The James Davis Nicoll List Thingy
Jan. 13th, 2019 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phoenixfallsFine I'll do the thing. There's only so many times I can see people talk (even briefly!) about all these SFF books without throwing my own two cents into the ring.
So:
Bold means I've read it
Underlined means I've read something else by the author
*Asterisked means I own it but have not yet read it
*The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (I've read under her other penname)
The Stolen Lake, Joan Aiken
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko, Hitoshi Ashinano (if I ever read a manga, it will likely be this one)
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
Stinz: Charger: The War Stories, Donna Barr
The Sword and the Satchel, Elizabeth Boyer
Sibyl Sue Blue, Rosel George Brown
The Mountains of Mourning, Lois McMaster Bujold (on my read-everything-by list)
*War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
Wild Seed, Octavia E. Butler (on my read-everything-by list)
Naamah's Curse, Jacqueline Carey (why, oh why, is this the Carey on the list??? The second book in the third trilogy of the series???)
*The Fortunate Fall, Raphael Carter
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers
*Red Moon and Black Mountain, Joy Chant
The Vampire Tapestry, Susy McKee Charnas
Gate of Ivrel, C.J. Cherryh
Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho
Diadem from the Stars, Jo Clayton
The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper
Genpei, Kara Dalkey
Servant of the Underworld, Aliette de Bodard
*The Secret Country, Pamela Dean
*Dhalgren, Samuel Delaney
*The Door Into Fire, Diane Duane
On the Edge of Gone, Corinne Duyvis
Spirit Gate, Kate Elliott
Enchantress from the Stars, Sylvia Louise Engdahl
Golden Witchbreed, Mary Gentle
The Dazzle of Day, Molly Gloss
A Mask for the General, Lisa Goldstein
Slow River, Nicola Griffith (on my read-everything-by list)
*Those Who Hunt the Night, Barbara Hambly
*Winterlong, Elizabeth Hand
*Ingathering, Zenna Henderson
The Interior life, Dorothy Heydt writing as Katherine Blake (this looks relevant to my interests, I'll have to make a note to look for it)
God Stalk, P.C. Hodgell
Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson
Zero Sum Game, S.L. Huang (I used to read this author's blog! I have no memory of why though. I feel like it was for the math?)
Blood Price, Tanya Huff
The Keeper of the Isis Light, Monica Hughes
*God's War, Kameron Hurley
Memory of Water, Emmi Itaranta
The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin
Cart and Cwidder, Diane Wynne Jones
Daughter of Mystery, Heather Rose Jones
Hellspark, Janet Kagan
A Voice out of Ramah, Lee Killough
St. Ailbe's Hall, Naomi Kritzer
Deryni Rising, Katherine Kurtz
Swordspoint, Ellen Kushner
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
Magic or Madness, Justine Larbalestier
The Disposessed, Ursula LeGuin (on my read-everything-by list -- but I've got a LONG way to go)
*Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
Don't Bite the Sun, Tanith Lee
*Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee
*Wizard of the Pigeons, Meghan Lindholm
Adaptation, Malinda Lo
*Watchtower, Elizabeth A. Lynn
*Tea with the Black Dragon, R.A. MacAvoy
The Many-Colored Land, Julian May
The Outback Stars, Sandra McDonald
China Mountain Zhang, Maureen McHugh
Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre
The Riddle-Master of Hed, Patricia A. McKillip (on my read-everything-by list)
Lud-in-the-Mist, Hope Mirrlees
Pennterra, Judith Moffat
The ArchAndroid, Janelle Monae
Jirel of Jorey, C.L. Moore
Certain Dark Things, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The City, Not Long After, Pat Murphy
Vast, Linda Nagata
Galactic Derelict, Andre Norton
His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik
*Dragon Sword and Wind Child, Noriko Ogiwara
Outlaw School, Rebecca Ore
Lagoon, Nnedi Okorafor
Alanna: The First Adventure, Tamora Pierce
Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy
Godmother Night, Rachel Pollack (this looks relevant to my interests, I'll have to make a note to look for it)
Goblin Market, Christina Rosetti
My Life as a White-Trash Zombie, Diana Rowland
The Female Man, Joanna Russ
Stay Crazy, Erica L. Satifka
The Healer's War, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
*Five-Twelfths of Heaven, Melissa Scott
Everfair, Nisi Shawl
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
A Door Into Ocean, Joan Slonczewski
*The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart (I'm really not into Matter of Britain, though, so this will languish on the TBR pile for a loooooong time)
*Up the Walls of the World, James Tiptree, Jr. (on my read-everything-by list)
*The Thief, Meghan Whalen Turner
The Snow Queen, Joan D. Vinge
All Systems Red, Martha Wells
The Well-Favored Man, Elizabeth Willey
Banner of Souls, Liz Williams
Alif the Unseen, G. Willow Wilson
Ariosto, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Ooku, Fumi Yoshinaga
So it took someone snarking in the comments on the post for me to realize the list is 96% female authors -- I knew that women were well-represented, but hadn't quite clicked that there were only three men (all non-white). (Someone in the comments claimed to count only 92 female authors, but I think they're confused by a few of the distinctly male pseudonyms.) Also, I got all the way to the "W"s before I realized it was alphabetical by author! Clearly I am not at my most observant today.
