Via Alan Baxter comes NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy books. These were chosen by reader nominations and voting, so take that crowd-sourcing for what it's worth. In particular, more recent books always score higher in this sort of thing.
The big question is, though, how many of the books on this list (which is copyright NPR, 2011, thank you very much) have I read?
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien YES
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams YES
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card YES
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert Only first book - tiresome
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin NO
6. 1984, by George Orwell YES
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury YES
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov YES
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley YES
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman NO
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman YES
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan NO
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell YES
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson YES
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore YES
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov YES
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein YES
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss NO
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut YES
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley YES
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick NO
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood Only the first 150 pages - tedious
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King NO
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke YES
25. The Stand, by Stephen King YES
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson YES
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury YES
28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut YES
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman Only first book - excellent
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess NO
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein YES
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams YES
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey YES
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein NO
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller YES
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells YES
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne YES
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys YES
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells YES
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny YES
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings NO
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley NO
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson Only the first book
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven YES
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin NO
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien NO
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White Was assigned in freshman year back in high school, never got around to it. Since I'm a stubborn bastard who doesn't like doing what I'm told, probably won't read this anytime soon. Take that, Mr. Schlemmermier!
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman NO
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke YES
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan YES
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons NO
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman NO
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson YES
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks NO
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle NO
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman YES
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett NO
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson NO
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold YES
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett NO
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle YES
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind NO
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy NO
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke YES
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson NO
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist NO
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks NO
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard Read a few of the old comics
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb NO
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger NO
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson NO
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne YES
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore NO
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi YES
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson YES
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke YES
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey NO
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin NO
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury YES
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire YES
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson NO
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde YES
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks NO
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart YES
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson YES
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher NO
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe Have read books 1 & 2, reading 3
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn NO
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan NO
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock NO
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury YES
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley NO
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge YES
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov YES
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson Read first book, abandoned Blue Mars 75 pages in.
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle YES
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis NO
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville NO
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony YES
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis NO
===== Feel free to comment on this or any other post.
you are not a fan of Neil Gaiman's books?
ReplyDeleteI like them fine. I'm just reminded by this list that there are many of his books which have been too long on the TBR list.
ReplyDeleteOne book I think should be on this list is Star of the Unborn by Franz Werfel
ReplyDelete