Prometheus

Thanks for clearing that up

Why does the Penguin Classic version of Dracula state that Henry Irving died in Sheffield in the "Bram Soker: A Chronology section"? When the internet says it's in Bradford. Who's right ?

I can vouch for the David McDuff translation of Crime and Punishment too. Amazing book.

Thanks to the rest of you posting I have still to read Arthur C Clarke. Always thought he was too cerebral when I was younger ... I have no excuse now I will get round to Wyndham and even the tripods by John Christopher. The BBC series put me off for life (almost). They didn't even finish the series. They will be part of my British sci-fi collection. Apart from Orwell the sci-fi writers I have read are predominantly American I am off to read Fahrenheit 451 completely forgot about that!!

People always refer to Vietnam about this but my reading of this is that the US Government has gone through a wormhole and arrived at the current debacle of Afghanistan & Iraq. Just substitute Communism with Islam. The ideas are still very fresh and contemporary. Haldemann has even come up with an interesting non-Malthusian slant on overpopulation.. brilliant!

It is the Sci-Fi Masterworks edition (1999) and contains a section that was omitted from the original 1974 version. The writing is not the best but still a good and easy style, the ideas and politics behind this means that there is a good story round the core plot and writers very rarely pull this off.

It's been a while since I read sci-fi so I was surprised how good Joe Haldeman's "The forever war" was. In fact I enjoyed it so much I read it in one sitting. Apparently Ridley Scott is making the film of the book soon. I used to be an avid sci-fi reader when I was younger with Alfred Bester and Robert Silverberg my all time favourite authors. The problem with sci-fi is that when its bad it stinks to high heaven but at its very best its visionary. So to cut to the chase please recommend your all time favourites so I can catch any more that I may have missed in my youth.

So many books so little time!! Thanks for the excellent suggestions Definitely a lot of food for thought. Keep them coming in as there are some I have never come across before.

After completing "The Heart of Darkness" I was spellbound by its magical prose. This has led me on a mission to reading short novels. It may be fashionable to write verbose books but sometimes the point can be more forceful in fewer words. So I am reading books that have an economy of style but are richer for it The Old Man and the Sea - a good introduction to Hemingway. Not the best novel I have read but very successful in its descriptions. Of Mice and Men - Good overall but I felt that it was disjointed at the crucial scene. Other classics that I have read include 1984 (fascinating in its complexity), Animal Farm (A brilliant allegory), To Kill a Mockingbird (loved the court case), Darkness at Noon (brilliant), Brave New World (underrated and hardly talked about these days whereas 1984 is cliched), The Great Gatsby (depressing), A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (which I can't seem to start for some reason), I would be very grateful if you could recommend any short novels that are worthy of reading and has an emotional impact.