I've only read fourteen, which seems very low for me. I can only add ten more counting the entries where I've read other books by that author, just not the specific one on the list. Another fifteen are waiting patiently to be read on my bookshelves, but that still doesn't bring me to even half. If I included books I have access to via my parents' library, which is chock full of SFF paperbacks from the 60s and 70s, I think I'd finally break the halfway point.
But looking through the entries where I have nothing marked. . . there's a lot of subgenres I'm just not into. Apocalypses, dystopias, cyberpunk. . . they just really aren't my thing, and I'm not going to be adding these books to my to-be-read pile when there are so many more books that *are* more my thing already on it.
Which is to say, while I very much admire the intent behind the list to highlight non-white, non-male authors (in contrast to all the other year-end lists that are invariably overwhelmingly white and male), it still is not the list *I* would make, if I were to make a list of a hundred SFF titles people should consider reading in the coming year. :)
So:
Bold means I've read it
Underlined means I've read something else by the author
*Asterisked means I own it but have not yet read it
*The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (I've read under her other penname)
The Stolen Lake, Joan Aiken
Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa
Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko, Hitoshi Ashinano (if I ever read a manga, it will likely be this one)
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
Stinz: Charger: The War Stories, Donna Barr
The Sword and the Satchel, Elizabeth Boyer
Sibyl Sue Blue, Rosel George Brown
The Mountains of Mourning, Lois McMaster Bujold (on my read-everything-by list)
*War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
Wild Seed, Octavia E. Butler (on my read-everything-by list)
Naamah's Curse, Jacqueline Carey (why, oh why, is this the Carey on the list??? The second book in the third trilogy of the series???)
*The Fortunate Fall, Raphael Carter
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers
*Red Moon and Black Mountain, Joy Chant
The Vampire Tapestry, Susy McKee Charnas
Gate of Ivrel, C.J. Cherryh
Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho
Diadem from the Stars, Jo Clayton
The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper
Genpei, Kara Dalkey
Servant of the Underworld, Aliette de Bodard
*The Secret Country, Pamela Dean
*Dhalgren, Samuel Delaney
*The Door Into Fire, Diane Duane
On the Edge of Gone, Corinne Duyvis
Spirit Gate, Kate Elliott
Enchantress from the Stars, Sylvia Louise Engdahl
Golden Witchbreed, Mary Gentle
The Dazzle of Day, Molly Gloss
A Mask for the General, Lisa Goldstein
Slow River, Nicola Griffith (on my read-everything-by list)
*Those Who Hunt the Night, Barbara Hambly
*Winterlong, Elizabeth Hand
*Ingathering, Zenna Henderson
The Interior life, Dorothy Heydt writing as Katherine Blake (this looks relevant to my interests, I'll have to make a note to look for it)
God Stalk, P.C. Hodgell
Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson
Zero Sum Game, S.L. Huang (I used to read this author's blog! I have no memory of why though. I feel like it was for the math?)
