My haphazard journal, to chronicle the books I read and my reaction to them.

THE STYLOFONE LIST OF GREAT SF BOOKS

Because I work for a television news program, I am usually tired of reality by the time I get home. So my reading for pleasure is largely confined to science fiction, fantasy and children's literature. I like to maintain a steady diet of the best of these genres. There is a lot of pulp around for the unwary SF reader. To help avoid it, I have scoured several sources listing the most acclaimed works of (mostly) Science Fiction, and compiled them into my one super list of books to read before one dies. The sources include the Sci-Fi Lover's List, the Pringle list, James Wallace Harris's excellent "classics" research, Hugo and Nebula Award Winners, and the Orion SF Masterworks series.

The ones I've read and recommend are marked "rr". The ones I've read and do not recommend quite so highly are marked "r". Other than that I'm not saying these books are any good... only that other people seem to think so. The books I own and am yet to read are marked "o". I make no claims that this is a complete list - if you think there are any omissions, make your own list and add them to it.

THE DECLAN STYLOFONE LIST OF SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS TO SEEK OUT

Adams, Douglas - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (rr)
Pat Frank - Alas, Babylon
Aldiss, Brain - Non-Stop (rr)
Aldiss, Brain - Hothouse (rr)
Aldiss, Brian - Greybeard (o)
Aldiss, Brian - Helliconia Spring (rr)
Amis, Kingsley - The Alteration (rr)
Anderson, Poul - Brain Wave
Anderson, Poul - Tau Zero (r)
Anderson, Poul - A Midsummer Tempest
Anderson, Poul - The Star Fox
Arnason, Eleanor - A Woman of the Iron People
Arnzen, Michael A. - Grave Markings
Asimov, Isaac - Before the Golden Age
Asimov, Isaac - Foundation Trilogy, The (r)
Asimov, Isaac - Gods Themselves, The (o)
Asimov, Isaac - I, Robot (r)
Asimov, Isaac - The End of Eternity (o)
Asimov, Isaac - The Caves of Steel
Atwood, Margaret - The Handmaid's Tale
Ballard, J G - The Crystal World
Ballard, J G - The Terminal Beach (o)
Ballard, J. G. - Chronopolis and Other Stories
Ballard, J.G. - The Drowned World (rr)
Ballard, J.G. - Crash
Ballard, J.G. - High Rise
Banks, Iain M - Use of Weapons (r)
Banks, Iain M. - Player of Games (rr)
Banks, Iain M. - Against a Dark Background(rr)
Barker, Clive - Sacrament
Barnes, John - Mother of Storms
Batchelor, John Calvin - The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica
Baxter, Stephen - The Time Ships
Bear, Greg - Blood Music
Bear, Greg - Eon(o)
Bear, Greg - Moving Mars
Bear, Greg - Darwin's Radio
Bellamy, Edward - Looking Backward
Benford, Gregory - Timescape (o)
Beresford, J. D. - Hampdenshire Wonder, The
Bester, Alfred - Demolished Man, The(r)
Bester, Alfred - Stars My Destination, The(o)
Bishop, Michael - No Enemy But Time
Bishop, Michael - Brittle Innings
Bishop, Michael - Unicorn Mountain
Blish, James - Cities in Flight
Blish, James - A Case of Conscience(o)
Brackett, Leigh - The Long Tomorrow
Bradbury, Ray - Fahrenheit 451(rr)
Bradbury, Ray - Illustrated Man, The(rr)
Bradbury, Ray - The Martian Chronicles(o)
Brin, David - Startide Rising (o)
Brin, David - The Postman
Brin, David - The Uplift War
Brite, Poppy Z. - Drawing Blood
Broderick, Damien - The Dreaming Dragons
Brunner, John - Sheep Look Up, The
Brunner, John - Stand on Zanzibar(o)
Budrys, Algis - Rogue Moon
Budrys, Algis - Michaelmas
Bujold, Lois McMaster - Barrayar
Burgess, Anthony - A Clockwork Orange (rr)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice - A Princess of Mars
Burroughs, William - Nova Express
Butler, Octavia - Wild Seed
Butler, Octavia - Parable of the Sower
Butler, Octavia E. - Parable of the Talents
Butler, Samuel - Erewhon(o)
Cadigan, Pat - Synners
Campbell, John W. - Who Goes There?
Capek, Karel - Absolute at Large, The
Capek, Karel - R.U.R.
