The idea.

The Guardian posted its list of 1000 novels everyone must read.

Of the cleverly divided categories, the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror category was the only one I was interested in reviewing to see what made the list. I found myself a bit disappointed in all the novels on the list which I had not read.

This is not to say that their list is the very definition of smart or worthy or cool, and I am none of these things because I have not read many of the books on the list. I just always feel as if, for someone who loves to read, and for someone who loves sci-fi and fantasy movies and comic books, I just have not read enough novels in these genres.

Often, I find I have not read many because I don't know where to start.

So here's my starting place. The 149 novels that made this list. And yay, it turns out I own a few of them but have not read them yet, so I'll clearly start with those.

And of course, I have read some of them. 16 in fact. These are:

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling (we like to call this one Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone here in the States, Guardian)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
The Sword in the Stone by TH White
Orlando by Virginia Woolf

16 down, 133 to go.