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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Something A Bit Different

I saw this on a couple of blogs, and since there is a serious dearth of stitchy pictures (forgive me!) I figured I might as well play along. According to the US NPR this is the list of Top 100 Sci-Fi, Fantasy books.

Quite a few of the books that I've read was for high school. And I read a lot of the really old classics as a kid.

Bold – read or listened to the audiobook
Italics – partially read
Underline – want to read

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien – I like the books but I find that I have to work hard to read them. And I must commit sacrilege and admit that I love the movies more.

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

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card – I haven’t read any of the “Ender” sequels but I have read all but the last “Bean” books

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert – Only the original

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin – I’ve read the first 3, and since GRRM takes such a long time between books I haven’t felt like reading and then getting frustrated with the wait.

6. 1984, by George Orwell – Ah, high school…

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury – Ah, high school…

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov - I've also read the "4th" book, but none of the other sequels/prequels.

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley – Ah, high school…

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman – The book is fun and so is the movie. Cary Elwes is gorgeous!

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan – Gave up after book 9(?) when an hour after finishing I couldn’t remember what had happened. I’m just going to look up spoilers once the last books comes out (has it already come out? The 3rd part of 3?) 

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell – Ah, high school…

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore – My brother’s been after me to read this forever. And since we actually have a copy I really have no excuse…

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss – I’ve heard good things about this one

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley  - This is such a classic!

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood – Tried reading this for high school English and then again for Dystopian Fiction at university. Couldn’t finish it. My papers tended to be deal with the other books and say “oh yes, we also see this in THT.

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke – I remember reading this and being confused. And then I watched the movie and was still confused. Possibly 12 is not an age to appreciate ACC?

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 – For that Dystopian Fiction course. The movie is quite fun too.

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein 

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey – I’ve actually read most of the original stuff by AM.

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

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings  - Some good old-fashioned generic fantasy. I finished the Belgariad, but couldn’t finish the Mallorean since it’s just a repeat of the first.

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley – I’ve checked this out from the library a dozen times and never gotten past the first 10 pages. 

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson – I adore, adore, adore Warbreaker which is available for free on Sanderson’s website html or pdf (scroll half way down). Elantris is pretty good too. Sanderson writes amazing magical systems. I’m saving Mistborn for when I need a really good pick-me-up.

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. TolkienI found LotR a dense read. This was too much.

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke – I think I read this during my hardcore sci-fi phase.

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 – Love, love, love this! I got goosebumps reading it. It makes a very ridiculous premise utterly plausible. The audiobook is good (narrated by tons of excellent narrators including Mark Hamill) but abridged which is infuriating, and I’m still waiting for the fully unabridged version.

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett – I’ve read every DiscWorld novel, except the Tiffany Aching ones. Pterry is a god among men.

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold – I’ve devoured all of them except Cryoburn and Cetaganda . Cyroburn because I haven’t gotten to it yet and Cetaganda because I keep forgetting to check it out from the library.

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett – See comment for #57

61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind – The first book is utterly enjoyable. Towards the end I wasn’t enjoying the preachiness. But I finished it, unlike the other epic fantasy of that time #12 WoT.

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke – Yet another book I’ve checked out of the library a dozen times and haven’t read.

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist – I hate the narrator for the audio version of this. I may look for a paper version.

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 SandersonLike Mistborn #43, I’m saving this.

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 tried reading this at the wrong time. 

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 – I’ve only read the first book, which I quite enjoyed, but I can’t seem to get into the sequels. 

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks – I recommended this to my brother without having read it myself (I never do this but I couldn’t think of anything else that fit his request that he hadn’t already read), and he’s been reccing it back.

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher – OMG I want to build a shrine to Jim and I already worship at his feet. The Dresden Files is excellent stuff too. But if I ever feel like an incredibly long comfort read then I head to this. Plus Kate Reading is an amazing narrator.

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn – This, along with the Thrawn Duology, was responsible for my high school worship of the Star Wars Extended Universe. I’ve read most of the EU up to the New Jedi Order. Then I learnt that one of my favourite characters was offed in Legacy of the Force and that was the end reading new SW. The Rogue/Wraith Squadron is pretty fun too.

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


 Now I'm really tempted to go back and read some old favs...

6 comments:

Unknown said...

The Tiffany Aching one's are fun, you should try them,
The last book of the Wheel is coming out, i hope, the end of this year or maybe the beginning of 2012.
I loved looking at your list, there are many books on them that i've read already and some i may give a try.

Hugs Yvon.

Charbs and the Bumpy Dog said...

I'd add the Philip Pullman novels, starting with Northern Lights. Everything else aside they are just superbly written. I've never been quite so hopelessly lost in books before or since :-)

Agree with you on TP! What a legend. My favourite I think is The Hogfather ;-)

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

They got a bit obscure towards the end! Though I have read both Elric and Piers Anthony but don't know whether it was the Xanth series or not.
I'll got through the list properly when I get 5 spare mins!
Currently reading Anne McCaffrey outloud to the large boy (forgot about the s.e.x. when dragons mate so do their riders, keep having to edit on the hoof!)

geeky Heather said...

Love love LOVE the Thrawn books. I read the Vong series, but abandoned it when a certain character was killed off while that character's annoying sibling survived. Now I only read the Timothy Zahn ones, and will pretty much read anything he's written. =)

The Farseer Trilogy is excellent...just saying. =)

Julie M said...

Well, I didn't do so well with the list. I've read 5 of them. Apparently, my taste is Sci-Fi is slightly different from this list!

mdgtjulie said...

I've read a few of them. Looks like I need to brush up!!!