November 17, 2006
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Stole this from several folks:
This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you’ve read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.
The List
1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien***
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert***
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein***
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov***
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey***
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card***
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling***
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose FarmerI’ve never started a book I didn’t finish. I’m either masochistic or overly optimistic - keep thinking that it’s *got* to get better. Let’s see, that’s 34 out of 50 (or 68%). I’m a geek.
Comments (6)
I wanted to make a comment here to say thank you! Since you are the Rose contingency for my xanga subscriptions, please send my absoloute grattitude to your Order from a little French nobody for a wonderful weekend. Oh and it was wonderful to see you too. *hugs*
Awesome! I’m jealous, because you’ve managed to outgeek me.
Can you tell me was Canticle for Leibowitz worthwhile, but I would have missed it unless I read the whole thing? I just couldn’t… I’m not masochistic enough.
I highly recommend Snow Crash and his other work, too.
I second the recommendation for Snow Crash (and everything else he wrote). I gotta say that when I saw your list I was like “DAY-UMM! WHen does she have the time to read (that much)?”
Twas great seeing you last weekend.
*hugs*
I partially agree with your dislike of Thomas Covenant, too. I almost quit reading that series after the rape early on… I just didn’t want to go there. There were redeeming qualities, but overall, I think it was just ho-hum.
Wow. Reading that list made me realize I don’t like SF&F. I was like: #1 I like, then hate hate hate hate hate, ooo Thomas Covenant, hate hate etc. I’ll just get back to Army Manual TC23-14 “Sniper-Training & Deployment”. Life’s too short to read bad books.
If you read Snow Crash, beware of the huge plot hole, it rivals Citizen Kane, and Star Wars.
Ciao.
I’ll look for Snow Crash. I don’t have neary as much time to read as I used to back before law school, but when I read, I read *fast*. And I’m able to do so because I keep to genres that don’t take a lot of brainpower – can’t help it, I read very technical stuff all day and want my reading for pleasure to take less effort!
I have to admit that I read Canticle for Leibowitz back in high school and remember none of it. I can say that I never went back and re-read it, which I do with books I like a lot. Thomas Covenant was just unrelenting depression, one of those “it’s just *got* to get better” books that never did. Ugh.