No comments. By publication date.
- The Count of Monte Cristo, 1844, by Alexandre Dumas
- Crime and Punishment, 1866, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Southern California: An Island on the Land, 1946, by Carey McWilliams
- Youngblood Hawke, 1962, by Herman Wouk
- The Chronicles of Amber (first series), 1970, by Roger Zelazny
- Time Enough for Love, 1973, by Robert Heinlein
- The Power Broker, 1974, by Robert Caro
- Plagues and Peoples, 1976, by William McNeill
- The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (first trilogy), 1977, by Stephen Donaldson
- A Distant Mirror, 1978, by Barbara Tuchman
- Godel, Escher, Bach, 1979, by Douglas Hofstadter
- The Belgariad, 1982, by David Eddings
- The Quincunx, 1989, by Charles Palliser
- Infinite Jest, 1996, by David Foster Wallace
- The Corner, 1997, by David Simon and Edward Burns
- American Aurora, 1997, by Richard Rosenfeld
- Cryptonomicon, 1999, by Neal Stephenson
- Before the Storm, 2001, by Rick Perlstein
- How Wars End, 2010, by Gideon Rose
- The Broken Earth trilogy, 2015, by N.K. Jemisin
- Chip War, 2022, by Chris Miller
I think you would greatly enjoy "The Kings Depart: The Tragedy of Germany – Versailles and the German Revolution," by Richard M. Watt. When the powers left Versailles after completing and signing the Treaty, they one and all said that the Treaty was a failure and that there would be war again. Since they themselves made the Treaty, why did they make such a bad one? The book explains. Watt, like Tuchman, is an amateur historian of the highest rank.
I am genuinely surprised and very impressed at number 9:
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (first trilogy), 1977, by Stephen Donaldson
These are great books. And they kept coming out all the way into the early 21st century. I believe there are, altogether, 10 books in the series, and I’ve read them all.
And, don’t get me wrong, I’m as big a Tolkien fan as just about anyone else, but the Thomas Covenant books are probably my own favorite fantasy series.
And yet they fall into that category of: could it be published today? I don’t think so. In retrospect, these books seem to have appeared in what I think may have been a sadly anomalous time when free speech had a genuine opening in the mainstream publishing world. It was after the generally conservative 1950s, but before the undeniably “progressive” censorship of the 21st century.
And, make no mistake about it, the Thomas Covenant books are rough reading in terms of content. I cannot see how they would survive contact with the “sensitivity readers” (censors) employed by modern publishers to screen “offensive” content.
*A few spoilers ahead*
The main protagonist is a leper while still on Earth. And he does not believe in the fantasy world to which he is transported, so he engages in reprehensible actions such as rape. The rape would be almost impossible to remove from the story as its repercussions echo throughout the series. Again, this is not some clearly designated villain engaging in rape: it’s the “hero” (or anti-hero) of the ten-book series.
The villain, a Lord Foul, and his minions put Tolkien’s Sauron to shame. They wantonly engage in murder and torture. Their enemies (the ostensible good guys) are sometimes driven to madness. It’s exciting stuff!
But seriously, all this plays out in a well-imagined fantasy world with what are probably the most memorable characters I’ve encountered in this type of genre.
So I’m impressed with Kevin for including it on his list. In our ongoing era of both Right and Left wing cancellations, the Leftist crowd of the #meToo generation could make life miserable for anyone promoting books with a rapist as the protagonist. And that’s undoubtedly one of the main reasons why this excellent series of books has, as far as I can tell, fallen off the cultural map.
Hopefully , they can be revived again once we manage to overthrow the current Leftist chokehold on our cultural production. One can only hope!
I loved the first two Thomas Covenant trilogies. The last four books of the ten not so much (somehow the author lost his mojo, IMO).
The rape in the first book renders the series problematic (to say the least) in these times. Never mind that while it initially seems to be without consequence it eventually creates a cascade of evils which grows to even includes the Sunbane of the second trilogy. That's too indirect (and maybe too profound) for the grim ideologues of today. One of my big complaints with a lot of fantasy etc. nowadays is that the heroes* have to be without any flaws, only at most some very minor quirks which can be made light of.
Minor quibble: the villain's name "Lord Foul" is almost cringeworthy.
* Or rather quite often it's "heroines"-- girl bosses who are quite the ever-capable Mary Sues. Donaldson did give us Linden Avery in the second trilogy, but she makes lots of mistakes and we eventually learn that she too has a dark past.
I always love to see lists of favorite books from people whose intellect I respect. I feel pretty inadequate, though, having read only one of these!
Time Enough for Love? Heinlein's I want to fuck my mommy book?
On the other hand, I think you and I are the only people ever to read Godel, Escher, Bach. In fact, I read it twice.
In my circle (college students studying math or computer science), everyone read GEB.
I was assigned GEB in a graduate psych course. It is one of, if not the most thought provoking book I have ever read.
Making me think through some of my favorite writers not listed above.
Dick Francis
Elmore Leonard
Carl Hiaasen
Paolo Bacigalupi, _The Windup Girl_. More recently, I read _Navola_ and found myself living the interesting contradiction that, although I'm not sure I like the story, I love the writing.
Jared Diamond, _Guns, Germs, and Steel_. I'm sure it's overblown and overhyped, but I do love framing history as destiny due to economics and geography.
Which, of course, leads us to Asimov's _Foundation_ series.
William Gibson's _Neuromancer_ had a distinctively different flavor to it back in the day.
Niven wrote a lot of fun stuff on his own, and wrote a lot more good reads with Jerry Pournelle. _A Mote in God's Eye_ was one of my favorites.
I also loved Gun, Germs and Steel. I get so annoyed with critics responding like the fact that Diamond can’t explain everything means this book doesn’t have anything to offer. I am a “Blind Man and the Elephant” person. No one can ever have all of the truth but we can get closer to it by pooling knowledge, despite inevitable flaws.
Thanks for mentioning Larry Niven, I particularly loved The Integral Tree.
Another book (Shaddock in the Furnace?) was silly but for the introduction of a Dyson Sphere.
And The Mote in God's eye was quite wonderful.