NPR's Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books

Nagoo · 12 Oct 2006

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843 ... tasy-books

Tell us how many you have read.

Quote:

National Public Radio holds an annual summer poll, and this year’s poll focused on science fiction and fantasy. Back in June, NPR asked its readers to nominate their favorite sci-fi and fantasy books and ended up receiving 5,000 nominations.

The poll excluded any young-adult or children’s titles, so Harry Potter was unfortunately not included. Also excluded were horror and paranormal romance novels, meaning most of Steven King, Charlaine Harris and everyone’s favorite teen vampire series by Stephenie Meyer, Twilight. Series were welcome to be nominated, and many grabbed high spots in the resulting Top 100 list.

Over 60,000 people have cast their votes and NPR’s Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy list is officially out. Not surprisingly, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series is No. 1, garnering more than 29,000 votes. In second place is Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which got 20,069 votes, and in third place is Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, which got 16,141. Fifth place goes to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, which got a lot of notice this year as its first book, Game of Thrones, was made into an HBO series.

Jeff · 05 Oct 2006

I've read 26 of them.

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

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

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

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

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

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

Evans · 02 Mar 2005

Of the ones I have read on that fantasy list, some of them are properly dreadful. What criteria has been used to arrive at the term 'Top' for this top 100? I have read 49 of them - I might list them later if I've got some spare time.

My number - 49 - a bit misleading because in a number of cases I have given up after the first novel of a series - The Wheel of Time, for example, which I could never get on with. It has reminded me of at least one book - The Doomsday Book - that I had forgotten about but really enjoyed reading. And it's made me think of ones I really should have tried by now - I have only ever read Neal Gaiman when he wrote Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, for example. And I might need to give Neal Stephenson another go but I didn't like Necronomicon much. Interesting list, though.

Junkie Luv · 17 Apr 2005

I've read 19! More than I thought I would.

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

Came out to 36 for me (with notations where I read some but not all of a series).

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien (first two)

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

6. 1984, by George Orwell

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan (first three)

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

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

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

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King (first four)

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

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

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

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard (many stories)

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock (two books)

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 (first one)

Evans · 02 Mar 2005

I miscounted - it's 52...

They are numbered only because I used Word to number them because I'm too lazy to count, but are in order of which they appear in the list

1. LOTR
2. Hitchhiker’s Guide
3. Dune
4. Song of Ice and Fire
5. 1984
6. Fahrenheit 451
7. Foundation
8. Brave New World
9. Wheel of Time book 1
10. Animal Famr
11. Neuromancer
12. I, Robot
13. Stranger in a strange Land
14. Frankenstein
15. Dark Tower (first three books)
16. 2001
17. The Stand
18. The Martian Chronicles
19. Starship Troopers
20. Watership Down
21. Dragonflight (and lots of other Pern novels, despite disliking them – apart from The White Dragon - a great deal!)
22. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
23. The Time Machine
24. Flowers for Algernon
25. The Amber series (a few of them – can’t remember how many)
26. The Belgariad
27. Ringworld
28. The Left Hand of Darkness
29. The Silmarillion
30. Childhood’s End
31. Hyperion Cantos
32. The Forever War
33. Small Gods
34. Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
35. The Mote in God’s Eye
36. Wizard’s First Rule (then I STOPPED RIGHT THERE with those things...)
37. The Riftwar Saga
38. The Sword of Shannara (first two books)
39. Conan (most of them)
40. Farseer
41. Rendezvous With Rama
42. The Dispossessed
43. Something Wicked This Way Comes
44. The Malazan Book of the Fallen (four and a half books)
45. The Culture series (every brilliant volume)
46. The Book of the New Sun
47. Elric series (a lot of them)
48. A Fire Upon The deep
49. Caves of Steel
50. The Mars Trilogy
51. Lucifer’s Hammer
52. Doomsday Book

Evans · 02 Mar 2005

Of those, the ones I would recommend most highly - that not necessarly everyone with an interest in the genre would have read - are The Culture novels and the Mars trilogy. Great reads.

And an honourable mention to A Fire Upon The Deep. Vernor Vinge is an excellent science fiction writer.

Bolgani Gogo · 11 Aug 2004

I'd like to see a list of the 100 best Science Fiction and Fantasy anthologies.

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

Here are the ones, of which I have read, that I would recommend at this point:

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien (first two)

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

6. 1984, by George Orwell

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

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

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard (many stories)

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

Note: I can't believe that Anathem, by Neal Stephenson made it. That book had a fascinated principle it was based on, but the novel itself is a hot mess.

Stephen Strange · 29 Jul 2005

Li'l Jay wrote:

Note: I can't believe that Anathem, by Neal Stephenson made it. That book had a fascinated principle it was based on, but the novel itself is a hot mess.

Well, I'd say there are a few titles on that list because they're recent enough to still be fresh in readers' minds, but won't necessarily stand the test of time. We'll see.