Blood Price, Tanya Huff
The Keeper of the Isis Light, Monica Hughes
*God's War, Kameron Hurley
Memory of Water, Emmi Itaranta
The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin
Cart and Cwidder, Diane Wynne Jones
Daughter of Mystery, Heather Rose Jones
Hellspark, Janet Kagan
A Voice out of Ramah, Lee Killough
St. Ailbe's Hall, Naomi Kritzer
Deryni Rising, Katherine Kurtz
Swordspoint, Ellen Kushner
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
Magic or Madness, Justine Larbalestier
The Disposessed, Ursula LeGuin (on my read-everything-by list -- but I've got a LONG way to go)
*Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
Don't Bite the Sun, Tanith Lee
*Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee
*Wizard of the Pigeons, Meghan Lindholm
Adaptation, Malinda Lo
*Watchtower, Elizabeth A. Lynn
*Tea with the Black Dragon, R.A. MacAvoy
The Many-Colored Land, Julian May
The Outback Stars, Sandra McDonald
China Mountain Zhang, Maureen McHugh
Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre
The Riddle-Master of Hed, Patricia A. McKillip (on my read-everything-by list)
Lud-in-the-Mist, Hope Mirrlees
Pennterra, Judith Moffat
The ArchAndroid, Janelle Monae
Jirel of Jorey, C.L. Moore
Certain Dark Things, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The City, Not Long After, Pat Murphy
Vast, Linda Nagata
Galactic Derelict, Andre Norton
His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik
*Dragon Sword and Wind Child, Noriko Ogiwara
Outlaw School, Rebecca Ore
Lagoon, Nnedi Okorafor
Alanna: The First Adventure, Tamora Pierce
Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy
Godmother Night, Rachel Pollack (this looks relevant to my interests, I'll have to make a note to look for it)
Goblin Market, Christina Rosetti
My Life as a White-Trash Zombie, Diana Rowland
The Female Man, Joanna Russ
Stay Crazy, Erica L. Satifka
The Healer's War, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
*Five-Twelfths of Heaven, Melissa Scott
Everfair, Nisi Shawl
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
A Door Into Ocean, Joan Slonczewski
*The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart (I'm really not into Matter of Britain, though, so this will languish on the TBR pile for a loooooong time)
*Up the Walls of the World, James Tiptree, Jr. (on my read-everything-by list)
*The Thief, Meghan Whalen Turner
The Snow Queen, Joan D. Vinge
All Systems Red, Martha Wells
The Well-Favored Man, Elizabeth Willey
Banner of Souls, Liz Williams
Alif the Unseen, G. Willow Wilson
Ariosto, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Ooku, Fumi Yoshinaga
So it took someone snarking in the comments on the post for me to realize the list is 96% female authors -- I knew that women were well-represented, but hadn't quite clicked that there were only three men (all non-white). (Someone in the comments claimed to count only 92 female authors, but I think they're confused by a few of the distinctly male pseudonyms.) Also, I got all the way to the "W"s before I realized it was alphabetical by author! Clearly I am not at my most observant today.
I've only read fourteen, which seems very low for me. I can only add ten more counting the entries where I've read other books by that author, just not the specific one on the list. Another fifteen are waiting patiently to be read on my bookshelves, but that still doesn't bring me to even half. If I included books I have access to via my parents' library, which is chock full of SFF paperbacks from the 60s and 70s, I think I'd finally break the halfway point.
But looking through the entries where I have nothing marked. . . there's a lot of subgenres I'm just not into. Apocalypses, dystopias, cyberpunk. . . they just really aren't my thing, and I'm not going to be adding these books to my to-be-read pile when there are so many more books that *are* more my thing already on it.
Which is to say, while I very much admire the intent behind the list to highlight non-white, non-male authors (in contrast to all the other year-end lists that are invariably overwhelmingly white and male), it still is not the list *I* would make, if I were to make a list of a hundred SFF titles people should consider reading in the coming year. :)
no subject
Date: 2019-01-15 05:22 am (UTC)And I shall try to remember to poke you for a chat when I read The Goblin Emperor -- or who knows, maybe I will get back into writing book reviews by that point! (We can dream, eh?)
no subject
Date: 2019-01-16 05:09 am (UTC)