Capek, Karel - War With the Newts
Card, Orson Scott - Ender's Game(rr)
Card, Orson Scott - Speaker for the Dead (r)
Carter, Angela - Heroes and Villains
Cherryh, C J - Downbelow Station
Chesney, Sir George - The Battle of Dorking
Christopher, John - The Death of Grass (rr)
Clarke, Arthur C - Childhood's End (rr)
Clarke, Arthur C - Rendezvous With Rama (rr)
Clarke, Arthur C - The City and the Stars (rr)
Clarke, Arthur C - The Fountains of Paradise
Clarke, Arthur C. - A Fall of Moondust(rr)
Clemens, Samuel Longhorne - Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A
Clement, Hal - Mission of Gravity(o)
Collins, Nancy A. - Sunglasses After Dark
Crowley, John - Little, Big (o)
Crowley, John - Engine Summer
Cummings, Ray - Girl in the Golden Atom, The
De Camp, L. Sprague - Lest Darkness Fall
Delaney, Samuel R. - Babel-17(o)
Delaney, Samuel R. - Nova
Delany, Samuel R - Dhalgren (o)
Delany, Samuel R. - Einstein Intersection, The(o)
Dick, Philip K - The Man in the High Castle (rr)
Dick, Philip K - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Dick, Philip K - Ubik (o)
Dick, Philip K. - A Scanner Darkly
Dick, Philip K. - Dr. Bloodmoney
Dick, Philip K. - Flow, My Tears the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K. - Martian Time Slip
Dick, Philip K. - Now Wait For Last Year
Dick, Philip K. - Valis
Dick, Philip K. - Time Out of Joint
Dick, Philip K. - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Dickson, Gordon - Dorsai
Disch, Thomas - Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas - On the Wings of Song
Donaldson, Stephen R. - The Wounded Land
Donaldson, Stephen R. - The One Tree
Doyle, Arthur Conan - Lost World, The
Doyle, Arthur Conan - The Poison Belt
Effinger, George Alec - When Gravity Fails
Egan, Greg - Permutation City
Ellison, Harlan - Again, Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan - Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan - Deathbird Stories
Farmer, Philip Jose - Lovers, The
Farmer, Philip Jose - To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Farmer, Philip Jose - The Unreasoning Mask
Flynn, Michael F. - In the Country of the Blind
Forster, E. M. - Machine Stops and Other Stories, The
Galouye, Daniel F. - Dark Universe
Gentle, Mary - Ash: A Secret History
Geston, Mark S - Lords of the Starship
Gibson & Sterling - The Difference Engine
Gibson, William - Neuromancer (rr)
Gibson, William - Burning Chrome
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins - Herland
Gloag, John - To-Morrow's Yesterday
Golding, William - The Inheritors
Greenland, Colin - Take Back Plenty
Greg, Percy - Across the Zodiac
Griffith, Nicola - Ammonite
Griffith, Nicola - Slow River
Gunn, James - The Listeners
Haggard, H Rider - She
Haldeman, Joe - The Forever War(rr)
Haldeman, Joe - Forever Peace
Hand, Elizabeth - Waking the Moon
Harness, Charles L. - The Paradox Men
Harrison, Harry - Deathworld
Harrison, Harry - Make Room! Make Room!(rr)
Harrison, Harry - The Stainless Steel Rat
Harrison, M. John - The Centauri Device
Healy & McComas - Adventures in Time and Space
Heinlein, Robert - The Puppet Masters
Heinlein, Robert - The Door Into Summer
Heinlein, Robert - Have Spacesuit-Will Travel(o)
Heinlein, Robert A - Stranger in a Strange Land (r)
Heinlein, Robert A - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (o)
Heinlein, Robert A - Double Star
Heinlein, Robert A - The Past Through Tomorrow (o)
Heinlein, Robert A. - Starship Troopers(r)
Heinlein, Robert A. - Time Enough for Love
Herbert, Frank - Dune(rr)
Herbert, Frank - Under Pressure
Hoban, Russell - Riddley Walker(rr)
Hopkinson, Nalo - Midnight Robber
Hoyle, Fred - The Black Cloud(rr)
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World(rr)
