NPR's Top 100 SF&F books

[Krug]

Top 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Books : NPR

The Top 20...

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

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

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

 

[RangerWickett]

I've read 23 of those, if I recall correctly.

 

[El Mahdi]

Interesting list. A lot of classics on there, but quite a few not so classics also (The Thrawn Trilogy?...Seriously!?!). Personally I would replace the Drizzt series with the original Dragonlance Trilogy. I think the DL trilogy is much more iconic for it's genre, but the list does tend to show a preference towards more contemporary series as well as older classics. I guess the DL trilogy has faded from our contemporary shared consciousness.

 

[Crothian]

I don't like that they inlcude a lot of series if you are going to list the 100 best books then list books not trilogies and groups. That said I have read 76 of the entries. Most of them I agree with on the list but some of them I would not call classics.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Of the list, I've read 56, have another 10 on my bookshelf, and disagree with several (of course)...at least in part.

For example, I loved Dune...but only the first one. I thought the second one dragged horribly and abandoned the series partway through the third book. My dad, who DID plow through the whole series, felt the series didn't improve after the fourth, so I just decided not to tortture myself.

And I'm surprised at certain absences- Lovecraft, Howard & Lieber, for instance. (I'd also stack Bova's Grand Tour or the shared-setting Thieves' World stories up there, myself.)

Overall- not a bad list.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Interesting list. A lot of classics on there, but quite a few not so classics also (The Thrawn Trilogy?...Seriously!?!). Personally I would replace the Drizzt series with the original Dragonlance Trilogy. I think the DL trilogy is much more iconic for it's genre, but the list does tend to show a preference towards more contemporary series as well as older classics. I guess the DL trilogy has faded from our contemporary shared consciousness.

Personally, I was surprised to see any "RPG" books on the list at all.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, it was fan-voted. We geeks tend to be internet-savvy enough to vote in online polls.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Strange mix. Some recent chart toppers are strangely highly rated side by side with decades-old award winners, but there seems to be a paucity of great books from the late-80 to 90s.

Glen Cook's Black Company books are strangely far down the list.

 

[jonesy]

And I'm surprised at certain absences- Lovecraft, Howard & Lieber, for instance. (I'd also stack Bova's Grand Tour or the shared-setting Thieves' World stories up there, myself.)

Howard does appear on the full 237 list, but the others do not. Although, I'm guessing people were thinking Lovecraft belongs on a horror list and not sci-fi/fantasy, even though he had elements of both.

 

[Sammael]

Stuff that IMO most definitely doesn't belong on the list, quality-wise:

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke (I always felt that this was one of Clarke's weakest books, and far inferior to the movie)

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

I've read roughly 60% of that list. It's extremely odd that some books were included individually, and others as a complete series.

I agree that Cook's Black Company should be in the top 50 at the very least, and it's a crime that Amber is lower on the list than Dragonflight, frex.