We do not note nor long remember…

I read, I can't help myself. My wife and I have books in the low thousands in bookcases all over the house, and boxes brimming in the garage (there are no bookcases in the bathrooms, although now that I think about it, what's up with that?). A bookcase in the living room displays a note from Schopenhauer of particular relevance to me: "Many learned persons have read themselves stupid."
Listed below are the contents of three boxes stowed in the garage, consisting of mostly paperback science fiction titles, some fraction of that particular strain of reading I've cared to waste time with over the decades, appearing here in the disorder in which they were originally stored.
The plan is to bring the lot down to Logos in downtown Santa Cruz this next week and get some store credits for the ones they'll take, and bring the rest of them over to the Main Library, where the bottomfeeders can have at them in the free bin.
Queen City Jazz by Kathleen Ann Goonan. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (1996). It had the Bees, I think.
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman. Ace, New York (1998). Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, it says on the cover.
I can't remember most parts of any of the books listed here. Some of them I gave myself permission to admire a long time ago for some reason or other, and I do remember admiring them, if few specifics of plot or character. I'm sure it's just as well that I don't remember many of the rest of them in the least. I want a jolt of the old imaginative when I read this kind of stuff, and often enough, after more than 50 years at it, I end up dissatisfied to the point of cranky with a lot of the science fiction I've managed to end up reading anyhow. Not every written work has to be as imaginative as Finnegans Wake, imaginative all the way down to the level of syllabification, no. A credible spaceship or life form or the workings of some cleverly crafted cultural formation will do (characters so thin you can see right through to the clockwork they're operating on chafe my hide. But as long as the invention specific to the work is rounded successfully in other ways, I don't mind too much the inevitability of constructing a character, or squadrons of them, if needs be, from the stock currently available to the genre, as long as they're formed of the higher-quality papier-mâché).
Without further interruption…
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin. Avon Books, New York (1973).
The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott [The Jewel in the Crown, The Day of the Scorpion, The Towers of Silence, A Division of the Spoils]. Avon, New York (1979).
Brightness Reef by David Brin. Bantam Books, New York (1996).
Child of Fortune by Norman Spinrad. Bantam Books, New York (1986).
Trouble And Her Friends by Melissa Scott. Tom Doherty Associates (1995).
Expiration Date by Tim Powers. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (1996).
On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. Ace Books, New York (1988).
Half the Day Is Night by Maureen F. McHugh. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (1996).
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. Bantam Books, New York (1998).
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (2007).
The Judas Rose by Susette Harden Elgin. DAW Books, New York (1987).
Against A Dark Background by Ian M. Banks, Orbit Books, London (2009).
The Number of The Beast by Robert A. Heinlein. Ballantine Books, New York (1982).
Tripoint by C.J. Cherryh. Warner Books, New York (1995).
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. Picador USA, New York (2001).
Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (2009).
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde. Penguin Books, New York (2004).
The Riddle-Master Trilogy [The Riddle-Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, Harpist in the Wind] by Patricia A. McKillip. Ace Books, New York (1999).
Misery by Stephen King. Viking, New York (1987).
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. Norton, New York (1990).
H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O'Brian. Norton, New York (1991).
Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian. Norton, New York (1990).
Pavane by Keith Roberts. Ace Books, New York (1982).
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls Robert A. Heinlein. Ballantine Books, New York (1986).
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett. Harper, New York (2007).
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. Harper, New York (2008).
Accelerando by Charles Stross. Ace Books, New York (2006).
The Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (2012).
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross. Ace Books, New York (2009).
Glasshouse by Charles Stross. Ace Books, New York (2007).
The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears. Riverhead Books, New York (2003).
Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (1999).
Camouflage by Joe Haldeman. Ace Books, New York (2005).
The Scar by China Miéville. Ballantine Books, New York (2004).
Anathem by Neal Stephenson. HarperCollins, New York (2009).
Ilium by Dan Simmons. HarperCollins, New York (2005).
Olympia by Dan Simmons. HarperCollins, New York (2006).
Perdido Street Stationby China Miéville. Ballantine Books, New York (2004).
