Five Stars - There are other great books, but these are the ones that hit home with me| About | Ratings | Review Index | Links |
This is theoretically every book I ever read. Naturally it is not. I only started keeping this list in my personal records about a year ago and there are a few gaps even in that time. Past that the ratings are based on what I remember of the book. I am not strictly limiting things to science fiction, so there are some odd things mixed in like Dickens, Faulkner, and even the odd non-fiction book. The ratings are all very relative. Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom gets the same rating as Sphere here, which I know seems absurd, but the ratings are based on my enjoyment of the book, not the level of sophistication or anything else. And of course since this is a simple scale from 1 to 5 with the top and bottom reserved for exceptional cases, it's really a not recommended, recommended, quite recommended list. It's an imperfect tool--for example just with Guy Gavriel Kay's books Tigana is a very high 4-star while the Sarantine books are very low. But it's simple. One other note: when trilogies are really one long story, like Lord of the Rings, they get a single entry, except (as in the case with Pullman's His Dark Materials and Friedman's Coldfire) when I feel like there is a particularly sharp difference in quality between the books.
By Rating: 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 stars
By Author: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z
Five Stars - There are other great books, but these are the ones that hit home with me
| Iain M. Banks | Use of Weapons |
| John Brunner | Stand on Zanzibar |
| C.J. Cherryh | Cyteen |
| Philip K. Dick | A Scanner Darkly |
| Dorothy Dunnett | House of Niccolo |
| William Faulkner | As I Lay Dying |
| Robin Hobb | Farseer Trilogy |
| Guy Gavriel Kay | The Lions of Al-Rassan |
| Daniel Keyes | Flowers for Algernon |
| China Mieville | The Scar |
| Alan Moore | Watchmen |
| J.R.R. Tolkien | The Lord of the Rings |
| Gene Wolfe | The Fifth Head of Cerberus Book of the New Sun Book of the Long Sun Book of the Short Sun Wizard Knight |
| Roger Zelazny | Lord of Light |
Four Stars - These are great books and definitely recommended| Iain M. Banks | Consider Phlebus The Player of Games Against a Dark Background Feersum Endjinn Look to Windward |
| David Brin | Sundiver Startide Rising River of Time The Uplift War Glory Season Otherness Kiln People |
| John Brunner | The Jagged Orbit The Shockwave Rider |
| Steven Brust | Teckla |
| Lois McMaster Bujold | The Warrior's Apprentice Brothers in Arms Borders of Infinity The Vor Game Mirror Dance Cetaganda Memory A Civil Campaign |
| Octavia Butler | Parable of the Sower |
| Orson Scott Card | Ender's Game Speaker for the Dead |
| Jonathan Carroll | Land of Laughs |
| C.J. Cherryh | Downbelow Station Forty Thousand in Gehenna Tripoint Finity's End |
| Ted Chiang | Stories of Your Life and Others |
| Arthur C. Clarke | The City and the Stars 2001: A Space Odyssey Rendezvous with Rama |
| Susanna Clarke | Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell |
| Michael Crichton | Sphere |
| Pamela Dean | Secret Country Trilogy |
| Philip K. Dick | The Man in the High Castle Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep |
| Alexander Dumas | Count of Monte Christo |
| Dorothy Dunnett | Game of Kings Queen's Play Disorderly Knights Pawn in Frankincense Ringed Castle Checkmate |
| David Eddings | Belgariad |
| William Faulkner | Absalom, Absalom! |
| C.S. Friedman | The Madness Season This Alien Shore |
| Neil Gaiman | Neverwhere |
| David Gerrold | The Man Who Folded Himself A Matter for Men |
| William Gibson | Neuromancer |
| Mark Haddon | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time |
| Joe Haldeman | Forever War |
| Robert Heinlein | Starship Troopers The Moon is a Harsh Mistress |
