SF - Fantasy Meme

[fabrisse]

Both malnpudl and innerslytherin were doing this. I just had to jump in.

(I hadn't realized it was based on book sales, but I still stand by my list at the end of the books I wish were on this list.)

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien -- Life's too short to finish The Two Towers, though I loved Tom Bombadil in the first book. Loathe The Hobbit.
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams -- I consider Mostly Harmless to be Mr. Adams' way of telling me never to re-read the series again. I loved the first four books, but the fifth book left ashes in my mouth.
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card -- and the first two sequels. Thank you, siderea for introducing me to it.
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert -- all the ones Herbert wrote
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 -- and Brave New World Revisited
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman -- I love this: book and movie
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 -- not my favorite Heinlein by a long chalk.
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss -- nb: there should be a way to indicate the ones you've never heard of before, too.
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick -- I have yet to complete a book by Philip K. Dick, and yet I've loved the movies made of his books. His style is just... off, somehow.
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood -- hated it.
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King -- I gave up on King after reading The Shining at summer camp (the fifth book of his I'd read). I still have nightmares.
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke -- summer camp was really that long one year.
25. The Stand, by Stephen King -- see above
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut -- It's on my Kindle for once I've finished with all the city planning books I've read.
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein -- I may finish this at some point. His premise about the required duties of citizenship is interesting. It has to be better than the movie.
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams -- I've tried it before, but couldn't get into it at all. It's only still on my "must read" list because I respect siderea.
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey -- others have said there mush be crack lacing the pages of the Valdemar books by Mercedes Lackey. I feel the same way about Pern.
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein -- finally, a *good* Heinlein.
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller -- another one that I may finish in future, but for some reason, it just didn't grab me.
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
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White -- I can honestly say I would not be who I am today without this book.
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman -- Oh, this book. I rarely ever went on the Central line when I lived in London as an adult, but one time I did and the British Museum stop was lit. I've been told it was impossible, but I saw it. The person next to me saw it, because we talked about it. That one experience made this book resonate so hard for me. I love it.
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke -- I thought I'd read this, but the description in Wikipedia says I haven't
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan -- I'm so mad they've taken the Foucault pendulum out of the Smithsonian's American History Museum both from childhood memories and from the scene in this book.
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson -- my favorite Stephenson.
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55.The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle -- No, but his The Folk of the Air introduced me to the SCA. It took me over a decade before I finally found it.
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett -- I consider this and Nightwatch to be Pratchett's best. For the record, I've read every Discworld novel.
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett -- not that I dislike it, but really, this one over all of the Guards series or Lords and Ladies or The Truth or...
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle -- should be higher on the list
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 -- this is on here, but not the Lensman series. Arisia should be up in arms.
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger -- I tried it. Really. I think any random episode of Doctor Who is better.
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 -- my favorite Bradbury. I still consider the movie to be damned near perfect
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire -- didn't like his style with Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, so I have no desire to read anything else of his.
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 -- I've read all the Mary Stewart Merlin Books.
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
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 -- I've tried a couple of her other books, but couldn't get through them.
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony -- I've read other Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis


Here are some books that I'd love to see on the list rather than all the duplicate authors.

Either In War Times or The Bones of Time by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Spirits in the Wire by Charles de Lint
A Wrinkle in Time (or better yet, A Swiftly Tilting Planet) by Madeleine L'Engle
Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh (thank you, innerslytherin for reminding me of Cherryh.)
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Doctor Jeckyll and Mister Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Any of the Dorsai! novels by Gordon R. Dickson, though I lean heavily toward The Tactics of Mistake
The Harry Potter books should be on here too, in my opinion.

If we throw in short stories, I'd like to see M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Allen Poe added.