I am tickled to see that Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair made the list. Really fun book that was sold on the mainstream fiction shelf, not the genre shelf -- the premise being that an inventor has created a machine that allows real people to travel into and out of works of fiction.

That meddlin kid · 26 Mar 2007

15 for me, plus I've read bits and pieces of others (The first Shannara book, for example).

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

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

6. 1984, by George Orwell

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

29. Cat's Cradle

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

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

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

76. Rendezvous With Rama

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

Nice to see that the list is not as heavily dominated by the latest bestsellers as some of these sorts of lists are.

Diana Gabaldon's "Highlander" books look like they're probably largely romance to me.

ted262 · 22 Aug 2004

It appears that I have read about 34 of them, although I only have a faint recollection of a few since I read the bulk of them when I was in my early teens. I'm always a bit surprised by the reverence people have for some of these (I have tried many times to read Tolkien, for instance, and just can't make it more than a hundred pages or so).

Nice to see Roger Zelazny on the list. It's a crying shame most of his stuff seems to be out of print.

Rafael · 03 Dec 2006

25. Damn. I'm practically illiterate.

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 11767

Some of these books, I've skimmed through, I know what they are about and how they end, and I've also seen the movie----but I'm not sure if I've actually read them cover to cover. Classic example---Watership Down. I've read the book, but I'm not sure if I actually FINISHED the book.

And there are too many books on this list which meet this criteria. I need to get reading.... :facepalm:

P.S. Although I haven't read H2G2 cover to cover, I have heard the album, and since it began as a radio play, I think that was the original, pure version...

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 11767

Neil Gaiman's Stardust is on the list? The book HAS to be better than the movie, right?
If the movie is an accurate adaptation of the book, the inclusion of the book is a huge mistake.

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 11767

I read Cryptonomicon. Cover to cover. It's a good book----but one of the 100 greatest sci-fi/fantasy books of all time???

Stephen Strange · 29 Jul 2005

(T)Eddy wrote:

Neil Gaiman's Stardust is on the list? The book HAS to be better than the movie, right?
If the movie is an accurate adaptation of the book, the inclusion of the book is a huge mistake.

The book is better than the movie, but it's still decidedly a lesser Gaiman work that pales next to Sandman, American Gods, and Anansi Boys. It doesn't belong on the list.

Stephen Strange · 29 Jul 2005

Evans wrote:

Of the ones I have read on that fantasy list, some of them are properly dreadful. What criteria has been used to arrive at the term 'Top' for this top 100? I have read 49 of them - I might list them later if I've got some spare time.

My number - 49 - a bit misleading because in a number of cases I have given up after the first novel of a series - The Wheel of Time, for example, which I could never get on with. It has reminded me of at least one book - The Doomsday Book - that I had forgotten about but really enjoyed reading. And it's made me think of ones I really should have tried by now - I have only ever read Neal Gaiman when he wrote Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, for example. And I might need to give Neal Stephenson another go but I didn't like Necronomicon much. Interesting list, though.

I'm pretty sure the criterion was "the public voting for their favorites."

Bolgani Gogo · 11 Aug 2004

Stephen Strange wrote:

Evans wrote:

Of the ones I have read on that fantasy list, some of them are properly dreadful. What criteria has been used to arrive at the term 'Top' for this top 100? I have read 49 of them - I might list them later if I've got some spare time.

My number - 49 - a bit misleading because in a number of cases I have given up after the first novel of a series - The Wheel of Time, for example, which I could never get on with. It has reminded me of at least one book - The Doomsday Book - that I had forgotten about but really enjoyed reading. And it's made me think of ones I really should have tried by now - I have only ever read Neal Gaiman when he wrote Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, for example. And I might need to give Neal Stephenson another go but I didn't like Necronomicon much. Interesting list, though.

I'm pretty sure the criterion was "the public voting for their favorites."

Gotta be. The Belgariad's there.

Monk · 19 Jun 2006

Lord of the Rings
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Ender's Game
Dune
Song of Ice and Fire
1984
Fahrenheit 451
Foundation Trilogy
Brave New World
American Gods
Wheel of Time
Neuromancer
Watchmen
I, Robot
Stranger In A Strange Land
Slaughterhouse-Five
Frankenstein
Dark Tower Series (most of it)
The Stand
The Martian Chronicles
Cat's Cradle
Sandman
Starship Troopers
Dragonflight
The Time Machine
The Amber Chronicles
The Belgariad
Neverwhere
Stardust
Small Gods
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
Sword of Truth Series
The Road
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
The Riftwar Saga
Sword of Shannara Trilogy
Farseer Trilogy
Rendezvous with Rama
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Eyre Affair
Anathem
The Caves of Steel
Xanth Series

43 total.

Monk · 19 Jun 2006

Some of the series I gave up on at some point, but even with those I've read at least four or five before doing so.

Bolgani Gogo · 11 Aug 2004

Yeah, there's a few series on the list I started and haven't finished.

NPR's Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books

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