| Mark Helprin | A Winter's Tale |
| Frank Herbert | Dune |
| Robin Hobb | Liveship Traders Trilogy |
| Aldous Huxley | Brave New World |
| Guy Gavriel Kay | Tigana A Song for Arbonne Sarantine Mosaic |
| Ursula K. Le Guin | A Wizard of Earthsea The Lathe of Heaven |
| C.S. Lewis | Out of the Silent Planet Perelandra |
| Scott Lynch | Lies of Locke Lamora |
| Patricia McKillip | Riddle-master Trilogy |
| Yves Meynard | The Book of Knights |
| China Mieville | King Rat Perdido Street Station |
| Walter Miller | A Canticle for Leibowitz |
| Alan Moore | V for Vendetta |
| John Myers Myers | Silverlock |
| George Orwell | Animal Farm 1984 |
| Charles Pellegrino | The Killing Star |
| J.K. Rowling | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire |
| Dan Simmons | Hyperion Fall of Hyperion Ilium |
| Michael Stackpole | Talion: Revenant |
| John Steakley | Armor |
| Neal Stephenson | Zodiac Snow Crash The Diamond Age Cryptonomicon |
| Bruce Sterling | Schismatrix |
| Matthew Stover | Heroes Die Blade of Tyshalle |
| Steph Swainston | Year of Our War |
| Michael Swanwick | Stations of the Tide Iron Dragon's Daughter |
| Koushun Takami | Battle Royale |
| Sheri S. Tepper | Sideshow |
| J.R.R. Tolkien | The Silmarillion |
| Jack Vance | The Dragon Masters |
| Joan D. Vinge | The Snow Queen The Summer Queen |
| Vernor Vinge | True Names A Fire Upon the Deep A Deepness in the Sky |
| Peter Watts | Starfish |
| Margaret Weis | Star of the Guardians |
| Tad Williams | War of the Flowers |
| David Wingrove | The Middle Kingdom |
| Gene Wolfe | Free Live Free Soldier in the Mist Urth of the New Sun Soldier of Arete |
| John Wright | The Golden Age |
| Timothy Zahn | Deadman's Switch First Star Wars trilogy |
| Roger Zelazny | A Night in Lonesome October |
Three Stars - Recommended with reservations| Kevin J. Anderson | Assemblers of Infinity Climbing Olympus |
| Isaac Asimov | I, Robot Foundation Foundation and Empire Second Foundation The Caves of Steel |
| R. Scott Bakker | Prince of Nothing |
| Iain Banks | Wasp Factory |
| Iain M. Banks | Excession Inversions |
| Greg Bear | Eon The Forge of God Eternity Anvil of Stars |
| Alfred Bester | The Demolished Man The Stars My Destination |
| David Brin | The Practice Effect Heart of the Comet Earth Second Uplift Trilogy |
| Steven Brust | Jhereg Yendi Taltos |
| Lois McMaster Bujold | Shards of Honor Ethan of Athos Barrayar Komarr Curse of Chalion Paladin of Souls |
| Edgar Rice Burroughs | A Princess of Mars |
| Jim Butcher | Storm Front |
| Orson Scott Card | Xenocide Children of the Mind Ender's Shadow |
| Jonathan Carroll | Bones of the Moon Sleeping in Flame |
| C.J. Cherryh | Faded Sun Foreigner |
| Arthur C. Clarke | Childhood's End The Fountains of Paradise 2010: Odyssey Two |
| Michael Crichton | The Andromeda Strain Jurassic Park |
| John Crowley | Little, Big |
| Philip K. Dick | VALIS |
| Stephen Donaldson | Chronicles of Thomas Covenent Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant |
| Fyodor Dostoevsky | The Brothers Karamazov |
| Alexander Dumas | The Three Musketeers |
| David Eddings | Mallorean |
| Greg Egan | Permuation City |
| William Faulkner | The Sound and the Fury |
| C.S. Friedman | Black Sun Rising Crown of Shadows |
| Neil Gaiman | Stardust |
| Mary Gentle | Ash: A Secret History |
| David Gerrold | A Day for Damnation |
| William Gibson | Count Zero Mona Lisa Overdrive Idoru |
| Joe Haldeman | Forever Peace |
| Robert Heinlein | Have Spacesuit, Will Travel Stranger in a Strange Land |
| Frank Herbert | Dune Messiah |
| Robin Hobb | Tawny Man Trilogy |
| John Irving | A Prayer for Owen Meany |
| Diana Wynne Jones | Deep Secret |
| Guy Gavriel Kay | The Last Light of the Sun |
| Ursula K. Le Guin | The Tombs of Atuan The Farthest Shore The Left Hand of Darkness |
| Jonathan Lethem | Gun, With Occasional Music |
| C.S. Lewis | That Hideous Strength |
