OUSFG's Desert Planet Books
The aim was to come up with ten books we would all be
happy to take with us on a long space journey together to a
desert planet (OUSFG discussion meeting, 12th October 2011).
Top Ten
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The first x books, for a given value of x) (D. Adams)
- Good Omens (N. Gaiman/T. Pratchett)
- His Dark Materials (P. Pullman)
- Song Of Ice And Fire (G. Martin)
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (R. Heinlein)
- Foundation (I. Asimov)
- Fahrenheit 451 (R. Bradbury)
- Perdido St Station (C. Miéville)
- Lord Of The Rings (J. Tolkein)
- Saga Of The Eternal Champion (M. Moorcock)
The Nominees
- Dune (F. Herbert)
- Mortal Engines (P. Reeve)
- Hyperion (D. Simmons)
- Magician (R. Feist)
- Canticle For Leibowitz (W. Miller)
- Left Hand Of Darkness (U. Le Guin)
- Good Omens (N. Gaiman/T. Pratchett)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The first x books, for a given value of x) (D. Adams)
- Perdido St. Station (C. Miéville)
- Roadside Picnic (A. Strugatsky/ B. Strugatsky)
- Gamearth Trilogy (K. Anderson)
- Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant (S. Donaldson)
- Truckers/Diggers/Wings (T. Pratchett)
- Lord Of The Rings (J. Tolkein)
- Lifecycle of Software Objects & Colleceted Short Stories (T. Chiang)
- Snowcrash (N. Stevenson)
- Neuromancer (W. Gibson)
- Wheel Of Time (R. Jordan)
- Ender's Game (O. Card)
- Foundation (I. Asimov)
- The Collected Short Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (R. Heinlein)
- Starship Troopers (R. Heinlein)
- Childhood's End (A. Clarke)
- His Dark Materials (P. Pullman)
- Saga Of The Eternal Champion (M. Moorcock)
- Fahrenheit 451 (R. Bradbury)
- The Last Dragon Chronicles (C. De Lacey)
- Fire Upon The Deep/Deepness In The Sky (V. Vinge)
- Song Of Ice And Fire (G. Martin)
- Chrysalids (J. Vyndham)
- Gone Away World (N. Harkaway)
- The Malazan Book Of The Fallen (S. Erikson)
- Lies of Locke Lamora (S. Lynch)
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (S. Clarke)
- Mote in God's Eye (L. Niven/J. Pournelle)
- Revelation Space (A. Reynolds)
- Laundry Series(C. Stross)
- The Passage (J. Cronin)
- Permutation City (G. Egan)
- A Scanner Darkly (P. Dick)
- Sunshine (R. MacKinley)
- Declare (T. Powers)
- Edge Chronicles (P. Stewart/C. Riddell)
- The Handmaid's Tale (M. Atwood)
2010
Here are the books from the last Desert Planet Books discussion
on 13th October 2010.
Top Ten
- Good Omens (Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman)
- Sandman (Neil Gaiman)
- Mortal Engines Quadrillogy (Philip Reeve)
- Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
- The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
- The Foundation Trillogy (Issac Asimov)
- The Bas-Lag Series (China Mieville)
- The Commonwealth Saga (Peter F. Hamilton)
- His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman)
- Dune (Frank Herbert)
The Nominees
- Stories of Ibis (Hiroshi Yamamoto)
- Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch)
- Ash (Mary Gentle)
- Robots of Dawn (Asimov)
- The Fire Upon the Deep/
- A Deepness in the Sky (Vernor Vinge)
- The Chronicles of Isenbard Smith (Toby Frost)
- Guilty Pleasures (Laurell K Hamilton)
- Revelations Space Series (Alistair Reynolds)
- The Forever War (Joe Haldeman)
- The Dark Tower (Stephen King)
- The Amulet of Samarkand (Johnathan Straud)
- Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde)
- One Bloody Thing After Another (Joey Comeau)
- The Portable Doors Trillogy (Tom Holt)
- Let the Right One In (John Ajvide Lindqvist)
- Lord of Light (Roger Zelazny)
- Hyperion (Dan Symmons)
- Zombie Survival Guide (Max Brookes)
- Hard Boiled Wonderland and the
- End of the World (Murakami Haiuki)
- Finch (Jeff Vandermire)
- Fionavar Tapestry Series (Guy Gavriel Kay)
- Ian Cormack Series (Niel Asher)
- Declare (Tim Powers)
- Stories of Your Life and Others (Ted Chiang)
- Use of Weapons (Ian M. Banks)
Lyndsey and others enthused about Ted Chiang's short stories available online, in particular
Seventy Two Letters
and others.
2008
Here are the books from a previous Desert Planet Books discussion
on 15th October 2008.
Top Ten
- Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
- Dune - Frank Herbert
- The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
- The Earthsea Quartet - Ursula K. Le Guin
- His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
- The Once And Future King - Terence Hanbury White
- Stories Of Your Life And Others - Ted Chiang
- War Of The Worlds - H.G. Wells
- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
- Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Nominees
- Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
- Robots And Empire - Isaac Asimov
- Foundation - Isaac Asimov
- Caves Of Steel - Isaac Asimov
- Expecting Someone Taller - Tom Holt
- Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
- Day Of The Triffids - John Wyndham
- Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
- Across the Nightingale Floor - Lian Hearn
- The Sterkarm Handshake - Susan Price
- The Baker's Boy - J. V. Jones
- Magician - Raymond E. Feist
- Lord Of Light - Roger Zelazny
- Lies Of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
- A Sudden Wild Magic - Diana Wynne Jones
- The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett
- The Dark Is Rising - Susan Cooper
- Stardust - Neil Gaiman
- Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie
- The Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
- Sabriel - Garth Nix
- Enders Game - Orson Scott Card
- Grimms Fairy Tales - Brothers Grimm
- The Player Of Games - The Player of Games
- The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
- The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
- The Bartimaeus Trilogy - Jonathan Stroud
- Perdido Street Station - China Mieville
- A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
- The Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb
- Watchmen (Graphic Novel) - Alan Moore
- Sandman (Graphic Novel) - Neil Gaiman
- Time - Stephen Baxter
- The Man In The High Castle - Philip K. Dick
- Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
- Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ousfg/misc/desert-planet.html last
modified 13th October 2011 by Lists compiled by Peter Gerrard (2011), Douglas Hall (2010), and Oliver St John (2008)