NPR has released its Top 100 SF books list. Some damned good stuff on here! Also some things I tried to read and decided after a few pages were not worth continuing *coughswordofshananacough*. I felt the overwhelming need to go through and put the one's I've read in bold. It's a meme sorta thing - wanna do the same? Grab the list off NPR and go! Bung a link in the comments so we can all peruse.
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
This they whittled down from a list of 237 finalists. As some of my favorite books are on that Finalist list, but didn't make the magic 100, I shall include them here:
Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson
Bridge Of Birds, by Barry Hughart
The Coldfire Trilogy, by C.S. Friedman
The Eyes Of The Dragon, by Stephen King
The Incarnations Of Immortality Series, by Piers Anthony
Memory And Dream, by Charles de Lint
The Sarantine Mosaic Series, by Guy Gavriel Kay
Song for the Basilisk, by Patricia McKillip
Tigana , by Guy Gavriel Kay
To Say Nothing Of The Dog, by Connie Willis
Wild Seed, by Octavia Butler
Some of those books really deserve more recognition than they got. But then, I'm pretty partial.
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11 comments:
Wow, this is fun! I'll post my list presently.
The one thing which really stood out for me is that you haven't read "The Silmarillian". I have a feeling this book would blow your mind.
http://ludinthemist.blogspot.com/
Good idea! I'll play along!
http://paleopurls.blogspot.com/2011/08/nprs-100-best-fantasy-and-science.html
Oh! Tigana should have absolutely made the list. One of my favorite books!
I completely agree: Anansi Boys was a phenomenal book. I think I enjoyed it even more than I did American Gods.
http://improbablejoe.blogspot.com/2011/08/nprs-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy.html
Obviously, this is a list of popular fiction. I'd like to have seen Harlan Elllison find some spot on the list, but what can you do? I wouldn't minded seeing the Incarnations of Immortality books too, I loved those growing up.
As requested, Dana, I have blogged my version and discovered thereby that I have read only 75% of the list. So I now have 25 new titles on my to-do list :-)
BTW, my favourite is currently 'The Time Traveller's Wife' :-)
My list is at http://www.savory.de/blog_aug_11.htm#20110814
My top 10:
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
I can't comment about the books I have not read.
Books on my "to read" list:
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
Have Space Suit Will Travel, by Robert Heinlein
The one and only glaring omission: The Odyssey, by Homer
I agree with those that think there should be two separate lists:
There should be a list for SF and a separate one for Fantasy.
BTW, for those of you who can read German, there are two of my SF short stories online (genre = alternative pasts)
http://www.savory.de/tempus.htm and
http://www.savory.de/curie.htm
Enjoy.... :-)
My list is at http://www.thealders.net/blogs/2011/08/16/top-100-sf-fantasy-npr/ sadly only 64% :)
Thanks for starting this one!!
My list here: http://acicular.blogspot.com/2011/08/im-going-to-jump-on-danas-great-meme.html
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