| Michael Lewis | Moneyball |
| Ian R. Macleod | The Great Wheel The Light Ages |
| Ken Macleod | The Star Fraction The Stone Canal |
| James McManus | Positively Fifth Street |
| China Mieville | Iron Council |
| Frank Miller | Dark Knight Returns |
| Richard Morgan | Altered Carbon |
| Larry Niven | Ringworld |
| Steve Perry | The Trinity Vector |
| Tim Powers | The Anubis Gates |
| Terry Pratchett | The Colour of Magic The Light Fantastic Equal Rites Good Omens |
| Philip Pullman | The Golden Compass |
| Alastair Reynolds | Revelation Space |
| J.K. Rowling | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix |
| Fred Saberhagen | Berserkers: The Beginning |
| Charles Sheffield | Summertide Divergence Transcendence The Mind Pool Convergence Tomorrow and Tomorrow |
| Dan Simmons | Endymion The Rise of Endymion Olympos |
| Neal Stephenson | Interface |
| Charles Stross | Singularity Sky Family Trade |
| J.R.R. Tolkien | The Hobbit |
| A.E. Van Vogt | Slan |
| Jack Vance | The Dying Earth The Eyes of the Overworld |
| Vernor Vinge | The Peace War Marooned in Realtime Collected Stores of Vernor Vinge Rainbows End |
| Tad Williams | Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn Otherland |
| Connie Willis | To Say Nothing of the Dog |
| Robert Charles Wilson | Mysterium The Chronoliths |
| Gene Wolfe | Castleview Innocents Aboard Soldier of Sidon |
| Timothy Zahn | Spinnaret Conquerors Trilogy Angelmass |
| Roger Zelazny | The First Chronicles of Amber |
Two Stars - I felt my time was wasted| Isaac Asimov | Foundation's Edge Foundation and Earth Prelude to Foundation Forward the Foundation |
| Iain Banks | The Bridge |
| Iain M. Banks | The State of the Art |
| Edgar Rice Burroughs | The Gods of Mars The Warlord of Mars Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
| C.J. Cherryh | Hammerfall |
| Arthur C. Clarke | 2061: Odyssey Three Rama II The Garden of Rama Rama Revealed |
| Michael Crichton | The Lost World |
| Samuel Delany | Babel-17 |
| Charles Dickens | A Tale of Two Cities |
| Greg Egan | Diaspora |
| C.S. Friedman | In Conquest Born When True Night Falls |
| Neil Gaiman | American Gods |
| David Gerrold | A Rage for Revenge A Season for Slaughter |
| Robert Grossbach | A Shortage of Engineers |
| Guy Gavriel Kay | Finovar Tapestry |
| Alan Moore | League of Extraordinary Gentlemen |
| Eric Nylund | Halo: Fall of Reach |
| Mervyn Peake | Titus Groan |
| Philip Pullman | The Subtle Knife The Amber Spyglass |
| Adam Roberts | Salt |
| Kim Stanley Robinson | Mars Trilogy |
| Charles Sheffield | Godspeed |
| Neal Stephenson | Quicksilver |
| Harry Turtledove | Worldwar: In the Balance Worldwar: Tilting the Balance |
| David Weber | On Basilisk Station |
| Timothy Zahn | The Icarus Hunt |
One Star - What can I say? I hated it| Roger MacBride Allen | Torch of Honor Rogue Powers |
| Piers Anthony | Hard Sell |
| Arthur C. Clarke | 3001: The Final Odyssey |
| Charles Dickens | Oliver Twist |
| Terry England | Rewind |
| Philip Jos? Farmer | Riverworld |
| Robert Forward | Camelot 30K |
| Roger MacBride Allen | |
| Torch of Honor |
| Rogue Powers |
| Kevin J. Anderson | |
| Assemblers of Infinity |
| Climbing Olympus |
| Piers Anthony | |
| Hard Sell |
| Isaac Asimov | |
| I, Robot |
| Foundation |
| Foundation and Empire |
| Second Foundation |
| The Caves of Steel |
| Foundation's Edge |
| Foundation and Earth |
| Prelude to Foundation |
| Forward the Foundation |
| R. Scott Bakker | |
| Prince of Nothing |
| Iain Banks | |
| Wasp Factory |
| The Bridge |
| Iain M. Banks | |
| Consider Phlebus |
| The Player of Games |
| The State of the Art |
| Use of Weapons |
| Against a Dark Background |
| Feersum Endjinn |
| Excession |
| Inversions |
| Look to Windward |
| Greg Bear | |
| Eon |
| The Forge of God |
| Eternity |
| Anvil of Stars |
| Alfred Bester | |
| The Demolished Man |
| The Stars My Destination |
| David Brin | |
| Sundiver |
