Hi, Poodlerat!

I Just wanted to say I LOVE your new look! It’s fantastic! You have done some amazing reading as well and provided some wonderful reviews…I am going to have to play catch-up. I love your “Soon to be released” feature…so useful!

I, too,had heard so much about “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” that when the BBC adapted this book for a read-aloud, I couldn’t wait to listen in…I was disappointed.

Thanks! I’m glad you like the new look. I have to admit, I added the “Soon to be released” feature for my own convenience, but I’m glad other people find it helpful!

The book isn’t bad, but I just don’t understand where all its popularity comes from. To me it felt like one of Terry Prachett’s more mediocre Discworld novels, only not as funny and without the world-building.

Thanks for cruising into my blog. Nice look! Very welcoming.

I read Hitchiker’s Guide as a teenager and loved it. But who knows… 20 years later I might feel differently. I actually picked up one of Pratchett’s Discworld novels over the holidays and couldn’t finish it. I found that I just didn’t care about the characters all that much. He’s definitely great at creating worlds, though.

I’d join you in your challenge, except you know about my reading issues. Haha. Maybe I’ll set one that’s challenging enough for me, knowing my pace. Great lists, though. Plenty to choose from!

I would definitely add Philip Pullmans’ His Dark Materials Trilogy to the fantasy list. I couldn’t put it down. I know there’s some controversy surrounding it, but it’s well worth the read. Plus you can get in on the controversial discussion.

I’ve actually read His Dark Materials, and enjoyed it quite a bit, although I don’t love it as much as a lot of people do. I have found the controversy interesting, though.

I only left the trilogy off the list because it falls into one of this challenge’s grey areas: how old does a book have to be before it becomes a “classic”? The trilogy began in 1995, and the last book wasn’t released until 2000. I wouldn’t class HDM as a classic yet, because there isn’t enough distance yet to judge it and its effects on the genre…pretty arbitrary, but most such classifications are. I have no doubt that HDM will be a fantasy classic, along with books like Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, which was excluded for the same reason.

Also (and this is purely personal), pretty much all the SFF I read is written after 1990, and I feel reasonably familiar with the newer authors and their works. I know who a lot of the big names are, even the ones I haven’t read. Pre-1990 is mostly a closed book to me. I had serious trouble making up those lists, and I still have no idea if anyone who knows anything about the genres would agree with them.

Do join me in the challenge if you think you might enjoy it! Just lower the number of books to 12, or 6, or however many you want. I picked the number 25 pretty much at random. And let me know if you do!

Oh, haha. I didn’t notice the classic, or actually, I misread it. I thought the challenge itself was called the classic challenge. Like a trademark. (i’ve been studying business and marketing lately) No, Pullman isn’t a classic yet, but history will tell.

Don’t you find the term “instant classic” oxymoronic (if that’s a word)?

Speaking of classics. Superfast and I were wondering why no one reads the Wizard of Oz books any more? And no one really mentions anything other than the first book. I’ve met people who didn’t even know it was a series. Such a shame. My father read most of them to me as a child and gave me several hardbound first editions. One of my prize possessions.

My novel is a middle grade fantasy adventure. It’s currently being marketed by my awesome agents. Perhaps some day I’ll be on your list. It would be an honour.

You are one of the most well-read 22-year-olds I have ever come across! Amazing. You go, girl!

I’ll take your challenge, I’m just not sure exactly how I’ll run it. I was thinking 10 books each from your world, SF, and Fantasy lists by next summer. But I’m also into non-fiction. Do you have a non-fiction list?

Right now I’m reading American Gods (just finished Stardust) by Gaiman. Not a classic (yet).

And I’ve been wanting to read The Time Traveler’s Wife before the film is released.

So many books…

I love the word “oxymoronic”! And “instant classic” is a perfect example—although I think it’s possible to predict what books will become classics, you can never know for sure. As far as I’m concerned, “instant classics” are the stuff of bad book reviews.

I’ve never read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, or any of its sequels, although that’s another one I should add to the list! Even though my public library had copies when I was a child (and presumably still does), I never checked it out because I hated the bits of the movie that I’d seen. I’m not fond of most old movies that I’ve seen, though, so I should give the book a try.

Middle grade fantasy? I’m assuming that doesn’t refer to the quality; is that like saying YA fantasy or does it mean something else?

Thank you! I read a lot, but not as much as I did when I was younger. Before I entered high school, you would hardly ever have seen me without a book in my hand. It drove my dad crazy when I wouldn’t stop reading even to cross the street. I’m majoring in English because I can’t imagine doing a job that didn’t somehow involve books.

No, no non-fiction list, I’m afraid—I just don’t read much (or any, really) outside of assigned course readings. I could recommend some good books about the history and culture of the ancient Greeks and Romans, but other than that…

I’m planning to read American Gods sometime soon. I really liked Neverwhere and the first few Sandman comics, and I’ve read a few of his short stories that were pretty brilliant. Oh, and Good Omens, which he wrote with Terry Pratchett.

Definitely read The Time Traveler’s Wife! Although a couple of people I recommended it to said they couldn’t get into it, neither of them like sci-fi at all. I was a bit confused by how the time travel worked for the first 50 to 100 pages, but eventually it became clear. And it’s just a really original, well-told story.