Shortly after I began this post – a job I undertook when I decided I’d “run out” of books to read while housesitting and realized I’d brought the needed book with me – I was inspired to buy two books I had yet to read. Farthing by Jo Walton and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. You know you’ve picked up a good book when the bookseller talks your ear off when he sees you holding it.
I’ve been wanting to make this list for awhile, and if you’ve ever read Among Others, you understand why.
It doesn’t matter. I have books, new books, and I can bear anything as long as there are books.
So says Mor, the main character in Jo Walton’s Among Others. The Hugo and Nebula award winning book is a spectacular read and is an excellent example of today’s fantasy genre. Within the book are listed numerous Science Fiction and Fantasy titles (as well as a few others) that many of us recognize, if not have read. Mor speeds through them as they are her only escape from a school where she is judged by her peers. This is a list (by page number from the UK paperback) of all of the books mentioned in Among Others. (All of them were published before 1980 as the book takes place between 1979 and 1980.)
Page 24
Dragonquest, Anne McCaffrey
Page 25
Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, Volumn 2, Ursula Le Guin
The Last Starship from Earth, John Boyd
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Judith Kerr
Ensign Flandry, Poul Anderson
Creatures of Light and Darkness, Roger Zalazny
Page 26
Empire Star, Samuel R. Delany
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Welcome to the Monkey House, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Page 27
Pilgrimage, Zenna Henderson
Page 40
The Chrysalids, John Wyndham
Page 43
The Bull From the Sea, Mary Renault
The Charioteer, Mary Renault
(unnamed, 3 books), C.S. Lewis
Page 51
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Illusions, Ursula Le Guin
The Flight of the Horse, Larry Niven
Ringworld, Larry Niven
A Gift from Earth, Larry Niven
Page 52
Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis
Page 57
Warm Worlds and Otherwise, James Tiptree, Jr.
Page 58
Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny
The Guns of Avalon, Roger Zelazny
Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens
Page 63
Triton, Samuel Delany
I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith
The Starlight Barking, Dodie Smith
Page 84
The Communist Manefesto, Karl Marx
Page 85
Purposes of Love, Mary Renault
The Last of the Wine, Mary Renault
The Magus, John Fowles
Page 86
Dying Inside, Robert Silverberg
Page 87
The Left Hand of the Electron, Isaac Asimov
Page 99
The Symposium, Plato
Page 102
World of Ptaavs, Larry Niven
Time Enough for Love, Robert A. Heinlein
Page 103
Dangerous Visions, Theodore Sturgeon
Page 104
The Best of the Galaxy Volumn IV, short stories/mixed authors
Page 109
The Spell Sword, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Page 110
Babel 17, Samuel R. Delany
Page 119
Glory Road, Robert A. Heinlein
Page 120
Destinies, SciFi Magazine
Page 122
Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon, Spider Robinson
Page 126
Waldo and Magic, Inc., Robert A. Heinlein
The Broken Sword, Poul Anderson
Telempath, Spider Robinson
Page 130
Up the Line, Robert Silverberg
Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains, Sylvia Engdahl
Heritage of the Star, Sylvia Engdahl
Page 132
Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot (poem)
The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot (poem)
Page 134
Crow, Ted Hughes
Dragonsinger, Anne McCaffrey
Lord Foul’s Bane, Stephen Donaldson
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
Page 135
The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart
Page 137
Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
Page 139
The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
Page 143
Imperial Earth, Arthur C. Clark
Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clark
2001, Arthur C. Clark
Page 147
Born With the Dead, Robert Silverberg
Red Shift, Alan Garner
Page 148
The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
Page 150
City, Clifford Simak
Dune, Frank Herbert
Page 152
Republic, Plato
Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey
An Old Captivity, Nevil Shute
Page 153
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Page 173
Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Page 177
The Eye of Heron, Ursula Le Guin
The Word For World is Forest, Ursula Le Guin
Page 179
The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula Le Guin
Page 192
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin
The Kissing Gate, (?)
Page 199
Stepsons of Terra, Robert Silverberg
Dying Inside, Robert Silverberg
Page 200
Voyage to Alpha Centauri, Robert Silverberg
The World Inside, Robert Silverberg
Make Room! Make Room!, Robert Silverberg
Page 201
The Dark is Rising (series), Susan Cooper
Page 204
The Mote is Rising, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle/Susan Cooper (?)
The White Dragon, Anne McCaffrey (Coming out soon – published 1979.)
