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. Tolkien – I 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 Sanderson – Like 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...
