Doing this was kinda fun!
I've seen this floating around and I love book lists, so I thought I'd join in!
Now here is that NPR SF/F book meme! This is a list of Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books as voted on by more than 60,000 people at npr.org. For the meme, strong the ones you've read, emphasis the ones you intend to read, underline the ones you've read part of, and strike
the ones you never intend to read.
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien I loved this since the first time I read it as a child. We had the version with Alan Lee's illustrations and they really helped capture the imagination. The picture of Treebeard always made me jump when I turned the page to it!
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams I heard the original radio show first, my parents had it on tape, and I much preferred it to the book. Much of the enjoyment came from the sound effects, music and acting and the book just wasn't quite the same.
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert These were my best friend's favourite books for a while so I tried them too. The first one was my favourite, after that they just got too long winded for me.
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin A friend has recommended these, but they're not at the top of my reading list!
6. 1984, by George Orwell Completely creeped me out. I had nightmares about Big Brother for ages afterwards!
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov I remember starting this but not finishing it. It was a long time ago now, I don't remember much else. My cousin adored Asimov when we were little. He thought sci-fi was the best thing ever!
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman I love this book. One of my favourites.
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman I love this book too! But mostly because my class at school (when I was 9 or so) made the film. I played the Queen and I had one line. We were the envy of the rest of the school in those weeks of filming! I wish I had a copy of it.
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan I started reading this and got bored. Nothing was happening! Apparently they get better, so maybe I'll try agin sometime.
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell We read this in school. It was what inspired me to seek out 1984.
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
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood Another one that really creeped me out. It was in the library of a place where we were staying on holiday and I'd finished all the books I'd brought with me. State sanctioned loss of autonomy has always been the theme that scared me most.
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
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 Love these too. Anything by Neil Gaiman really.
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams Another of my childhood classics!
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey I went to Nepal for four months a few years ago and couldn't take many books, but in Kathmandu there are lots of second hand bookshops. If you brought the book back they'd pay half the value of the book, so I used it as an expensive library. One of them had all the Anne McCaffrey books so I went through them one after the other. I still mean to buy them for myself now, but haven't got round to it yet.
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 read this at my Grandparents house. I don't remember much of it anymore, except the front cover which was blue.
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells This book is set in my home town so of course I have read it! The place where the martians land is a good place for walks and picnics in the summer. There's always lots of people there.
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 I've read all the Earthsea books and keep meaning to read this too.
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien This was a long hard slog! It started out well, but then the genealogys became too confusing. I stuck this one out to the end though! ( Although actually I do remember being glad half the book was appendices and you don't have to read those, right?)
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman Again, anything by Gaiman is awesome though this is my least favourite.
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan Mean to read because Carl Sagan is awesome. I have Cosmos ready to watch too.
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman I saw the film of this first, and (unusually for me) I loved both film and book.
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 Bought a few days ago, sitting on my bookshelf waiting!
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett Terry Pratchett has been one of my favourite authors for a long time. I started with the Bromeliad Series and the Johnny trilogy before graduating to the Discworld. Septembers have been exciting for many years, as that's when the new books come out. Soon Snuff will be here!
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett See above! Also the audiobooks read by Tony Robinson are things of aural beauty. Definitely recommend!
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
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 I've read Naamah's Kiss and the next one and enjoyed them, so this is one I'll read sometime.
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire Really enjoyed this. I have a friend who loves the musical so she read the book then passed it on to me. I haven't read the sequel yet, though she assures me it's worth it!
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 I quite enjoyed this, though found it a bit long winded. I leant this to my friend and she couldn't finish it, to long winded for her!
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
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
So there you have it! I'm disappointed I haven't read more of these, but there just aren't enough hours in the day!
Now here is that NPR SF/F book meme! This is a list of Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books as voted on by more than 60,000 people at npr.org. For the meme, strong the ones you've read, emphasis the ones you intend to read, underline the ones you've read part of, and strike
the ones you never intend to read.
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien I loved this since the first time I read it as a child. We had the version with Alan Lee's illustrations and they really helped capture the imagination. The picture of Treebeard always made me jump when I turned the page to it!
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams I heard the original radio show first, my parents had it on tape, and I much preferred it to the book. Much of the enjoyment came from the sound effects, music and acting and the book just wasn't quite the same.
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert These were my best friend's favourite books for a while so I tried them too. The first one was my favourite, after that they just got too long winded for me.
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin A friend has recommended these, but they're not at the top of my reading list!
6. 1984, by George Orwell Completely creeped me out. I had nightmares about Big Brother for ages afterwards!
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov I remember starting this but not finishing it. It was a long time ago now, I don't remember much else. My cousin adored Asimov when we were little. He thought sci-fi was the best thing ever!
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman I love this book. One of my favourites.
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman I love this book too! But mostly because my class at school (when I was 9 or so) made the film. I played the Queen and I had one line. We were the envy of the rest of the school in those weeks of filming! I wish I had a copy of it.
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan I started reading this and got bored. Nothing was happening! Apparently they get better, so maybe I'll try agin sometime.
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell We read this in school. It was what inspired me to seek out 1984.
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
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood Another one that really creeped me out. It was in the library of a place where we were staying on holiday and I'd finished all the books I'd brought with me. State sanctioned loss of autonomy has always been the theme that scared me most.
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
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 Love these too. Anything by Neil Gaiman really.
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams Another of my childhood classics!
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey I went to Nepal for four months a few years ago and couldn't take many books, but in Kathmandu there are lots of second hand bookshops. If you brought the book back they'd pay half the value of the book, so I used it as an expensive library. One of them had all the Anne McCaffrey books so I went through them one after the other. I still mean to buy them for myself now, but haven't got round to it yet.
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 read this at my Grandparents house. I don't remember much of it anymore, except the front cover which was blue.
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells This book is set in my home town so of course I have read it! The place where the martians land is a good place for walks and picnics in the summer. There's always lots of people there.
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 I've read all the Earthsea books and keep meaning to read this too.
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien This was a long hard slog! It started out well, but then the genealogys became too confusing. I stuck this one out to the end though! ( Although actually I do remember being glad half the book was appendices and you don't have to read those, right?)
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman Again, anything by Gaiman is awesome though this is my least favourite.
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan Mean to read because Carl Sagan is awesome. I have Cosmos ready to watch too.
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman I saw the film of this first, and (unusually for me) I loved both film and book.
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 Bought a few days ago, sitting on my bookshelf waiting!
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett Terry Pratchett has been one of my favourite authors for a long time. I started with the Bromeliad Series and the Johnny trilogy before graduating to the Discworld. Septembers have been exciting for many years, as that's when the new books come out. Soon Snuff will be here!
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett See above! Also the audiobooks read by Tony Robinson are things of aural beauty. Definitely recommend!
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
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 I've read Naamah's Kiss and the next one and enjoyed them, so this is one I'll read sometime.
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire Really enjoyed this. I have a friend who loves the musical so she read the book then passed it on to me. I haven't read the sequel yet, though she assures me it's worth it!
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 I quite enjoyed this, though found it a bit long winded. I leant this to my friend and she couldn't finish it, to long winded for her!
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
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
So there you have it! I'm disappointed I haven't read more of these, but there just aren't enough hours in the day!