Ganked from a lot of my friends, here’s the NPR’s Most Popular Sci-Fi & Fantasy novels meme. I voted, and of course am outraged that some of my favorites didn’t place very high (or even make the list. WTF where is Paks?!) but I’m pleased that I’ve read a bunch of these, and today I started the highest ranked book that I hadn’t read yet and have always meant to.
I’m cheating. I’m going to bold things I’ve either read all the way or read all I plan to. I’m going to italicize those I plan to read. I’m going to strike through the occasional Never in my life shall I read this book.
Also, I would like to say that I already did this meme once, because I printed off the list as soon as it was released on the website, and marked all the books I’d read.
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert (reading this one now)
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin (read the first two, loathe them, won’t read any more)
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
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 (OMG IF YOU HAVE NOT READ The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear YET, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GO TO BARNES & NOBLE RIGHT NOW!)
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
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King (I’ve tried twice to get into these. Realistically I probably will never finish them, but my best friend’s husband keeps nagging me, so I might.)
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 (probably not, anyway. SH5 didn’t blow me away, it confused & bored me. Why read more 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
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys (UGH. People LIKE this book?)
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
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 (I’ve started this, I just haven’t finished it yet. The audiobook is lovely but I keep falling asleep.)
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
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons (Maybe? I just don’t do much SF.)
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 (I got to that first scene, you know, THAT one, and threw the book across the room. Never. NEVER.)
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
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind (Two books full of pointless kinky sex later, I decided if I wanted a plot that made sense, I should read someone else.)
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 (SERIOUSLY? I remember loving it in high school. Tried to read it again last year. Laughed myself sick and gave up.)
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb (ONLY #69? SERIOUSLY?!)
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger (this is probably a strikethrough. It does not seem appealing to me at all.)
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
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire (I hate The Wizard of Oz. Why read an alternate retelling?)
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
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan (Wasn’t interested anyway but after that asshattery about fanfiction, I wouldn’t read her anyway. I might be tempted to tattoo and rape her children, or whatever nonsense it was she called fanfic.)
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 (I loved this book. Think I made my mom read it. Think she hated me for that afterwards. LOL)
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
Wow, I thought I was at 36. Forgot about Xanth. A lot of these books have been on my to-read-someday list anyway (like Dune), but so many good new books come out every year I hadn’t gotten around to a lot of them. I also read much more heavily on the fantasy side than on the science fiction side, and I’m incredibly disappointed that the Coldfire Trilogy by CS Friedman and the Company Wars books by CJ Cherryh didn’t make this list. I know Coldfire is science fantasy more than science fiction, but still. *grumps*
