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Top 100 Sci-Fi & Fantasy books

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.

3 comments:

  1. you are not a fan of Neil Gaiman's books?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I 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.

    ReplyDelete
  3. One book I think should be on this list is Star of the Unborn by Franz Werfel

    ReplyDelete

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