| Startide Rising |
| The Practice Effect |
| Heart of the Comet |
| River of Time |
| The Uplift War |
| Earth |
| Glory Season |
| Otherness |
| Second Uplift Trilogy |
| Kiln People |
| John Brunner | |
| Stand on Zanzibar |
| The Jagged Orbit |
| The Shockwave Rider |
| Steven Brust | |
| Jhereg |
| Yendi |
| Teckla |
| Taltos |
| Lois McMaster Bujold | |
| Shards of Honor |
| The Warrior's Apprentice |
| Ethan of Athos |
| Brothers in Arms |
| Borders of Infinity |
| The Vor Game |
| Barrayar |
| Mirror Dance |
| Cetaganda |
| Memory |
| Komarr |
| A Civil Campaign |
| Curse of Chalion |
| Paladin of Souls |
| Edgar Rice Burroughs | |
| A Princess of Mars |
| The Gods of Mars |
| The Warlord of Mars |
| Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
| Jim Butcher | |
| Storm Front |
| Octavia Butler | |
| Parable of the Sower |
| Orson Scott Card | |
| Ender's Game |
| Speaker for the Dead |
| Xenocide |
| Children of the Mind |
| Ender's Shadow |
| Jonathan Carroll | |
| Land of Laughs |
| Bones of the Moon |
| Sleeping in Flame |
| C.J. Cherryh | |
| Faded Sun |
| Downbelow Station |
| Forty Thousand in Gehenna |
| Cyteen |
| Tripoint |
| Foreigner |
| Finity's End |
| Hammerfall |
| Ted Chiang | |
| Stories of Your Life and Others |
| Arthur C. Clarke | |
| Childhood's End |
| The City and the Stars |
| 2001: A Space Odyssey |
| Rendezvous with Rama |
| The Fountains of Paradise |
| 2010: Odyssey Two |
| 2061: Odyssey Three |
| Rama II |
| The Garden of Rama |
| Rama Revealed |
| 3001: The Final Odyssey |
| Susanna Clarke | |
| Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell |
| Michael Crichton | |
| The Andromeda Strain |
| Sphere |
| Jurassic Park |
| The Lost World |
| John Crowley | |
| Little, Big |
| Pamela Dean | |
| Secret Country Trilogy |
| Samuel Delany | |
| Babel-17 |
| Philip K. Dick | |
| The Man in the High Castle |
| Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep |
| A Scanner Darkly |
| VALIS |
| Charles Dickens | |
| Oliver Twist |
| A Tale of Two Cities |
| Stephen Donaldson | |
| Chronicles of Thomas Covenent |
| Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant |
| Fyodor Dostoevsky | |
| The Brothers Karamazov |
| Alexander Dumas | |
| The Three Musketeers |
| Count of Monte Christo |
| Dorothy Dunnett | |
| Game of Kings |
| Queen's Play |
| Disorderly Knights |
| Pawn in Frankincense |
| Ringed Castle |
| Checkmate |
| House of Niccolo |
| David Eddings | |
| Belgariad |
| Mallorean |
| Greg Egan | |
| Permuation City |
| Diaspora |
| Terry England | |
| Rewind |
| Philip Jos? Farmer | |
| Riverworld |
| William Faulkner | |
| The Sound and the Fury |
| As I Lay Dying |
| Absalom, Absalom! |
| Robert Forward | |
| Camelot 30K |
| C.S. Friedman | |
| In Conquest Born |
| The Madness Season |
| Black Sun Rising |
| When True Night Falls |
| Crown of Shadows |
| This Alien Shore |
| Neil Gaiman | |
| Neverwhere |
| Stardust |
| American Gods |
| Mary Gentle | |
| Ash: A Secret History |
| David Gerrold | |
| The Man Who Folded Himself |
| A Matter for Men |
| A Day for Damnation |
| A Rage for Revenge |
| A Season for Slaughter |
| William Gibson | |
| Neuromancer |
| Count Zero |
| Mona Lisa Overdrive |
| Idoru |
| Robert Grossbach | |
| A Shortage of Engineers |
| Mark Haddon | |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time |
| Joe Haldeman | |
| Forever War |
| Forever Peace |
| Robert Heinlein | |
| Have Spacesuit, Will Travel |
| Starship Troopers |
| Stranger in a Strange Land |
| The Moon is a Harsh Mistress |
| Mark Helprin | |
| A Winter's Tale |
| Frank Herbert | |
| Dune |
| Dune Messiah |
| Robin Hobb | |
| Farseer Trilogy |
| Liveship Traders Trilogy |
| Tawny Man Trilogy |
| Aldous Huxley | |
| Brave New World |
| John Irving | |
| A Prayer for Owen Meany |
| Diana Wynne Jones | |
| Deep Secret |
| Guy Gavriel Kay | |
| Finovar Tapestry |
| Tigana |
