Firecat can't resist book lists

[firecat]

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/139248590/top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books
NPR's 2011 Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books
as voted by listeners (readers)
and all the finalists: http://www.npr.org/2011/08/07/138938145/science-fiction-and-fantasy-finalists

Key:
Have read
Have started but not finished
Want to read or re-read
Hated!
!!!!! Loved!
????? Should I read this?

!!!!! 1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (!!!!! the radio play)
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert (!!!!! the first one)
????? 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 (I liked the movie but not the book.)
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
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut (I loved when I read it as a teenager, but when I read it recently, the suck fairy had been at it.)
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
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke (This held up surprisingly well to a recent re-read)
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
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
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne (I might actually have read all of these but I can't remember)
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells (Heard the radio play)
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
!!!!! 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
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan (Saw the movie)
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 (I liked it several decades ago but I'm afraid to re-read it.)
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 (Another one I can't remember if I read all of)
????? 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 (Only read the first one.)
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 (Only read Player of Games)
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 (Only read the first one)
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

The rest of the finalists:

1632, by Eric Flint
1984, by George Orwell
The Acts Of Caine Series, by Matthew Woodring Stover
The Algebraist, by Iain M. Banks
!!!!! Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan
Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers
Armor, by John Steakley
The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson (I know he says it's science fiction, but it doesn't scratch that itch for me.)
Battlefield Earth, by L. Ron Hubbard
????? Beggars In Spain, by Nancy Kress (I read the novella; I liked it somewhat, but don't know if I liked it enough that I should read the novel.)
The Black Company Series, by Glen Cook
The Black Jewels Series, by Anne Bishop
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Bridge Of Birds, by Barry Hughart
The Callahan's Series, by Spider Robinson
The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, by Robert Heinlein
The Change Series, by S.M. Stirling
Children Of God, by Mary Doria Russell
The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
The City And The City, by China Mieville
City And The Stars, by Arthur C. Clarke
The Coldfire Trilogy, by C.S. Friedman (Not sure if I read all of it)
The Commonwealth Saga, by Peter F. Hamilton
The Company Wars, by C.J. Cherryh (I read Downbelow Station)
The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
The Day of Triffids, by John Wyndham (Not sure if I read all of it)
Deathbird Stories, by Harlan Ellison
The Deed of Paksennarion Trilogy, by Elizabeth Moon
!!!!! The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
The Deverry Cycle, by Katharine Kerr
Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany (Tried it once or twice a while back)
????? The Difference Engine, by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling
Don't Bite The Sun, by Tanith Lee
Dreamsnake, by Vonda McIntyre (!!!!! the short story of the same name)
Earth, by David Brin
Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart
The Eisenhorn Omnibus, by Dan Abnett
Eon, by Greg Bear
The Eyes Of The Dragon, by Stephen King
The Faded Sun Trilogy, by C.J. Cherryh
Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser Series, by Fritz Leiber
????? The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
The Female Man, by Joanna Russ
????? The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy, by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Foreigner Series, by C.J. Cherryh
The Gaea Trilogy, by John Varley
The Gap Series, by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Gate To Women's Country, by Sheri S. Tepper
The Gone-Away World, by Nick Harkaway
The Gormenghast Triology, by Mervyn Peake (OK, actually I gave up in the middle of the third one)
Grass, by Sheri S. Tepper
Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End of The World, by Haruki Murakami
The Heechee Saga, by Frederik Pohl
The Hollows Series, by Kim Harrison
House Of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski
The Incarnations Of Immortality Series, by Piers Anthony (I read On a Pale Horse and was advised to skip the rest)
The Inheritance Trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin
!!!!! Kindred, by Octavia Butler
Kraken, by China Mieville
Last Call, by Tim Powers
The Last Coin, by James P. Blaylock
The Last Herald Mage Trilogy, by Mercedes Lackey
!!!!! The Lathe Of Heaven, by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Lensman Series, by E.E. Smith
The Liaden Universe Series, by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
!!!!! The Lies Of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch
!!!!! Lilith's Brood, by Octavia Butler
!!!!! Little, Big, by John Crowley
The Liveship Traders Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
Lord Of Light, by Roger Zelazny
Lord Valentine's Castle, by Robert Silverberg
Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees
The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
The Man In The High Castle, by Philip K. Dick
The Manifold Trilogy, by Stephen Baxter
Memory And Dream, by Charles de Lint
Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn Trilogy, by Tad Williams
Mindkiller, by Spider Robinson
Mordant's Need, by Stephen Donaldson
More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon
The Naked Sun, by Isaac Asimov
The Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy, by Robert J. Sawyer
The Newsflesh Triology, by Mira Grant (Read the first one)
The Night's Dawn Trilogy, by Peter F. Hamilton
????? Norstrilia, by Cordwainer Smith
????? Novels Of The Company, by Kage Baker
The Number Of The Beast, by Robert Heinlein
On Basilisk Station, by David Weber
The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
Oryx And Crake, by Margaret Atwood
The Otherland Tetralogy, by Tad Williams
Parable Of The Sower, by Octavia Butler (I read Parable of the Talents, but I didn't like it enough to want to read this one)
The Passage, by Justin Cronin
Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson
The Prestige, by Christopher Priest
The Pride Of Chanur, by C.J. Cherryh
The Prince Of Nothing Trilogy, by R. Scott Bakker
Rainbows End, by Vernor Vinge
Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
Replay, by Ken Grimwood
Revelation Space, by Alistair Reynolds
Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban
The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
The Riverworld Series, by Philip Jose Farmer
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
The Saga Of Pliocene Exile, by Julian May
The Saga Of Recluce, by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
The Sarantine Mosaic Series, by Guy Gavriel Kay
!!!!! A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K. Dick
The Scar, by China Mieville
The Shattered Chain Trilogy, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
!!!!! The Sirens Of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut
The Snow Queen, by Joan D. Vinge
!!!!! Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
Song for the Basilisk, by Patricia McKillip
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
The Stainless Steel Rat Books, by Harry Harrison
Stand On Zanzibar, by John Brunner
!!!!! The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester
Stations Of The Tide, by Michael Swanwick
Steel Beach, by John Varley
The Swordspoint Trilogy, by Ellen Kushner
The Tales of Alvin Maker, by Orson Scott Card
The Temeraire Series, by Naomi Novik (Have read the first one, ????? the rest)
The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
????? Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay
To Say Nothing Of The Dog, by Connie Willis
The Troy Trilogy, by David Gemmell
Ubik, by Philip K. Dick
The Uplift Saga, by David Brin (I think I've read 2 out of 3)
The Valdemar Series, by Mercedes Lackey
VALIS, by Philip K. Dick
Venus On The Half-Shell, by Kilgore Trout/Philip Jose Farmer
The Vlad Taltos Series, by Steven Brust
The Vurt Trilogy, by Jeff Noon
Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak
We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin
!!!!! When Gravity Fails, by George Alec Effinger
Wild Seed, by Octavia Butler
????? The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi (I know it's got a lot of sexual violence; sometimes that bothers me and sometimes it doesn't.)
The Worm Ouroboros, by E.R. Eddison
The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
The Yiddish Policeman's Union, by Michael Chabon