The Year of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. Bantam Books (2003).
Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson. Bantam Books (2005).
Sixty Days and Countingby Kim Stanley Robinson. Bantam Books (2007).
Seeker by Jack McDevitt. Ace Books, New York (2006).
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. Harper, New York (2010).
Postsingular by Rudy Rucker. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (2009).
Mort by Terry Pratchett. Harper, New York (2001).
The Female Man Joanna Russ. Bantam Books, New York (1975).
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. HarperCollins, New York (2003).
by Iain M. Banks. Night Shade Books, San Francisco (2006).
Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. Harper, New York (2000).
The Stainless Steel Rat Returns by Harry Harrison. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (2011).
Kraken by China Miéville. Ballantine Books, New York (2010).
The City & The City by China Miéville. Ballantine Books, New York (2010).
Railsea by China Miéville. Ballantine Books, New York (2012).
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Knopf, New York (2002).
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Night Shade Books, San Francisco (2010).
The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi. Little, Brown and Company, New York (2012).
Ship Breakerby Paolo Bacigalupi. Little, Brown, New York (2011)
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazney. Illustrated by Gahan Wilson. Avon Books, New York (1994).
The Hacker and the Ants by Rudy Rucker New York (1995).
Giants' Star by James P. Hogan. Ballantine Books, New York (1981).
Arlsan by M.J. Engh. Warner Books, New York (1976).
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Bantam Books (1995).
The Testament by John Grisham. Random House, New York (2000).
REAMDE by Neal Stephensen, Harper Collins (2011).
Sorcerers of Majipoor by Robert Silverberg, Harper, New York (1998).
Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis, Bantam Books (1992).
The Rise of Endymion Dan Simmons, Bantam Books (1998).
Terminal Café Ian McDonald, Bantam Books (1995).
Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson, Bantam Books (2007).
Flux by Stephen Baxter, Harper (1995).
Caldé of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (1995).
Endymion by Dan Simmons. Bantam Books, New York(1996).
Invader by C. J. Cherryh. DAW Books, New York (1996).
Destinies vol. 1 no. 2 edited by James Baen. Ace Books (1979).
Exodus From The Long Sunby Gene Wolfe. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (1997).
Foragers by Charles Oberndorf. Bantam Books New York (1996).
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood. Popular Library (1976).
Earthfall by Orson Scott Card. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (1996).
Infinity's Shore by David Brin. Bantam Books (1997).
JOB: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein Ballantine Books (1985).
Earthborn by Orson Scott Card. Tom Doherty Associates, New York. (1996).
Fools by Pat Cadigan. Bantam Books, New York (1992).
Virtual Light by William Gibson. Bantam Books, New York (1994).
Red Dust by Paul J. McAuley. Avon Books, New York (1995).
Moderan by David R. Bunch. Avon Books, New York (1971).
Carlucci's Edge Richard Paul Russo. Ace Books, New York (1995).
Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen. Ace Books, New York (1979).
Flight from Neveryon by Samuel R. Delaney. Bantam Books (1985).
Nautilus by Vonda McIntyre. Bantam Books (1994).
The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick. Bluejay Books, New York (1984).
The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg vol. 1 Secret Sharers by Robert Silverberg. Bantam Books, New York (1992).
Dark City by Frank Lauria. St. Martin's Press (1998).
Life, The Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams. Pan Books, London (1982).
Lord Prestimion by Robert Silverberg. HarperCollins, New York (2000).
Kiln People by David Brin. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (2002).
Donnerjack by Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold. Avon Books, New York (1998).
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith. Bantam Books, New York (2000).
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. HarperCollins, New York (2002).
Ring by Stephen Baxter. HarperCollins, New York (1996).
To Sail Beyond The Sunset by Robert A. Heinlein, Ace Books, New York (1988).
Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Bantam Books, New York (1997).
Against A Dark Background Iain M. Banks. Bantam Books, New York (1993).
Manifold Space by Stephen Baxter. Ballantine Books, New York (2002)
Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson. Bantam Books, New York (1999).
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (2000).
The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson. Tom Doherty Associates, New York (2002).
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear. Ballantine Books, New York (2000).