In a Sisyphean effort to be more organized, I thought I'd put my to-read list somewhere handy, where I wouldn't be able to lose it. Which meant turning it into a list here. So this is mostly just for my convenience but if you've got opinions about any of these, feel free to share. I'm adding a few comments about who recommended them and why I want to read them, which again is largely for my own sake but if it helps you out, that's neat, too.

These come from book reviews in things like Book World, especially those by Michael Dirda. He's the Post's He frequently mentions books that I adore, like The Good Soldier and At Swim-Two-Birds and Sherlock Holmes stories, so I suspect that when he really likes something, I will, too. There was also a special all-SF issue of Book World a while back, where the critics and various authors mentioned their favorite writers, so that added about a dozen names. Some also come from all the zillions of sites I visit, and there are also a bunch from the HPOO forum, which doesn't exist anymore, but having the source there helps me remember why I wanted to read it.

• Jonathan Ames, The Extra Man: Someone emailed me ages ago suggesting that I'd like this. The couple of times I've remembered to look for it, I couldn't find it. But mostly I just forget to look for it, and I feel bad about that because someone was nice enough to suggest a book, and I've fallen down on the job. Sorry! I haven't forgotten, honest.

• Niccolo Ammaniti, I'm Not Scared: Dirda compared this to a Hitchcock movie; it's about a little boy in a small Italian town who finds a dead body.

• Poul Anderson, Tau Zero: HPOO recommendation.

• J. G. Ballard: HPOO recommendation, and his Chronopolis and Other Stories was mentioned in that SF Book World. I've definitely read him, but only a few stories.

• Algernon Blackwood: Dirda reviewed a biography of Blackwood and made him sound very neat. I don't care so much about the biography (although Blackwood was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which probably signifies wackiness) but I'd like to read some of his stories.

• Leagh Brackett: HPOO recommendation.

• Fredric Brown, What Mad Universe: Recommended in the SF Book World. It's a parody of pulp SF stories: "Bug-Eyed Monsters and space girls wearing only bras, underpants and boots abound."

• Rene Daumal, Mount Analogue: Daniel Pinkwater's Book World recommendation. It's unfinished, and apparently stops quite abruptly in chapter 5. It sounds very odd, and apparently the Theosophists liked it, which pretty well confirms that it's very odd.

• Avram Davidson: HPOO recommendation and Michael Dirda wrote a big piece praising Davidson when a collection of his works came out. So that's twice the endorsement, whee.

• L. Sprauge De Camp: HPOO recommendation.

• David Gerrold: HPOO recommendation.

• Edmond Hamilton: HPOO recommendation.

• James Hynes, Kings of Infinite Space: Jonathan Yardley's Book World review was one of those where he says a few enthusiastic things and then just strings together lots of quotes from the book because it's funny enoug to speak for itself. And, well, they were funny, so I want to read it.

• P.D. James, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman: I haven't read any James, for some reason. A Book World summary of this one made me think, "Oh yeah. I keep vaguely meaning to read that."

• C. M. Kornbluth: HPOO recommendation. I got a massive collection of Kornbluth's short stories from the library a while ago. And I also got far too many other books, so I never even opened it before it was due back at the library. I suck.

• R.A. Lafferty, Nine Hundred Grandmothers: Or anything else by him. This was Neil Gaiman's pick in the list of recommendations, and he said that Lafferty "was undobutedly the finest writer of whatever it was that he did that ever there was." And also described him as "a more whimsical Flann O'Brien." This is a collection of short stories.

• James Lasdun,The Horned Man: Another Dirda review. He says this book "belongs with John Fowles's The Collector, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall Paper," and Shirley jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. It is a masterpiece of chillling, mesmerizing control." So I think he liked it.

• David Markson,Vanishing Point: A nice review in Book World. It sounds very pretentious and post-modern. Sometimes I like that crap. Sometimes not so much. But the review was positive enough that I feel like I should flip through a copy and see if it's something I'd enjoy.

• Charles Robert Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer: From the SF Book World. Thomas M. Disch named it one of his favorites, "the greatest of the Gothic novels." It sounds quite fun.

• Michael Moorcock: HPOO recommendation. And recommended in that SF Book World. And I've heard about the Elric books in a dozen different places. And yet I still haven't read them, for no particular reason.

• Howard Norman,The Haunting of L.: Dirda compared it to The Good Soldier. Only with ghosts.

• Lewis Padgett, Mimsy Were the Borogoves: HPOO recommendation. His real name was Henry Kuttner, but this book was written under the name Padgett. I like "Jabberwocky" references. It's the first poem I ever memorized! Well, not counting nursury rhymes. But it's the first poem I intentionally memorized.

• Frederick Pohl: HPOO recommendation.

• Vernon Lee, Hauntings: Dirda again, although the name is familiar enough that I think I must have read some Lee a long time ago. Anyway, spooky stories from 1890.

• Roy Lewis, The Evolution Man: Terry Pratchett's pick in that Book World article. I'm not especially a Pratchett fan, which is strange. I suspect I just picked the wrong couple of books to read. But I do respect his taste, is the point, and he said this was the funniest book he'd ever read.

• Steven Millhauser, Fever Dreams: Dirda says "no one alive writes better about yearning and heartbreak." I bet that's on the jacket.

• Thomas Love Peacock, Crotchet Castle: Dirda again. Peacock sounds like a Victorian Wodehouse.

• Fletcher Pratt: HPOO recommendation.

• M.P. Shiel, Prince Zaleski: Maybe we should just assume it's a Dirda review unless I say otherwise. Anyway, gothic kitschy mysteries with lots of purplet prose. Dirda ends his review by saying, "such wonderful, terrible writing."

• Clifford Simack: HPOO recommendation.

• William Browning Spencer, Irrational Fears: Book World review. It's about people who overcome their alcoholism by turning to a higher power. Well, the Elder Gods, actually. Sounds funny.

• Robert Louis Stevenson,The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: I have no idea why I haven't read this.

• Hew Strachan,The First World War: Book World review. What? I can read nonfiction, too. Occasionally.

• Theodore Sturgeon: HPOO recommendation.

• Olaf Stapledon: I just have this name written down. I think this from was another Dirda review, but it could be from HPOO or nearly anything else.

• James Tiptree, Jr., Her Smoke Rose Up Forever: From Book World

• A. E. van Vogt: HPOO recommendation.

• Gene Wolfe: I've read one book, and a few short stories. But not nearly enough given how often I've heard wonderful things about his book. I blame the fact that the whole Book of the New Sun epic is now thirteen volumes. Even trilogies scare me. But I get the feeling I should overcome that fear in this case, because it's not just franchise-building. Dirda recently did a review of The Knight, which sounded fun and a little more self-contained.

• Roger Zelazny, The Door of His Face: an HPOO recommendation. And again, I've read Zelazny, just not much. Do I sound defenisve yet?