Sci-fi book recommendations

Besides the obvious brain tickle that comes from smart technological and scientific plot points, there's something about the world-building and the potential of doing-it-all-better that excites me about science fiction. Trying to make this a list of non-obvious choices (despite having read and liked lots of the more-obvious scifi-canon as well). Ordered chronologically, all of these I very much recommend:

• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin (1969)... ok that's an obvious one, but couldn't let this off my list
• Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree (1970ies) ... female author (Alice Sheldon) with male pen name. There's a blend of melancholy, rage and existentialism in these stories/novellas that feels entirely unique. Shout-out to Peter for the recommendation!
• Inverted World by Christopher Priest (1979) ... more of a fever dream a la The Woman in the Dunes then classical sci-fi, but such a good scientific puzzle where your task is to figure out the world you're thrown into.
• Élisabeth Vonarburg is Quebec's grande-dame of sci-fi, and I very much enjoyed The Silent City (1981) and In the mother's land (1992) for their mix of philosophy, feminism, gender questions and that sensation of always hearing a synth soundtrack while reading.
• Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin (1984) ... a wry and clever misogynist dystopia about the power of language. Linguistic relativity! (1st of 3, still have to read the other 2)
• Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh (1988) ... this one messed me up hard. It's slow and dense and heady, all politics and questions of human morals and individuality. Before it explodes into a thrill of action at the end.
• Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1992) ... the struggles and passions that drive human progress, the constant cycle of creation and destruction, set during humanity's colonisation of Mars.
• Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack (1993) ... cyberpunk adjacent, a wild downward spiral from innocence to violence, through the voice of a 12-year old girl's diary, in a world of civil unrest. Heartbreaking and jaw-dropping.
• Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon (1996) ... a social sci-fi story led by a cranky old female protagonist craving solitude! Super funny.
• Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling (1996) ... a space opera brimful of ideas, everything is political and gritty.
• Diaspora by Greg Egan (1997) ... Greg Egan, my original hard-scifi love.
• Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan (2013) .. eco sci-fi cyberpunk merging Chinese animism with techno futurism, set in the world's toxic waste sites. Sci-fi is especially fascinating when it comes from voices from different cultures.
• Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2013) ... Heiress of smart hard sci-fi?
• Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (2014) ... a step into the scary unknown. So good. As was the movie.
• The Actual Star by Monica Byrne (2021) ... a story across three timeslines involving mysticism and reincarnation AND YET I loved it. Smart world-building and a fantastic extensive future world glossary at the end.
• Pantopiaby by Theresa Hannig (2022) ... a nerdy German near-utopia for idealists and optimists, with an A.I. taking over the financial world and fixing us. Sign me up.