Literature meme!

[altivo]

From soreth:

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.


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 Farmer


Like so many lists, it has things on it that I'd never have put there, and lacks things I believe should be there. But... I've double starred particular favorites.

Comments

Not really one for sci-fi

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

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 Farmer**

I would love to re-read Farmers Riverworld series again but I cannot find it complete.

Re: Not really one for sci-fi

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You've read a fair amount, actually, and I see quite a few stars. I think you'd probably like John Crowley's Little, Big and quite possibly Anne McCaffrey's dragon series. Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness is a must-read for everyone, I think.

[nekura-ca.livejournal.com]

I don't know how the Science Fiction Book Club came up with their list, there are a lot of titles missing, and some that I wonder why they're on there, but it's still interesting to see what other people have read.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I wondered the same thing, but now that you remind me that it was SFBC, obviously they've only considered works of which they themselves have released editions. That easily explains the exclusions and the rather off-center feeling to it. :) They celebrated their own 50th anniversary last year and have been reprinting selected books, many of which are on this list.

[hrrunka]

Yeah, that'd make sense. Guess they might be hoping to nudge a few sales... ;)

[nicodemusrat.livejournal.com]

Cool. I copied and posted my version of the list. :)

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Hmm, my list is only 6 books long, nothing worth mentioning there...

What aspects of Neuromancer you didn't like? I've always had a feeling that there's something wrong with that book in a literary sense, but never quite managed to pinpoint it...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Dystopias make me unhappy to begin with. The world of Gibson's stories is certainly dystopic. Add to that the fact that I find every single character in the thing quite despicable. I could almost say they deserve to live in the horrible world that Gibson has created for them. Ugh.

The end effect is the same as if I tried to read Ayn Rand (eeew) or one of those novelists who think war is the most exciting and wonderful thing ever invented by man (Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, etc.)

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's that to those cyberpunk thingies, they're not the most prettiest depiction of the future. I guess it's that same darkness that bothers me on some level, even though I've read some more of Gibson and somewhat liked it too. Though I guess it's the tech side that got more appeal to me than the setting itself. =)

I should probably read that one again some day, I've forgotten most of it anyways. The amount of holes in my memory would put swiss cheese in shame. Good thing in that though, I can read any book again and it's once again a brand new experience. =)

[kamodragon.livejournal.com]

I have only read three that I can remember which is surprising.. I have read dozens of Sci Fi books that I really enjoyed. I am surprised they aren't on the list. I will have to catch a few of those on Amazon..

I also didn't care much for Fahrenheit 451 of the three that I read.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Significant is such a relative term :) and I agree there are some that should be there ;)

I did it

[doug-taron.livejournal.com]

This one looke fun, so I tried it. My results are posted over at Gossamer Tapestry.