Comments

[shanaqui]

Now this is actually an interesting one! Must do this tomorrow when it's not midnight...

[lilacsigil]

I can help with two of those ?????

The Time-Traveller's Wife is one of those faux SF books where there is no exploration or thought or what-ifs, just a story about a man who travels through time at random and the woman who waits and waits and waits for him. I did like the way the book was set out, depending on the ages of the two main characters which did not always match, and the ending was quite interesting, too, but the dreary fatalism of the whole thing really got to me. It only needed one scene where they tried and failed to change something, or some exploration of the characters' fatalism on the matter, but nope.

I'm so embarrassed that R A Salvatore's Drizzt stories got on there. They are bog-standard rote fantasy, literally based on a D&D world (which is not always bad) and absolutely awful. But they have a fabulous Mary Sue character, Drizzt the Dark Elf, who literally has lavender eyes, and, having read them as a teen, I can see why they made this list. As long as it was voted anonymously. (If you wanted to read a Forgotten Realms book, Azure Bonds is really good.)

Also it makes me sad when comics are listed only by the writer, with no mention of the artist.

[firecat]

Thanks, I'm glad to be able to strike a couple off my "should I read?" list. :)

Excellent point about comics.

[bibliofile]

THe one thing I'll say about TTTW is that the time travel intersections could have been done very badly, and to me they came across as seamless. I had to admire that we couldn't see the effort and planning that must have taken place.

And artists for comics? Doesn't help that with Sandman there were a bunch of different ones....

[lilacsigil]

Yes, the actual planning was seamless, which I think frustrated me more in that there was no attempt to get out of that neat frame.

For the comics, they could always put something like "and artists" or "and collaborators" rather than just ignore them: I think Gaiman's work is often much better when he is working with someone else!

[flarenut]

Ooh. I will try and get to this. I wish there were some additional keys for "Admire, but really couldn't get into" or "Loved when I was younger but now it kinda makes me say 'ick'".

Or maybe "secret vice that's not even that enjoyable, but I'm a completist."

[firecat]

I hope you add those groupings to yours!

[wild_irises]

I hope to get to this whole thing, but to answer a few of your questions.

I loved the first three Song of Ice and Fire books and then started actively disliking them. They are doorstops, so you have to care, but if the first one grabs you early, you'll probably be hooked for a while. Then he got lazy and the characters turned to cardboard and I stopped caring at all.

The novella of "Beggars in Spain" is probably the best part, so no need to go further.

The Fionavar Tapestry is very high quality high fantasy; not my cup of tea, but I admire and respect it. The serious high fantasy lovers think it's the bomb, and are probably right. Ditto TIGANA.

NORSTRILIA is brilliant, and the firecat in my head would love it.

The other question marks I either haven't read or don't care about or both.

[firecat]

That's really helpful, thanks!

(Grr, Norstrilia ebook isn't available in the US.)

[azurelunatic]

Significant elements of ASOIAF include:

Every character is at risk of death.
Gritty pre-industrial violence and rampant sexism.
It does drag on a bit.

The Wheel of Time series is more finished, and has more of a leavening of humor.

That said, I am enjoying it, but it's rather Epic! and Grimdark!