you know how to calibrate against my taste in geekery. But you don't know my taste in novels overall. So here is a quick run-down of types of fiction I've enjoyed (in terms you don't have to look up on wikipedia). And if you're interested, I've read most of these several times, and continue to enjoy reading them.

1. Period social satire:
Jane Austen - Persuasion
Tolstoy - Anna Karenina

2. Other worlds (fantasy):
JRR Tolkein - LOTR, specifically The Return of the King
Ursula le Guin - Earthsea, specifically A Wizard of Earthsea
Stephen Donaldson - The Mirror of Her Dreams (Mordant's Need)

3. Science Fiction:
William Gibson - Neuromancer
Neal Stephenson - The Diamond Age
Isaac Asimov - Foundation (is this dystopian? probably?)
Douglas Adams - HHGTTG, of course

4. Assorted stuff that makes me *think*, and it can be pretty hard going sometimes:
Neal Stephenson - Quicksilver (and the others)
Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the Shore (but all the rest as well!)
Alain de Botton - Consolations of Philosophy

I leave it to you, faithful reader, to make your own opinions (and your own google/amazon/imdb searches).

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