#38 Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I can’t recall when I read this. I did when I was younger in jr high or high school. It began my love with the nonsense and humor that can be in books. This one kind of capped it off. Just funny, odd, different and out of the norm.

I am not sure if I loved it at first, and had to come back to it. However, it started a love affair with the crazy. The Princess Bride, Good Omens, Xanth novels. Yet, this one is my favorite. I am not sure why, kind of like how The Holy Grail ended up as one of my favorite movies. Makes no sense, I know, but it is.

So much has made it into my lexicon. So long, and thanks for all the fish, 42, babelfish, and others. If you think it is not out there, try searching in Google “what is the answer to life the universe and everything” and see what the answer is. It is just a fun filled oddity. and my favorite of that nut filled genre.

#41 Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey

I was thirteen in 79. I do not remember where we were going but we were traveling as a family. I bought my first fantasy book. I was a young backwards nerd, and had few friends at this point. So most of my time was getting trapped into the fantasy worlds. Some were not great, others were something of a good memory. So The White Dragon captivated me.

I saw the cover above and was fascinated. The white dragon with the guy riding it. Dragons were monsters, from legends. Smaug, and from the movies. So this idea was completely fascinating that humans should have bred them for riders. Most covers from that era were pretty bad. (some may call them classic, but they were not great art or illustrations)

Think of the old Tolkien, cs Lewis, or black cauldron. They were washed out watercolors, little detail and leaving a lot to the imagination. Or were the dramatic sexualized covers of Frank Frazetta from Tarzan, Conan, and John Carter of Mars books. This was the era of the arrival amazing, colorful artwork that so many of us are familiar with. Swrod of Shannara, wheel of time. and Thomas Covenant. So I was drawn in.

I was sucked into this world and I remember dreaming with the covers of tiny dragons and the dragon riders. This was truly a unique word, a blend of fantasy and science fiction that was new and difficult at the time for me. However the memories have lasted though I only ready a half dozen, I was in a fantastic world that opened my eyes to new corners of fantasy.

#42 Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

I think I read this in jr high. Our library there was maybe 800 square feet. It was a small town. I think I was introduced to sci-fi and fantasy there. They had a lot of comic books. Seems odd now, but it was old classics illustrated. Comics that illustrated literaty books. Three musketeers, The Time Machine, 20,000 leagues under the sea, and others. I read them and then dug through all the fantasy and sci-fi books in that library.

That led me to our old city Carnage library. Still not huge, but a good size for a small community of 4000. That led me to Frankenstein. Published in 1818 by a 20 year old Mary Shelly. Many credit is as the first sci-fi book. I think it is better to think of it as the oldest remembered sci-fi. Whatever the case this book is a fascinating book on what it is to be alive and human. She could have easily made it a horror, ghost story, or just a slasher book.

Yet the book evokes feeling and heart. There is a reason why it is a favorite, and why it was made into a movie in the early 30’s. It can invoke horror and revulsion and follow those up with thought and caring. Exploring what is life and caring. You can see todays culture reflected in the writing. Lets give everyone a chance to love.

This was the era where many remembered the founding of the United States. The thoughts were going through Europe of what it meant to be free, and what are the rights of the people. This is a window into that time. A time of horses, and armies marching through Europe. A different age, that we can still see as relevant now.

It is funny to think this is public domain book that carries so much weight today. how many other writings will survive through the eras.

#43 Expeditionary Force Craig Alanson

I was going to do a top 40. Then I decided to just add a few more. Those ones that are not fantastic books, deep literature, but they keep me coming back for more. I do not know why i picked up this book. I just was bored one day, coming off a deep, heavy book that was dragging me down. That led me want something lighter.

So I fumbled around and this is one of the ones I came up with.

Earth is attacked by aliens. Well a group of hamster like aliens have invaded, the soldier, Joe Bishop, on leave happened to catch one. Soon after, another group of reptilian aliens shows up and chases them off our little green and blue ball in space. Well, Joe is hailed as a hero, and the lizards offer us the stars if we help them fight the hamsters.

This seems simple, right? Earthlings are trained in all the basics, but nothing important, but are meant to be the lizard’s shock troops on the front lines. Only, who is in the right? Who is the right? Come to find out, there are many levels of races, each using lower races to fight and die for them. Joe being a hero is thrust into the middle of this. However, the military is not that happy with a lowly soldier suddenly becoming a corporal at the command of the lizards.

In his travels with the Earth Expeditionary Force, he stumbles across ancient artificial intelligence. The small can like object, was created millions of years before. Skippy, as he is nicknamed, is awake, and helps Joe. He and Joe escape from a predicament, leading a band of soldiers and stealing a high life forms ship. This evolves into a friendship between the human and the beer can.

Joe spends a lot of his time like me. Wondering how I got myself into this. How am I so dumb? Skippy is the brilliant person that has the intuition. He can’t see outside the box and finds himself in many situations that somehow the dumb monkey Joe is able to get them out of.

All in all, I have loved the series. In later books, I was getting tired that nothing was happening, or it was progressing too slow. It was kind of rehashing the same stories. I have been told I should finish that last few, but I have not yet. However, I find the book fun. The AI mocks the humans regularly. Yet he cares for all the crew and especially Joe.

All the aliens they encounter are divided into two camps.  Neither one is a good side, and both are equally assholes.  Each side hunt for each other, and ancient technology from lost races that are no longer around.  The humans find themselves moving to an important center in the galaxy.  It takes a lot of luck, time, and Skippy the magnificent along with the Merry Band of Pirates. 

It is fun and just an enjoyable read.  I love that I think about these books years later, I wonder what happens, and what is in store for them next.  That is really what makes me put books on this list, the fact that I want to read them again.