| A Song for Arbonne |
| The Lions of Al-Rassan |
| Sarantine Mosaic |
| The Last Light of the Sun |
| Daniel Keyes | |
| Flowers for Algernon |
| Ursula K. Le Guin | |
| A Wizard of Earthsea |
| The Tombs of Atuan |
| The Lathe of Heaven |
| The Farthest Shore |
| The Left Hand of Darkness |
| Jonathan Lethem | |
| Gun, With Occasional Music |
| C.S. Lewis | |
| Out of the Silent Planet |
| Perelandra |
| That Hideous Strength |
| Michael Lewis | |
| Moneyball |
| Scott Lynch | |
| Lies of Locke Lamora |
| Ian R. Macleod | |
| The Great Wheel |
| The Light Ages |
| Ken Macleod | |
| The Star Fraction |
| The Stone Canal |
| Patricia McKillip | |
| Riddle-master Trilogy |
| James McManus | |
| Positively Fifth Street |
| Yves Meynard | |
| The Book of Knights |
| China Mieville | |
| King Rat |
| Perdido Street Station |
| The Scar |
| Iron Council |
| Walter Miller | |
| A Canticle for Leibowitz |
| Frank Miller | |
| Dark Knight Returns |
| Alan Moore | |
| V for Vendetta |
| Watchmen |
| League of Extraordinary Gentlemen |
| Richard Morgan | |
| Altered Carbon |
| John Myers Myers | |
| Silverlock |
| Larry Niven | |
| Ringworld |
| Eric Nylund | |
| Halo: Fall of Reach |
| George Orwell | |
| Animal Farm |
| 1984 |
| Mervyn Peake | |
| Titus Groan |
| Charles Pellegrino | |
| The Killing Star |
| Steve Perry | |
| The Trinity Vector |
| Tim Powers | |
| The Anubis Gates |
| Terry Pratchett | |
| The Colour of Magic |
| The Light Fantastic |
| Equal Rites |
| Good Omens |
| Philip Pullman | |
| The Golden Compass |
| The Subtle Knife |
| The Amber Spyglass |
| Alastair Reynolds | |
| Revelation Space |
| Adam Roberts | |
| Salt |
| Kim Stanley Robinson | |
| Mars Trilogy |
| J.K. Rowling | |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix |
| Fred Saberhagen | |
| Berserkers: The Beginning |
| Charles Sheffield | |
| Summertide |
| Divergence |
| Transcendence |
| The Mind Pool |
| Godspeed |
| Convergence |
| Tomorrow and Tomorrow |
| Dan Simmons | |
| Hyperion |
| Fall of Hyperion |
| Endymion |
| The Rise of Endymion |
| Ilium |
| Olympos |
| Michael Stackpole | |
| Talion: Revenant |
| John Steakley | |
| Armor |
| Neal Stephenson | |
| The Big U |
| Zodiac |
| Snow Crash |
| Interface |
| The Diamond Age |
| Cryptonomicon |
| Quicksilver |
| Bruce Sterling | |
| Schismatrix |
| Matthew Stover | |
| Heroes Die |
| Blade of Tyshalle |
| Charles Stross | |
| Singularity Sky |
| Family Trade |
| Steph Swainston | |
| Year of Our War |
| Michael Swanwick | |
| Stations of the Tide |
| Iron Dragon's Daughter |
| Koushun Takami | |
| Battle Royale |
| Sheri S. Tepper | |
| Sideshow |
| J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| The Hobbit |
| The Lord of the Rings |
| The Silmarillion |
| Harry Turtledove | |
| Worldwar: In the Balance |
| Worldwar: Tilting the Balance |
| A.E. Van Vogt | |
| Slan |
| Jack Vance | |
| The Dying Earth |
| The Eyes of the Overworld |
| The Dragon Masters |
| Joan D. Vinge | |
| The Snow Queen |
| The Summer Queen |
| Vernor Vinge | |
| The Peace War |
| True Names |
| Marooned in Realtime |
| A Fire Upon the Deep |
| A Deepness in the Sky |
| Collected Stores of Vernor Vinge |
| Rainbows End |
| Peter Watts | |
| Starfish |
| David Weber | |
| On Basilisk Station |
| Margaret Weis | |
| Star of the Guardians |
| Tad Williams | |
| Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn |
| Otherland |
| War of the Flowers |
| Connie Willis | |
| To Say Nothing of the Dog |
| Robert Charles Wilson | |
| Mysterium |
| The Chronoliths |
| David Wingrove | |
| The Middle Kingdom |
| John Wright | |
| The Golden Age |
| Timothy Zahn | |
| Spinnaret |
| Deadman's Switch |
| First Star Wars trilogy |
| Conquerors Trilogy |
| The Icarus Hunt |
| Angelmass |
| Roger Zelazny | |
| Lord of Light |
| The First Chronicles of Amber |
| A Night in Lonesome October |
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