Here are ten of my favorate sci-fi books (in no particular order)
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The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. The story of a solider isolated by time dilation from those he is supposed to protect.
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Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Six strangers travel to the planet Hyperion. They have to face the past in order to confront the present.
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Slow River by Nicola Griffith. A kidnap victim escapes her captors, but she cannot return home. She must make a new life for herself in a dystopic future.
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The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Humanity has spread to the stars, but has not found intelligent life. Finally an alien signal is detected from a remote star system. Two military vessels are dispatced to investigate. However, the aliens are not what the humans expected.
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Helliconia Spring by Brian Aldiss. The planet Helliconia is in a binary star system and therefore has a short year around its star, and a thousand year “long year” around the binary. On Helliconia winter lasts centuries. However, spring is coming, and social and political upheval follow the retreating ice.
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Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. An archologist discovers an extinct alien race on a remote planet. But what caused the extinction? A starship crewed by cyborgs is hunting the galaxy for this same archologist. Why? An assassin has infiltrated this crew. Who is her target?
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The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanely Robinson. The Black Plague killed 99% of the population of Euorpe. See how history unfolds in this alternate reality.
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To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer. EVERONE who ever lived is resurrectred on the banks of a giant river. One man will travel upriver to seek its source, and to find the ones who brought humanity back to life.
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Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield. A man cannot bear the loss of his wife. He travels to the end of time in an attempt to save her.
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1984 by George Orwell. The definitave political novel of the 20th century. One man must face living under an opressive regime.
