Friday, August 12, 2011

It was Michelle's Idea AND Her Fault!

In case you missed it, NPR did a poll and decreed that the following books are the all time bestest books in Science Fiction and Fantasy.  And Random Michelle decided it might be a good idea to tell the world which of them she had read and Janiece declared it a meme.  Well, I'm nothing if not suggestible, so I shall obey the meme.


bold means I’ve read it.


Michelle also had a category in italics for books/series she'd started and abandoned. I'm not going to get that specific.  If I have a distinct memory of reading most of a series, but maybe I never finished it, I'm going to count it in my read column.  And if I run across one of the few books I've hated enough to consciously toss it aside, I'll mention that. I'm also not going to separate out personal favorites cuz I don't feel like it.

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

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin - I read a bunch of these, but I'm not sure I finished them.
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
There's a discussion of this one going on elsewhere regarding the book vs. the movie.  Lots of people seem to prefer (by a wide margin), the movie.  I loved both and I've never found anything depressing about the book.  Ah well.
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan. I'm sure I haven't read all of the most recent entries, but I devoted a lot of time to this series and I'm saying I've read it.
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- I own it, does that count?
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
22. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

23. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood -In the same discussion as "The Princess Bride", there's a lot of "I know why it's good, but I didn't like it."  I hated this book.  Nuf sed.
24. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King I know I ran out of team on this one eventually.  Don't remember exactly where.
25. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
26. The Stand, by Stephen King
27. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
28. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
29. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

30. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
31. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
32. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams - Meh. Did not love it.
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

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 may have been obsessed to have made it through this one.
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
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 I'm not sure how they chose just a few of the Discworld books.  I've read every friggin' one of 'em.
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant
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
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
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
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 The first was, by far, the strongest. I don't regret reading any of the other books in the series, but some of them fall flat.
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, HOLY CRAP! I've read exactly 50% of these. In spite of the fact that I read a lot of SciFi/Fantasy, I didn't expect to have read quite that many.  High Fives to me!

4 comments:

Random Michelle K said...

Where are those pictures buddy boy?!

Nathan said...

Pushy broad.

Random Michelle K said...

You say that like it's a bad thing.

neurondoc said...

I read about 50%, too. Though we overlap only somewhat.