Keyes, Daniel - Flowers for Algernon(o)
King, Stephen - The Stand
Kingsbury, Donald - Geta (vt Courtship Rite)
Knight, Damon [ed] - The Best from Orbit
Koja, Kathe - The Cipher
Kornbluth, C. M. - Best of C. M. Kornbluth, The
Kress, Nancy - Beggars in Spain
Kuttner, Henry - Best of Henry Kuttner, The
Le Guin, Ursula - A Wizard of Earthsea(rr)
Le Guin, Ursula K - The Left Hand of Darkness (rr)
Le Guin, Ursula K - The Dispossessed (rr)
Le Guin, Ursula K - The Lathe of Heaven (o)
Le Guin, Ursula K - The Wind's Twelve Quarters (o)
Le Guin, Ursula K. - Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea (r)
Leiber, Fritz - Big Time, The
Leiber, Fritz - Wanderer, The(o)
Lem, Stanislaw - Solaris
Lem, Stanislaw - The Cyberiad
Lewis, C S - Out of the Silent Planet (rr)
Lewis, C. S. - Perelandra(rr)
Lewis, C. S. - That Hideous Strength(r)
Lindsay, David - A Voyage to Arcturus
Lisle, Holly - Fire in the Mist
London, Jack - Science Fiction of Jack London, The
London, Jack - The Iron Heel
Lytton, Edward Bulwer - Coming Race, The
MacAvoy, R. A. - Tea with the Black Dragon
MacLeod, Ken - The Star Fraction
Malzberg, Barry N - Beyond Apollo
Malzberg, Barry N. - Galaxies
Marano, Michael - Dawn Song
Matheson, Richard - I Am Legend(o)
Maurois, Andre - The Weigher of Souls
May, Julian - The Many-Colored Land
McAuley, Paul J - Fairyland
McHugh, Maureen F. - China Mountain Zhang
McIntyre, Vonda N - Dreamsnake (o)
McKee, Suzy - Charnas Walk to the End of the World
McKenna, Richard - Casey Agonistes
McMullen, Sean - Souls in the Great Machine
Merril, Judith [ed] - England Swings SF
Merritt, A - The Moon Pool
Mieville, China - Perdido Street Station (rr)
Mieville, China - The Scar (rr)
Miller, Walter M - A Canticle for Leibowitz (rr)
Moorcock, Michael - Behold The Man(rr)
Moorcock, Michael - The Final Programme
Moorcock, Michael - The Dancers at the End of Time(rr)
Moore, C. L. - The Best of C. L. Moore
Moore, Ward - Bring the Jubilee(o)
Morris, William - News From Nowhere
Morrow, James - Only Begotten Daughter
Murphy, Pat - The Falling Woman
Newman, Kim - Anno Dracula
Niven & Pournelle - The Mote in God's Eye
Niven, Larry - Ringworld (r)
Niven, Larry & Jerry Pournelle - Oath of Fealty
Nix, Garth - Sabriel
Odle, E. V. - Clockwork Man, The
Orwell, George - 1984(rr)
Orwell, George - Animal Farm (rr)
Palmer, David R. - Emergence
Pangborn, Edgar - Davy (o)
Pangborn, Edgar - Mirror for Observers, A (o)
Panshin, Alexei - Rite of Passage (rr)
Piercy, Marge - Woman on the Edge of Time
Poe, Edgar Allan - The Science Fiction of Edgar Alla Poe
Pohl & Kornbluth - Space Merchants, The
Pohl, Frederik - Best of Frederik Pohl, The
Pohl, Frederik - Gateway
Pohl, Frederik - Man Plus
Pohl, Frederik - Jem
Pollack, Rachel - Temporary Agency
Powers, Tim - The Anubis Gates
Powers, Tim - Dinner at Deviant's Palace
Priest, Christopher - Inverted World (rr)
Pringle, David [ed] - The Best of Interzone
Reamy, Tom - Blind Voices
Reynolds, Alastair - Revelation Space
Reynolds, Mack - Looking Backwards, From the Year 2000
Roberts, Keith - Pavane
Robinson, Kim Stanley - Red Mars
Robinson, Kim Stanley - Green Mars (o)
Robinson, Kim Stanley - Blue Mars
Robinson, Kim Stanley - The Wild Shore
Rowling, J. K. - Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (rr)
Russ, Joanna - The Female Man(o)
Russell, Mary Doria - The Sparrow
Ryman, Geoff - The Child Garden
Sargent, Pamela [ed] - Women of Wonder
Sawyer, Robert J - The Terminal Experiment
Schmitz, James H. - The Witches of Karres
Shaw, Bob - Orbitsville
Shaw, George Bernard - Back to Methuselah
Sheckley, Robert - Untouched by Human Hands
Sheckley, Robert - Journey Beyond Tomorrow
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein (o)
Shepard, Lucius - Green Eyes
