Book Meme! With commentary!

[caitri]

I meant to do it over the weekend but forgot. My bad.

Also I hear tell there's going to be a fan version of the poll/list, and anticipate many more fun books, and gods willing, less DWGs.

Now then. Meme!

NPR conducted a poll to determine the top 100 SF/Fantasy novels of all time according to participants.

Bold for read
Italics for intending to read
Underline for partial read series/books
Strikethrough for never ever reading


1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien (Fuck yeah.)



2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert (I got through the first three. The incest squicked me.)

5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin(This series is like Scott's and my soap opera.)

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov (I have some gaps in my scifi ed. This is one. I know, okay?)

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman (True confession: As a kid I thought there really WAS a longer version by an "S. Morgenstern classic". Then when I was like fifteen I figured out it was a literary convention and I was strangely disappointed.)

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov (I read this book in high school when I was bored in class because we were taking forever to read Lord of the fucking Flies. I still have weird associations with it for this reason.)

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss (I am also dismayed that there are so many Gary Stus on this list. And how the fuck did this one get so high?)

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

22. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

23. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

24. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King Read

25. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

26. The Stand, by Stephen King

27. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

28. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

29. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

30. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman (This is one of those series that probably explains more about me than anything else.)

31. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess (And it was so fucked up, too.)

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

32. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein (This is totes my fav Heinlein, btw.)

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey (I loved this book, until I figured out the rape thing. Then I got REALLY conflicted and kinda pissed about it.)

34. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller (This is another one of those totally formative books. Just, dude.)

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne (This was my favorite story when I was like ten.)

38. Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells (Confession: Wells has really never done nothing for me. He really hasn't.)

40. The Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley (Another totally formative text. Explains so much, doesn't it?)

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin (Hal was the one who finally got me to read it. I....was unmoved.)

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien (I WILL finish it... one day.... before I die.)

47. The Once and Future King, by T.H. White (So I went through this huge Arthurian phase in ninth grade. This is what started it.)

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman (This is the one Gaiman that never did anything for me. It just--didn't.)

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke (I will, I swear!)

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 (Is it wrong I loved the cartoon more?)

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman (I think I liked Forever Peace better--seriously.)

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson (Your hero is a rapist? Fuck off and die lo many deaths.)

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

62. The Sword of Truth, by Terry Goodkind (AKA How to Make a Non-Tongue-In-Cheek Sam Raimi Series Look Good)

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 (R.E. It's "Robert E." motherfuckers!)

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger (This is one of my favorites.)

71. The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson (Tell me true, f-listies: any good?)

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 (I loved the fuck out of this up until the ending. It...confused me.)

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey (Love them. I would have these books' babies if I could.)

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 (It's like fanfic, but not as porny nor entertaining.)

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart (I tried okay?)

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson (I really enjoyed it but it felt like stuff was missing/unexplained. Also, I was really annoyed how the scientists were always right.)

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 Gabaldon (Pure, unmitigated love. Though I have lingering questions about the type cast in the last book.)

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 (I will try again some day, promise.)

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

Comments

[gadgetorious.livejournal.com]

You have strange associations with I, Robot but you're fine with Heinlein? Really? REALLY?

;)

[caitri.livejournal.com]

I'm SPECIAL, Evi. You KNOW this.

(And look, they are equally mysoginist but Heinlein can at least tell a decent story!)

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

Yep!

Did you ever read the Yuletide story liviapenn wrote that does so much to heal the wounds inflicted by The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress's sexism? I'll see if I can find it when I get home -- I printed it and stuck it in my copy of TMIaHM.)

[caitri.livejournal.com]

*_* *makes grabby hands* YES PLEASE!!!

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

A million years later, here it is:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/148277

[erynwen.livejournal.com]

I totally need to read more SF and/or Fantasy. I may have read about 10 books from this list? Uuf *gg*

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Sf/F FTW! *G*

[abigail89.livejournal.com]

You gotta read Foundation Triology. By the third book, your eyes are wide and you're chanting, "Asimov is a fucking genius."

No love for Ray Bradbury?

And finally, read Contact, but watch the movie, too. The film rearranges the characters, which makes it so much better, and Jodie Foster is wonderful! It's one of my favorites.

[caitri.livejournal.com]

Bradbury tends to infuriate me because he's just so damn conservative--not my cup of tea at all. His one really big book, he insists, isn't even about censorship but how much he dislikes tv. He appears to go to the John Milton school of thought on that topic. *makes face*

[suddenlyswept.livejournal.com]

I've read nine. Can I please have a classics list? I do much better with those. ::sighs::

[caitri.livejournal.com]

And if it were a classics list, *I'd* probably have read nine. ;)