My favorite so far has been the Xenogenesis trilogy, now called Lillith’s Brood. I inhaled those three one right after the other.

I read The Parable of the Talents but unlike everybody I spoke to about it, I found it too preachy. I wanted to shout at her, “All right already! Do you think I’m stupid? You don’t have to keep telling me how evil the bad guys are. It is abundantly clear from their actions!” I didn’t move on to any of the other Parable books.

Then a read Wild Seed, which I found gripping, and so went on to Mind of My Mind, but I’m holding off on Clay’s Ark because by the end of Mind of My Mind the plot turns on telepathy, and that tends to lose my interest even when Octavia Butler is handling it.

Thanks for the tips on the other ones though.