Shiel, M P - The Purple Cloud (rr)
Shute, Nevile - On the Beach
Silverberg, Robert - Downward to the Earth
Silverberg, Robert - Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert - The Book of Skulls
Silverberg, Robert - A Time of Changes
Simak, Cifford D. - Ring Around the Sun
Simak, Cifford D. - Way Station
Simak, Clifford - City (o)
Simmons, Dan - Hyperion (rr)
Simmons, Dan - The Fall of Hyperion (o)
Sladek, John - The Roderick Books
Smith, Cordwainer - Norstrilia (rr)
Smith, Cordwainer - The Rediscovery of Man(rr)
Smith, Cordwainer - Quest of the Three Worlds (o)
Smith, E E 'Doc' - The Skylark of Space (o)
Smith, E. E. - The Lensman Series (o)
Spinrad, Norman - Bug Jack Barron
Spinrad, Norman - The Iron Dream
Stableford, Brian - The Walking Shadow
Stapledon, Olaf - Last and First Men (o)
Stapledon, Olaf - Odd John
Stapledon, Olaf - Sirius
Stapledon, Olaf - Star Maker (o)
Stephenson, Neal - The Diamond Age (o)
Stephenson, Neal - Snow Crash(rr)
Sterling, Bruce - Islands in the Net
Sterling, Bruce [ed] - Mirrorshades
Stevenson, Robert Louis - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stewart, George R. - Earth Abides(rr)
Strugatskii, A & B - Roadside Picnic
Sturgeon, Theodore - E Pluribus Unicorn
Sturgeon, Theodore - More Than Human (rr)
Sturgeon, Theodore - Venus Plus X
Swanwick, Michael - Stations of the Tide
Swift, Johathan - Gulliver's Travels (rr)
Taylor, Lucy - The Safety of Unknown Cities
Tenn, William - Of All Possible Worlds
Tepper, Sheri S. - Grass(o)
Tiptree, James Jr - 10,000 Light Years From Home
Tolkien, J.R.R - Lord of the Rings(rr)
Tucker, Wilson - The Year of the Quiet Sun
Turner, George - Drowning Towers
Turner, George - The Sea and Summer
Twain, Mark - A Connecticut Yankee in KA's Court
Van Vogt, A E - Slan (rr)
Van Vogt, A E - The World of Null-A (rr)
Vance, Jack - Dying Earth, The
Vance, Jack - Emphyrio
Varley, John - Persistence of Vision, The
Varley, John - Titan
Varley, John - The Ophiuchi Hotline
Verne, Jules - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (rr)
Verne, Jules - A Journey to the Center of the Earth (rr)
Vinge, Joan - The Snow Queen (o)
Vinge, Vernor - Fire Upon the Deep, A (o)
Vinge, Vernor - A Deepness in the Sky
Vonnegut, Kurt - Player Piano (rr)
Vonnegut, Kurt - Sirens of Titan, The(o)
Vonnegut, Kurt - Slaughterhouse Five (rr)
Vonnegut, Kurt - Cat's Cradle(rr)
Watson, Ian - Embedding, The
Watson, Ian - Miracle Visitors
Weinbaum, Stanley G. - A Martian Odyssey and Other Science Fiction Tales
Wells, H G - The Time Machine (rr)
Wells, H G - The War of the Worlds (rr)
Wells, H G - The First Men in the Moon (rr)
Wells, H. G. - Short Stories of H. G. Wells, The (rr)
Wells, H. G. - The Island of Dr. Moreau (rr)
Wells, H. G. - The Invisible Man(rr)
White, T.H. - The Once and Future King(o)
Wilhelm, Kate - Juniper Time
Wilhelm, Kate - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Wilkins, Kim - The Infernal
Williamson, Jack - The Humanoids
Willis, Connie - Doomsday Book
Willis, Connie - Lincoln's Dreams
Wilson, Robert Charles - Darwinia
Wolfe, Bernard - Limbo
Wolfe, Gene - Book of the New Sun, The (rr)
Wolfe, Gene - The Fifth Head of Cerberus(rr)
Wolfe, Gene - The Urth of the New Sun (rr)
Wolfe, Gene - The Island of Doctor Death and other stories and other stories(rr)
Wright, S Fowler - The World Below
Wright, S. Fowler - Deluge
Wyndham, John - The Chrysalids (rr)
Wyndham, John - The Day of the Triffids(rr)
Wyndham, John - The Midwich Cuckoos(rr)
Yefremov, Ivan - Andromeda
Yolen, Jane - Briar Rose
Zamiatin, Yevgeny - We
Zelazny, Roger - Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth, The (o)
Zelazny, Roger - Lord of Light (r)
Zelazny, Roger - This Immortal
Zelazny, Roger - The Dream Master