I find Asimov uneven (he published SO MUCH some of it was bound to be awful), but I certainly have enjoyed reading him.
Funny thing about black and white. You mix it together and you get gray. And it doesn't matter how much white you try and put back in, you're never gonna get anything but gray.
Lilah ,'Destiny'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
-t - Dec 21, 2011 8:43:18 am PST #17116 of 28769
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Kathy A - Dec 21, 2011 8:44:20 am PST #17117 of 28769
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I don't think it qualifies as SF/F, but if you go with Gothic Horror as being somewhat in the general genre, that college class also included "The Yellow Wallpaper" in its reading list, which made a huge impact on me at the time.
Ginger - Dec 21, 2011 8:45:20 am PST #17118 of 28769
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I'd include The Female Man in any list of important/influential SF.
I have reread the Foundation series as an adult, but not recently. There's a lot more tell than show, but there's also a grand sweep of ideas.
Toddson - Dec 21, 2011 8:57:34 am PST #17119 of 28769
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
"The Yellow Wallpaper" is one of the scariest things I've ever read.
Strega - Dec 21, 2011 9:03:33 am PST #17120 of 28769
Yeah, I read some of Asimov's short stories; that was enough. The ideas are fun and I certainly understand his importance. But that's not enough to interest me in a novel, much less a series.
The Cold Equations always makes me think of Sheckley's The Cruel Equations. (Although it's actually about the Laws of Robotics.) Anyway, Sheckley's great and very funny.
erikaj - Dec 21, 2011 9:04:29 am PST #17121 of 28769
"Somewhere in this building is our talent." Toby Ziegler, my spirit animal
I think because we know it happened to real women(including Gilman herself) I don't like Asimov either, but I'm not really an SF person.
Atropa - Dec 21, 2011 9:16:34 am PST #17122 of 28769
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
(Hell, I might as well say, "All Bradbury short stories."
YES. Especially "Homecoming". t obvious bias is obvious
Connie Neil - Dec 21, 2011 9:22:08 am PST #17123 of 28769
brillig
Simak's Goblin Reservation is good. Damn, why are half of my books in the garage behind the decrepit Mustang II!
Ginger - Dec 21, 2011 9:22:14 am PST #17124 of 28769
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
More...
- Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower
- Vernor Vinge, True Names (The Deepness books are really good, but True Names is the most influential)
- Connie Willis, Doomsday Book (I love all of Connie Willis, but many people don't.)
- Jack Vance, The Dying Earth
- Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination
- Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, The Game Players of Titan, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar
- Frank Herbert, Dune, Dune Messiah
- William Gibson, Neuromancer (and most of the rest, but Neuromancer really marked a sea change in the genre)
- Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (and the rest, but True Names, Neuromancer and Snow Crash were the cyberpunk books that shaped cyberspace)
Ginger - Dec 21, 2011 9:25:04 am PST #17125 of 28769
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I love Clifford Simak, who seems to have fallen along the wayside. Except for some clunky early and late books, I love them all, particularly Goblin Reservation and Way Station.