SF Site's Top 10 Books
January 20, 2003 (2:25 PM) ( link )

Lisa DuMond of The SF Site has posted her Top 10 Books of 2002. I haven't read a single one of them, so (after skimming through the reviews) I've added a couple of them to my Books I Plan to Read page.

This is just one reviewer's "best of" list, which makes it hard for me to evaluate: does she have the same tastes that I do, or is she the type who enjoys speculative fiction that I would never touch (e.g., Anne Rice)? To find out, I went to Lisa DuMond's book reviews page and looked up some sample reviews on books that I've already read.

Disturbingly, she seems to have read a huge number of books--very few of which overlap with my own reading. She did like The Forever War, which I was less than thrilled about; raves about The Stars My Destination, which was merely ok; and her review of I Am Legend is a little more effusive than mine. Not to mention that she (like many others) seemed to like American Gods, which is not one of my favorite novels.

So the signs don't look great. On the other hand, some of the books she lists look pretty good on their own, and it's probably better to rely on the thoughts of even just one other person, rather than reading whatever book you pick off the shelf. (In fact, I don't believe I've read any good books using that method.)