Thanks to sci-fi, and other trash, e-book usage is taking off
Some observers are theorizing that part of the reason for the success of e-book readers is that people are using them to read "downmarket" genre fiction. You know smutty stories and trash like science fiction. The thinking is that people can read this stuff in public and not worry about anyone noticing the tell-tale book cover as they sit on the bus.
One of the bloggers for Wired's GeekDad notes that one of the things lost with ebooks is the cover art with which we judge a book's merit before we buy it. With that in mind, he offers up 102 essential science ficton books for reading on your Kindle, but he has the foresight to include all of their covers for you to browse before making your picks.
If you're still not tired of people guiding your reading choices with their lists of "essential" books, here's another one that suggests 50 sci-fi authors you must read. Not much new to long-time readers on the list, but it may be useful to newcomers.
I've always used award wins and nominations to guide me towards fiction worth reading. John Scalzi is asking his readers to come up with titles worthy of nomination for the 2011 Nebulas. Certain names come up again and again so I know that I probably should check some of those out.
Much more intimidating is Locus' recommended science fiction reading list for 2011. I think it would take me most of 2012 to read even half of it.