When you’re desperate for content - or preoccupied with preparations for Elder Daughter’s impending visit - why not get sucked in by a meme?
This one is courtesy of El Capitan of Baboon Pirates, who snarfed it up from several other worthy Blog-Writers.
This is the NPR Science Fiction/Fantasy Book Meme, in case you’re curious. (I like El Capitan’s term “skiffy” - it seems to fit.) And, as with all memes, you don’t need to be a member of Mensa to play. Just copy the list below onto your site and boldface the titles you’ve read. Add commentary if you care to.
Anyway, here we go:
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
I read these bad boys back in high school. Also made the mistake of reading Bored of the Rings, the Harvard Lampoon parody, after which the Tolkien version always seemed vaguely ridiculous.
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
I read this back when it was just a short story. It’s one of those rare books that wasn’t ruined in the process of expanding it to novel length... and it’s still a great read. (I’ve also read the rest of the Ender series, along with the Ender’s Shadow series.)
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
All 6 Dune novels by Frank Herbert, plus one of the misbegotten Brian Herbert prequels.
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
Also Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Burning Chrome, et alia.
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
I went on a Vonnegut binge when I was a college freshman... read every damn book the man wrote in the space of about one month.
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
One of the few things by King I haven’t read.
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
Plus 2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three, and 3001: Final Odyssey
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
Both the version as originally published and the expanded version that came out later.
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
A great book, and that’s no hraka.
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
Brilliant... and heartbreaking. The sequel, published many years later, fell far short of the original.
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
Still the best time travel novel ever written.
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
The short story is better than the novel.
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
Also Ringworld Engineers, all of the Known Space series, and most of the Niven/Pournelle collaborations.
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
The first science fiction novel I ever read, probably when I was about seven years old. Years later I read it again and finally understood it.
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
Also The Gripping Hand.
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
Just finished Embassytown. Brilliant.
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
OK, campers - how many of these have you read? And why are so many excellent SF series - like David Brin’s Uplift series, John Birmingham’s Weapons of Choice series, or Greg Bear’s Eon novels - not represented? Inquiring minds want to know!
Monday, August 22, 2011
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9 comments:
Same on Vonnegut. Went a 2 month period reading every book of his I could get my hands on.
Yeah, the list of what's not included goes on & on... Stephen Baxter, Ben Bova, John Varley, H. Beam Piper, Elizabeth Moon, & Harry Harrison are just a few from scanning my bookshelves.
If you liked Starship Troopers, you need to read Old Man's War by Scalsi and the two sequels.
I didn't like the Dune sequels or the Ender sequels. They fell far short of the first books.
@Denny - Starship Troopers was pretty good, considering it's a young adult title. I've read a lot of Heinlein - at his best, he's pretty amazing.
I'll state right up front that Dune was a genuine work of genius, most of its sequels less so. Dune Messiah sucked, while Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune were quite good. The other Herbert Dune books were... meh. OK, I guess. But the ones his son has been cranking out are a complete waste of time. Can anyone say, "milking Daddy's legacy"?
There are a lot of books on that list I need to read. Haldeman's The Forever War is one.
Very pleased that the list mentions Jules Verne. But "Paris au XXe Siècle", (which he wrote in 1863) is his most outstanding novel. It's a masterpiece, in style and anticipation.
My British sons (when they were teenagers) introduced me to American-English SF&F. At one point, I became such a fan of A.C.Clarke and Asimov that I wrote them a few letters. They were kind enough to answer, explaining some scientific facts which were a bit complicated for me. John.W, Campbell, the Editor of Analog, also wrote two long, detailed letters on some of his editorials. All those letters are a treasured possession. It convinced me that SF writers were not only erudite but also charming!
I'm very grateful for this list. It will give me many more entertaining hours.
I agree with Denny about the Scalzi book, I dont know why the wheel of time series is there its is terrible, I wouls add almost any of the John Ringo books and most of Eric Flints 1632 series.
S M Stirling has written some great alternative history yarns with more to come.
Going through the list I have read a lrge number of the books and agree with there inclusion.
Add a best book to movie genre
Contact.
... not to mention Peter Hamilton.
How the fuck did you manage to avoid reading Fahrenheit 451? Seriously, I'd think that have been assigned reading at some point or another.
And Banks' Culture series is very good as is his non-fiction. I highly recommend both Player Of Games (sci-fi) and The Wasp Factory ("regular" fiction).
- z
Actually, z, I probably did read Fahrenheit 451 a long, long time ago. But I don't remember much about it, except for knowing that paper burns at 451°F. Certainly the book made way less of an impression on me than did The Martian Chronicles.
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