Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Classic Sci-Fi: Should you read it? Octavia E. Butler

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

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Classic Sci-Fi: Should You Read It? is a self-imposed project in which I read pre-1990 science fiction novels and categorize them as “classis sci-fi you should read,” “classic sci-fi you should read if you’re all hardcore about it,” or “classic sci-fi you don’t have to read.” For background on my project, please see the introduction to my review of 1984. I’m working on a review of Octavia E. Butler’s Dawn/Xenogenesis and struggling to place it in the context of all which came before it (relatively speaking). […]

Classic Sci-Fi: Should You Read It? The Foundation Trilogy

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov

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Classic Sci-Fi: Should You Read It? is a self-imposed project in which I read pre-1990 science fiction novels and categorize them as “classis sci-fi you should read,” “classic sci-fi you should read if you’re all hardcore about it,” or “classic sci-fi you don’t have to read.” For background on my project, please see the introduction to my review of 1984. Foundation Synopsis Foundation was written by prolific sci-fi author Isaac Asimov in 1951. Like his I, Robot, the text consists of interrelated short stories set […]

Classic Sci-Fi: Should You Read It? Metropolis

Metropolis by Thea von Harbou

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Classic Sci-Fi: Should You Read It? is a self-imposed project in which I read pre-1990 science fiction novels and categorize them as “classis sci-fi you should read,” “classic sci-fi you should read if you’re all hardcore about it,” or “classic sci-fi you don’t have to read.” For background on my project, please see the introduction to my review of 1984. Metropolis was written by Thea von Harbou in 1923 in Germany in conjunction with the screenplay for the silent movie by her husband Fritz Lang, […]

Dune Is a Classic For a Reason

Dune by Frank Herbert

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It’s hard to know what to say in reviewing Dune since it is such a classic and a cultural monolith at this point but I’ll do my best! This was my second time reading it with the first time being somewhere during college. Instead of throwing out the book again, I’ve kept this new copy since my personal rule is any book I buy twice I should keep the second copy of rather than keep buying books infinitely. Dune is a fast read for me […]

“Never before have so many been threatened with so much…Never has so much been promised to so many.”

The 9th Annual of the Year's Best SF by Judith Merril (Editor)

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This is a pretty long and comprehensive collection of good SF from 1963 (384 pages, so you’re definitely getting a lot). I enjoyed most of these stories and breezed through this on the Amtrak to and from visiting home. My mom also enjoyed the chunk she read while I was home, so it’s intergenerationally approved. However, nothing in here really blew me away and it all felt pretty standard and not hugely boundary pushing or subversive. Sometimes you do just need to read some classic […]

Classic Sci-Fi: Should you read it? Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

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Classic Sci-Fi: Should You Read It? is a self-imposed project in which I read pre-1990 science fiction novels and categorize them as “classis sci-fi you should read,” “classic sci-fi you should read if you’re all hardcore about it,” or “classic sci-fi you don’t have to read.” For background on my project, please see the introduction to my review of 1984. Fahrenheit 451 is inevitable for my classic sci-fi reading project because it’s on EVERY must-read list, I didn’t read it in high school like everybody […]



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