Tanker, over at Mostly Cajun, points out that NPR has published its list of the top 100 science fiction and fantasy books, as determined by its viewers and readers. He invites us to check off the books on the list that we’ve read, by marking them in bold print.
His version of the list is here. Here’s what I’ve read.
- The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
- Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
- The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
- A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
- 1984, by George Orwell
- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
- The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
- The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
- The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
- Animal Farm, by George Orwell
- Neuromancer, by William Gibson
- Watchmen, by Alan Moore
- I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
- Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
- The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
- Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
- Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
- Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
- The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
- The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
- 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
- The Stand, by Stephen King
- Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
- The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
- Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
- A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
- Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
- Watership Down, by Richard Adams
- Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
- The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
- A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
- The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
- 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
- Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
- The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
- The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
- The Belgariad, by David Eddings
- The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
- The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
- Ringworld, by Larry Niven
- The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
- The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
- Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
- Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
- Contact, by Carl Sagan
- The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
- Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
- Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
- World War Z, by Max Brooks
- The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
- The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
- Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
- The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
- The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
- The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
- The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
- The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
- I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
- The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
- The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
- The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
- The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
- The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
- The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
- A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
- The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
- Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
- The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
- Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
- The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
- The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
- Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
- Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
- The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
- The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
- The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
- The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
- Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
- The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
- The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
- The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
- The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
- The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
- The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
- Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
- A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
- The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
- The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
- Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
- Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
- The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
- The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
How did you do? I invite fellow bloggers to copy-and-paste the list and indicate their own reading progress.
Peter
I've only managed to read a third of that list, while you've done nearly two thirds, well done.
Not sure I agree about the internal order of those books on the top list, and in some cases I wouldn't consider them worth the spot at all from a readability standpoint(war of the worlds by HG Wells comes to mind…)
As for recommendations to put on the top of your reading list: 5, 43, 69, 81 takes care of fantasy, and 14, 26, 51, 75, 83 takes care of sci-fi.
That'd keep you in reading material for months to come. 😉
Room for improvement on this listing-it is heavily weighted to newer popular authors. And has some tremendous holes.
oh well, it is an NPR listing, what to expect….
Linked back from my little place, with my (much) smaller group that I've read. But a nice diversion for a Sunday afternoon!
It is an NPR list and very specific. I read ten, and am so surprised that I actually did: 1,2,3,6,7,11,20,32,72,76, because science fiction and fantasy are not my favorite reads.
Ironically, the number I've read on that list comes to 42. 😀
Antibubba
Re: Ravem
Yeah big holes, but not THAT heavily weighed towards newer authors. I see a lot of older ones there, even 19th century authors(Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, HG Wells, and I may have missed some).
In fact in many cases I'd ditch some of those older authors for newer ones that aren't represented(I'd take Greg Bear, Alastair Reynolds, Peter F Hamilton, etc over HG Wells any day).
And where the hell is Larry Correia? *grin*