Page 209
Citizens of the Galaxy, Robert A. Heinlein
Page 214
The Grey King, Susan Cooper
Page 216
Silver on the Tree, Susan Cooper
Page 217
The Farthest Shore, Ursula K. Le Guin
Page 218
Emma, Jane Austen
Page 221
Selected Poems, W.H. Auden
Guide to Science, Isaac Asimov
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill
Page 223
The Mote in God’s Eye, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Page 229
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Page 249
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Page 270
The Einstein Intersection, Samuel R. Delany
Charisma, Michael Coney
Hello Summer, Goodbye, Michael Coney
Sign of the Unicorn, Roger Zelazny
Page 272
Punch, (magazine)
Page 277
Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
The Tempest, William Shakespeare
(unnamed, multiple), Keats
Page 278
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare
Aeneid, Virgil
Page 280
The Dream Master, Roger Zelazny
Page 282
Mission of Gravity, Clement (?)
Page 284
Vicinity Cluster, (?)
Chaining the Lady, Piers Anthony
A Spell for Chameleon, Piers Anthony
Page 285
Return to Night, Mary Renault
Page 288
Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey
Page 289
Isle of the Dead, Roger Zelazny
Page 293
I, Claudius, Robert Graves
Page 303
The Laws, Plato
Phaedrus, Plato
The Greeks, H.D.F. Kitto
Page 312
Telepathist, John Brunner
Page 313
The Winter’s Tale, William Shakespeare
Richard II, William Shakespeare
Page 321
Elsie Dinsmore, (?)
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Eric, or Little by Little, Frederic W. Farrar
What Katy Did, Susan Coolidge
Pollyanna, Eleanor H. Porter
(unnamed), Judy Blume
Space Hostages, Nicholas Fisk
Page 322
“The Girl Who Was Plugged In”, James Tiptree, Jr.
“Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death”, James Tiptree, Jr.
Page 323
“Houston, Houston, Do You Read?”, James Tiptree Jr.
Doorways in the Sand, Roger Zelazny
Roadmarks, Roger Zelazny
Page 327
The Number of the Beast, Robert A. Heinlein
Page 332
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
Page 347
Creatures of Light and Darkness, Roger Zelazny
This Immortal, Roger Zelazny
Page 359
The Persian Boy, Mary Renault
Page 369
Pavane, Keith Roberts
Times Without Number, John Brunner
The Man in the High Castle, Phillip K. Dick
Bring the Jubilee, Ward Moore
Guardians of Time, Poul Anderson
A Dream of Wessex, Christopher Priest
Page 370
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, (?)
Too Many Magicians, Randall Garrett
Page 375
A Touch of Strange, Theodore Sturgeon
Inverted World, Christopher Priest
Gate of Ivrel, C.J. Cherryh
Page 384
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, J.R.R. Tolkien
Page 402
The Raven, Edgar Allen Poe
156 titles, altogether. (Unnamed ones not counted, even though listed.)
Even though I’ve published it, you’ll notice there is some information missing – authors’ names and the like. The information listed is how it appears in the book, plus addendums where the title’s slightly off, or I’ve had difficulty. Information I didn’t know came from Jo Walton’s LiveJournal on a list compiled by a librarian and edited by Jo Walton. (These edits occured on 27 April 2014 at 16:03.) I have put question marks next to the information I’m unsure of.
This is awesome. Nobody has done it by page number before.
You might want to look at:
http://papersky.livejournal.com/509278.html
That’s the bibliography as done by a librarian and amended by me, which ought to have most of the data you’re missing.
Also, this is the pinterest of the covers:
https://www.pinterest.com/tinyampersand/the-books-of-among-others/
If it’s OK with you, I’ll link to this post from the Among Others page of my website, so that other people can use it for reference, because this is great.
I never made this list myself. People kept assuming I must have, but it never crossed my mind.
I would love it if you linked it so that other people can use it.
My sister and I wanted to put it together and read through all the books we hadn’t gotten to yet. Thank you for the additional links!
Thank you.
http://www.jowaltonbooks.com/books/among-others/
Now with a link to you.
Thank you!
I just wanted to let you know that the URL has changed slightly. http://www.foxtrotfirefly.com/wordpress/2014/04/exploring-sci-fi-fantasy/ (You could probably get the link just from viewing this comment, but I wanted to make sure you had it.)
Punch was a wonderful British humor magazine. Here’s a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_(magazine)
Great list! Thank you.
Thank you! I will update that as soon as I get a chance!