NPR's top 100 SF/fantasy books

NPR has a new list of their top 100 SF/fantasy books. I've put the ones I read into bold type, and written comments in italics.

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

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams Read it, but didn't particularly enjoy it. I read it as a teen, and then tried it again in my 30s, and it's just not my cuppa.

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card Clearly deserving of a place in the top 10!

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin This ranks higher than I would have guessed, and I'm curious about whether that's because of the new TV series.

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury I can't believe I've never gotten around to reading this!

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov Last week, someone at the library came up to me and said, out of the blue, "The Emperor Cleon is dead!" I said, "Oh, you've been reading Foundation!"

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman Started it, couldn't finish it. I like the movie, but it's all a bit precious for me.

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan Again, this seems high on the list to me. I should say that I am reading this list and commenting on it in order - I don't know what's coming up.

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell I dutifully read this at some point, but didn't particularly enjoy it. Also: is it really SF/fantasy?

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson I am a bit surprised this wasn't higher on the list!

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov I might have read this - can't remember. I read quite a bit of Asimov in high school!

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

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 How on earth did this heavy-handed tale place so high?

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

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

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman I've read parts of it. Plenty for me, because I'm not a huge Gaiman fan. Also, it's uneven in quality, so I think it got this spot on reputation.

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey Seriously? I mean, I loved this book, but it's not great literature. Certainly, it doesn't deserve to be higher than anything by Connie Willis or Lois McMaster Bujold!

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 Love this one, but is it really SF/fantasy?

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

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings Really? I would have put this lower on the list.

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley I assume this is here because it's an accessible stand-alone MZB title. I think MZB wrote better books. MoA wasn't bad, though it has some baaaad writing.

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

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White Again, one I should have read by now!

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman Ooookay, enough with the Gaiman love!

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 Sigh. I'm beginning to suspect the makers of this list.

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

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold Are you freaking kidding me? There's no way Thomas Covenant is better than the Vorkosigan books. And speaking of Bujold - who is absurdly low on this list - where is The Curse of Chalion?

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 Not a comment on this book, but a general one: Lots of men on this list, and no children's or YA books! Where's Patrick Ness, or L'Engle, or Pullman? I mean, some of the books here *coughCovenantcough* wouldn't compare favorably to the best of SF/fantasy for children and teens.

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 I picked these up many, many times as a teen. Couldn't make myself do them.

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 Again, I think I read this, but I wouldn't swear to it..

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire Um, no..

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde Funny and clever? Sure, but not great SF/fantasy. I just checked, and saw that NPR listeners voted on this, not an editorial board. I feel better now, but still - people are prone to vote for some odd books!

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

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley Weirdly, this is the one McKinley book I couldn't finish. I made it about halfway.

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov I enjoy this more than Foundation.

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis Finally! Inexplicably low, except that NPR listeners might not be savvy?

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony This makes the Connie-Willis-in-97th even more of an insult!

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis Better than Narnia? Yes, it's the end of the list, and no children's or teen books ever appeared!