Many readers tend toward the compulsive for some reason: we keep lists of the books we've read, the books we'd like to read, the books we've recently acquired, the books we're looking for when we visit used bookstores. My Amazon wishlist is presently 44 pages long, and I have a paper wishlist that contains mostly different wishes that's another 37 pages. I have an online catalog of every mystery I own, and have made progress in cataloging the rest of the unruly shelves as well.

But one can never have too many lists. I've recently come across several lists that I find particularly drool-worthy regarding fantasy, slipstream, New Weird and institial fiction that I thought you might enjoy as well. Thanks to those who originally created the lists, who are credited below:

Jeff VanderMeer's Big-Ass Fantasy List

A Working Canon of Slipstream Literature, created by the Slipstream Panel at the 2007 Readercon (panelists included Paul DiFilippo, John Kessel, Cat Valente, Dora Goss, Brett Cox, Ron Drummond, Victoria McManus, Graham Sleight. Convention organizer Eric Van participated in preparing the list as well.

Bruce Sterling and Lawrence Person's slipstream list

List from OF Blog of the Fallen regarding books fantasy and SF readers perhaps should be discussing more often

There is that in me that wants to toss these all together and come up with one grand and glorious list -- perhaps combining it with Harold Bloom's The Western Canon, the Random House list of the best books of the 20th century, and 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and come up with some sort of definitive list of books I'm going to read in this lifetime -- assuming I live to be 250 years old.

A request to readers: does anyone know of a list of mysteries or of straight science fiction to match the lists of fantasy and slipstream lists above? I'd be particularly interested in lists that include more contemporary works, i.e., works written in the last 30 years.