SF Books meme

[drwex]

I haven't done one of these in a while, and this one looked easy. I've read a LOT of SF.



According to the Science Fiction Book Club, these are the 50 most significant SF & Fantasy Books of the last 50 Years, 1953-2002. Bold the ones you've read, strike the ones you hated, italicize the ones you couldn't get through, asterisks for the ones you loved (more asterisks, more love), underline for the ones you own.

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien *
2. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov *
3. Dune by Frank Herbert *
4. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein **
5. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
6. Neuromancer by William Gibson ***
7. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (got about 35 pages in and decided I couldn't stomach hundreds of pages more of that)
10. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury *
11. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom by Wilmar Shiras (this is the only one on the list I've never heard of)
15. Cities in Flight by James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison *
18. Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison *
19. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (was much better as a short story)
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman *
25. Gateway by Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams **
28. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (I got through 2/3 of this while having bad insomnia at a friend's house with nothing else to read. Put it down when the household woke up, never cared to go back.)
30. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big by John Crowley **
32. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick **
34. Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
35. More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach by Nevil Shute (gave up about 3/5 of the way through when it was clear they were all doomed, the whole book was pointless, and why were they wasting my time anyway since they were all about to die?)
38. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld by Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (one or two of the stories were excellent, the rest was filler or worse)
42. Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson ***
44. Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein **
47. Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
49. Timescape by Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer

Some of these were read many years ago (nerdy teenager stays inside reading SF books and dreaming about escaping reality - yeah, that'd be me) and I still own copies of almost everything I've read.

Someone suggested adding one to the list. That's tough. I'd like to see "Bridge of Birds" on there, along with "Wizard of the Pigeons" as I think both were seminal in establishing non-Tolkein-esque fantasy as viable literary tropes. I also think "Difference Engine" belongs on a 'bests' list, as well as being significant for coining Steampunk. You could also make a case for "Doomsday Book". But I digress...

Comments

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I'm shocked to discover that I've read more than one on this list!

9, 26, 27, 29, 30.

Didn't enjoy 30 nearly as much as I expected.

[drwex]

If you haven't read Delaney I think you might want to try that. As the pre-eminent out gay, black SF writer he's got a perspective that's not widespread and he uses it in some interesting ways in his writing. To be honest it's not always comfortable - or wasn't for me - but I recognize the value of it.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I've read Delaney, heard him speak too, but never his Sci-fi. Times Square Red/Times Square Blue is awesome.

Also, he's teh hottness and made me want to be a lithe young sailor or *something* that would catch his eye...

Hmm,

[marius23.livejournal.com]

The list strikes me as being a bit "off", though perhaps "SFBC", "significant" and "1953-2002" explain it. I agree with you on "Difference Engine" and "Doomsday" book. But no Vinge (Vernor or Joan)? No Bujold, Simmons, Gaiman, or Sawyer?

I'd also never heard of Children of the Atom but apparently it's the original X-Men/New Mutants.

Have some run-on sentences...

[catness.livejournal.com]

Can I just raise my objection here (and everywhere on the planet) to having any vampire books classified as sci-fi? I mean, don't get me wrong, I've read a lot of vampire / werewolf / supernatural creatures in otherwise normal worlds fiction and I've enjoyed it, but it Bums Me Right Out that my science fiction shelves are stuffed with Laurel K Hamilton (blech) and Kim Harrison, and I'm hard pressed to find a decent collection of Iain M Banks in any of them. I'm sure old school SF fans felt the same about fantasy. But seriously, can't we just have a... speculative fiction section or something instead, and add two shelves to every store so we can still have space for SF *and* the women who want to write racy and dangerous sex scenes that aren't constrained by modern day morality or relegated to the romance shelves? I WANT MY CAKE!

Re: Have some run-on sentences...

[taura-g.livejournal.com]

...and Edith, too?

Yes, I'd be happy to chuck out all the vampire and werewolf bodice-rippers, along with all the genre fic.

Re: Have some run-on sentences...

[drwex]

Right, um, that was me not realizing the g/f had left herself logged in on this browser.