Karen's Fantasy List

Thanks to the eternal hostess, Emily, for creating this blog. I think the design on this one is especially purty!

I'm cross-referencing my FITG list, because in addition to my "lists" I also like to read on a whim; I also review books for a DC website, and need to have some time for that, as those books tend to be a bit more current. If you're interested: Critiquette.

My wider list of books I really ought to have read:

1. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain
2. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. LeGuin (and other LeGuin, hopefully. I read Changing Planes and loved every story in it)
3. Dune, Frank Herbert (yes, technically SciFi, I'm told, but whatever, it's long and I haven't read it).
4. Hyperion Cantos, Dan Simmons
5. The Call of Cthulhu, HP Lovecraft
6. The Once and Future King, T.H. White
7. The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis
8. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne
9. Watership Down, Richard Adams
10. Seed to Harvest, Octavia E. Butler (compilation)
11. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, Patricia A. McKillip
12. Mistress of Mistresses, E.R. Eddison
13. Gloriana, Michael Moorcock


My narrower list of books that I want to read in order to not reinvent the wheel when I write my own fantasy novel: to be determined. Suggestions are welcome. I like mermaids, women's issues (think Marion Zimmer Bradley, but I've read most of her relevant stuff), parenting, fertility, origin myths, and stories about being lonely.

Beths Fantasy Basics List

I have found this list really hard to put together, so, at the moment there is just 55 books on my list, but more will probably be added as I go. I was a hard choice to choose between Historical fiction ( which is a genre that I really haven't read a lot), Crime & Thriller ( for the same reason that I haven't really read this genre a lot) . But fantasy is a genre that what little I have read, I have loved reading! Here's my list:

1. Deepgate Codex Series - Alan Campbell.
2. Faeries Series - Melissa Marr.
3. The Inheritance Trilogy - Christopher Paolini.
4. The Servants - Micheal Marshall Smith.
5. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde.
6. The Song of Albion Trilogy - Stephen Lawhead.
7. The Cronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis.
8. Eric - Terry Pratchett.
9. The Sord of the Truth Series - Terry Goodkind.
10. Whitechapel Gods - S.M peters.
11. The Princess Bride - William Goldman.
12. Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett.
13. The Court of the Air - Stephen Hunt.
14. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Series - Douglas Adams.
15. Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett.
16. The Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger.
17. Soul Music - Terry Pratchett.
18. The God of Times - Lord Dursany.
19. Interesting Times - Terry pratchett.
20. Ghost Ocean - S.M Peters.
21. Feet of Clay - Terry pratchett.
22. His dark Materials - Phillip Pullman.
23. Jingo - Terry Pratchett.
24. The Looking Glass wars - Frank Beddor.
25. Seeing Red - Frank Beddor.
26. The Alchemyst - Micheal Scott.
27. The Magician - Micheal Scott.
28. The Last Hero - Terry pratchett.
29. American Gods - Neil Gaiman.
30. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman.
31. A Darkness forged in Fire - Chris Evans.
32. Interworld - Neil Gaiman & Micheal Reaves.
33. Frankenstein - Mary Shelly.
34. Anubis Gates - Tim Powers.
35. Memory, Sorrow & Thorn Trilogy - Tad Williams.
36. Cronicles of Raven Trilogy - James Barclay.
37. The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley.
38. The Last Unicorn - Peter S Beagle.
39. Midsummers Night Dream - William Shakespeare.
40. The Cronicles of Thomas Covenant, The unbeliever Trilogy - Stephen Donaldson.
41. Life of PI - Yann Martel.
42. The Screwtape Letters - C.S Lewis.
43. Animal farm - George Orwell.
44. Inkworld Series - Cornelia Funke.
45. Earthsea Series - Ursula . K . Le Guin.
46. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens.
47. Riftwar Saga Series - Raymond. E. Feist.
48. Dracula - Bram stoker.
49. The wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame.
50. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien.
51. Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyers.
52. The King of Elflands Daughter - Lord Dursany.
53. Lud in the Mist - Hope Mirrless.
54. The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde.
55. Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Rules of the Challenge

So, i thought clarification about the rules of this challenge would be useful. Remember these are just guidelines so you can play around with the challenge yourself. Personally i've more than 100 books because i wanted to include as much as possible.

so heres some guidelines:

#1: Each list should be focused towards a genre (or two) and consist of books which you belief form the canon of that genre. Try and have as many unread books as possible but feel free to include read books which you might want/need to reread. So for me, my basics list is focused on 'fantasy' and does include 2-3 books i read when i was a teenager which i want to read now as an adult.

#2: Give yourself 25% lee way for your list, in other words if you complete 75% or more of your list, then you've definitely succeeded in this challenge!

#3 Similar to the FITG challenge, we'll allow 5 years to complete the challenge. Starting from when you post your list up here on the blog

#4: The basics challenge is all about reading your genre so you can improve your writing (or reading! its not just for writers) through knowing a genre inside and out, so if you have 20 or 200 books for a list, which you want to complete in 2 years - feel free!

This challenge is all about improving yourself not racing to a finishing line - so feel free to mix it up if you like!

YaY, can't wait to see some more of these lists

toodles

emily