Favorite dystopian novels

[The Apostate]

Given our current situation I've a taste for revisiting some old reads and maybe some new ones if recommended highly enough.

What are you're favorites of the genre?

Some to pick from:

The Stand by Stephen King
1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K.Dick (original source material for Blade Runner)
Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
The Road and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Slaughterhouse Five, Cats Cradle, Player Piano, all by Kurt Vonnegut Jr
A Canticle for Leibowitzby by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Logan's Run by William F. Nolan
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

Pretty much anything by Kafka.

Anyone else got any suggestions or favorites?

 

[ytsejam]

A Clockwork Orange.

The book is even more fucked up and disturbing than the movie. And it also has the last chapter that the movie left off.

 

[Penny Traitor]

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

My far and away favorite.

The first two chapters read like a manual to machine you barely understand, but after that it leads you into a future that is frighteningly more accurate than the more popular 1984

 

[The Apostate]

My far and away favorite.

The first two chapters read like a manual to machine you barely understand, but after that it leads you into a future that is frighteningly more accurate than the more popular 1984

“All right then," said the savage defiantly, I'm claiming the right to be unhappy."
"Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat, the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind."
There was a long silence.
"I claim them all," said the Savage at last.”

Always loved that passage.

 

[nvanprooyen]

That's a solid list.

 

[ytsejam]

Some of King's stuff as Bachman works too.
The Running Man
The Long Walk

 

[The Apostate]

That's a solid list.

Thanks. As I recall "Lucifer's Hammer" was the one that first whet my appetite for the genre. It wasn't as good when I reread it as an adult but it's still the reason I keep a copy of "The Way Things Work: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Technology " on my desk at all times.

After all, you never know when this will come in handy...

 

[airtime143]

If you dug The Stand, I highly suggest Swan Song by Robert r mccammon.

It is spectacular. I think it tops 1000 pages but it is good from start to finish. I have read it repeatedly and may grab a copy and give it another visit.

If anyone does wind up giving it a go, you wont regret it and I would like to hear thoughts when you are done.

 

[airtime143]

Not dystopian, but if you are looking for a long term reading project, the brian lumley necromancer series starts of strong for the first few books.
Easy reads and an interesting take on a weird world.

 

[modo]

1984........

had one of the best first lines ever.

 

[botfly10]

Given our current situation I've a taste for revisiting some old reads and maybe some new ones if recommended highly enough.

What are you're favorites of the genre?

Some to pick from:

The Stand by Stephen King
1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K.Dick (original source material for Blade Runner)
Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
The Road and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Slaughterhouse Five, Cats Cradle, Player Piano, all by Kurt Vonnegut Jr
A Canticle for Leibowitzby by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Logan's Run by William F. Nolan
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

Pretty much anything by Kafka.

Anyone else got any suggestions or favorites?

blood meridian is a fuckin literary opus

 

[botfly10]

check out infinite jest

its all kinds of fucked up and the writing is mesmerizing

also, house of leaves - this one you got to buy and try not to look up too much. its genius tho

 

[ZOMBIE@CTESPN]

I read allot of those books in high school. You really don’t appreciate it that much reading it when you’re 15 like you would now

I love both movie and book the road.

 

[Penny Traitor]

also, house of leaves - this one you got to buy and try not to look up too much. its genius tho

Oh man, good one.

It did not pop in my head when I saw the thread title, but it works. I don't want to say too much either, but to give out the disclaimer that House of Leaves is truly an experience in reading and only recommended for those that can handle such a non-traditional style.

 

[ruprecht]

If you dug The Stand, I highly suggest Swan Song by Robert r mccammon.

It is spectacular. I think it tops 1000 pages but it is good from start to finish. I have read it repeatedly and may grab a copy and give it another visit.

If anyone does wind up giving it a go, you wont regret it and I would like to hear thoughts when you are done.

I am a big McCammon fan. Like King except he doesn't publish everything that pops in to his head.....

 

[JesusHalasChrist]

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.

 

[botfly10]

Oh man, good one.

It did not pop in my head when I saw the thread title, but it works. I don't want to say too much either, but to give out the disclaimer that House of Leaves is truly an experience in reading and only recommended for those that can handle such a non-traditional style.

yeah, some people hate it. same with infinite jest

 

[KoreanBear]

Man The Road is such a good book. It opened me up to McCarthy. If I had not gotten to know Cormac McCarthy I would have not enjoyed my life as much.

10000x recommend.

 

[airtime143]

I am a big McCammon fan. Like King except he doesn't publish everything that pops in to his head.....

True that.

Love me some King, the stand was an amazing book, but I put Swan Song a little bit in the lead in my personal rankings.

Such similar storylines, But the pacing and "supernatural" aspect of it was a little more compelling. the mask thing was badass.

 

[Crystallas]

Just piling onto the list:
Mockingbird, Walter Tevis
Notes from Underground, Dostoevsky (I like older translations best, the new ones do correct a few broken concepts, but also take certain many liberties into expanding/re-envisioning that might mislead the original source mat). Quick read, either way.
A Scanner Darkly, PKD
A Wrinkle in Time, L'Engle
This Perfect Day, Ira Levin