All right, this is my reading list.

First of all, if you're after the "Great Books," this is not the place. This is merely a collection of great books.

I am a sci-fi/fantasy freak. (For those of you who don't know me, my ambition is to be a sci-fi/fantasy author.) Books that mean a lot to me (philosophically) will be separated out from the rest in the first bit. However, in my Humble and Unworthy Opinion (Yeah right) everything here is worth the reading.

More coming soon! Beware!

Important Books:

• Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein. This book has been instrumental in forming my ethical, theological, and general codes. It is the source of the word, "grok," meaning to comprehend fully, (more or less) as well as the term, "water brother." It is a tale of a young Martian trying to make sense of a terminally disordered world.
  
• Wave Without a Shore, by CJ Cherryh. A philosophical treatise about the nature of consciousness and the quest for meaning. As usual, Cherryh has created a tangible world with fascinating characters.
  
• The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin. An interesting book about the relations between people. Read the edition that has LeGuin's introduction, it is a wonderful piece of writing.
  
• The Earthsea Trilogy plus one, by Ursula K LeGuin
  
  • A Wizard of Earthsea
    
  • The Tombs of Atuan
    
  • The Farthest Shore
    
  • Tehanu
    
  This is here because of its discussion of the nature of Names. It explains them better than I ever could.
  
• The Ender Series, by Orson Scott Card
  
  • Ender's Game
    
  • Speaker for the Dead
    
  • Xenocide
    
  These books, particularly the first, which is the best, scare me. The picture of humanity they present is so plausible as to be terrifying. From Xenocide, I took my yerm aiœa, which is the Sanscrit word for life.

• The Dark is Rising Sequence, by Susan Cooper.
  
  • (Prequel) Over Sea, Under Stone
    
  • The Dark is Rising
    
  • Greenwitch
    
  • The Grey King
    
  • Silver on the Tree
    
  This series does a really nifty job of combining old Celtic myths, Arthurian legend, and some Christian traditions all together. I really enjoyed it- even if I don't agree with all of it it's just plain neat!
  
• The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.
  It's crazy. It's inane. But it makes a lot of actual sense in bits, and is always good for a laugh. It's one of those books that you take exactly as seriously as you want to. If you don't want to take it seriously, fine. I think of it in the way I think of me- I find it incredibly silly, but I respect the rare occasions it has something to say.
  
• And of course, the basis to the trilogy, The Principia Discordia. Like Illuminatus!, it is an excercise in silliness. However, it does have an actual, coherent (at least by my standards) philosophy behind it. On the havens page there is a link to a copy of the Principia online, and I know it's in a few other sites as well. This is just to one I happened to find. It is also periodically available as a book, if you're willing to expend the effort to actually find the damn thing rather than doing things the easy way. I have a book.

Fun Books:

• The Chanur Series, by CJ Cherryh (Here is a fair warning: CJ Cherryh is my favorite author. So I put up a lot of her stuff.)
  
  • The Pride of Chanur
    
  • Chanur's Venture
    
  • The Kif Strike Back
    
  • Chanur's Homecoming
    
  • Chanur's Legacy
    
  Good, clean, spaceage stuff with cats.
  
• Downbelow Station, by CJ Cherryh. Hey, the Hugo and Nebula Award people can't be all wrong!
  
• The Merovingen Nights Series, first book by CJ Cherryh, CJ Cherryh, ed. I'll put up the titles when I remember them all, until then, I'm afraid I'll have to say:
  
  • Angel With the Sword
    
• The Myth Series, by Robert Aspirin. Lighthearted ridiculousness. I'll put up the titles when I have them in order.
  
• The Phule sequence, by Robert Aspirin. Space-age lighthearted silliness.
  
  • Phule's Company
    
  • Phule's Paradise
    
• Ringworld, by Larry Niven. One of the classics.
  
• The Integral Trees, by Larry Niven. A fascinating book!
  
• The Man-Kzin Wars series, created by Larry Niven. (Titles are easy... Man-Kzin Wars I, Man-Kzin Wars II, Man-Kzin Wars....)
  
• Dream Park, by Larry Niven and some other people. Disneyland gone haywire.
  
• Neuromancer, by William Gibson. The original cyberpunk novel.
  
• Rocannon's World, by Ursula K.LeGuin. Another really interesting study of characters in a strange situation.
  
• The Entire Middle Earth thing, by JRR Tolkien. I know, I know, it's clichŽ, and I don't care....
  
  • The Silmarillion
    
  • The Hobbit
  • The Lord of the Rings
    
    • The Fellowship of the Ring
      
    • The Two Towers
      
    • The Return of the King
      
  • The Lost Tales
    
  • And anything else!
    
• The Narnia Series, by CS Lewis
  
  • The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
    
  • Prince Caspian
    
  • The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader'
    
  • The Silver Chair
    
  • The Horse and his Boy
    
  • The Magician's Nephew
    
  • The Last Battle
    
• The Screwtape Letters, by CS Lewis. Advice from a devil to his nephew on how to corrupt people.
  
• The Increasingly Incorrectly Named Hitchhiker's Trilogy, by (of course) Douglas Adams.
  
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    
  • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
    
  • Life, the Universe, and Everything
    
  • So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
    
  • Mostly Harmless
    
  I need say no more.

Back to the havens. Or All the way back to the beginning.