Sci-Fi Meme

I'm bored, and I snurched this meme. It's supposed to be the fifty most significant science fiction novels written between the years of 1953 and 2002 (so says the Science Fiction Book Club, but I don't agree with all of their choices)

Anyhow, the deal is that I bold the ones I've read, italicize the ones that I've started but never finished, underline the ones that I own but have never started, strike out the ones I hated, and put an asterisk beside the ones I love.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien (I know. I know... I should read this.)

2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov (I loved the first one. I'm not sure why I haven't finished the series)

3. Dune, Frank Herbert* (I love the first three novels of the Dune series.)

4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin

6. Neuromancer, William Gibson (I'm not sure why I haven't finished this one. I like Gibson's style.)

7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke*

8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick*

9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley* (I loved this at one time. I haven't read it in years, and I don't know how I'd feel about it now. I think it was more of an adolescent kind of thing.)

10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury*


11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe

12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.*

13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov

14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras

15. Cities in Flight, James Blish

16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett* (I only give this an asterisk because I love Discworld as a whole. This is the first book in the series, and they get better as you go along)

17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison

18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison

19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester

20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany

21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey

22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card

23. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman

25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl

26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling*

27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (Why the hell haven't I finished this? Douglas Adams is great, and this is THE Douglas Adams novel.)

28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson

29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice

30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin* (Ursula Le Guin writes brilliant science fiction.)

31. Little, Big, John Crowley

32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny

33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick

34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement

35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon

36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith

37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute

38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke

39. Ringworld, Larry Niven

40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys

41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien

42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut

43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson (This is another one that I don't know why I haven't finished it. I've really enjoyed what I've read.)

44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner

45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester*

46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein

47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock

48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks

49. Timescape, Gregory Benford

50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer*

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting list. I know I've probably said this before, but The Silmarillion should be right at the top of your "to-read" pile. It is an absolutely unique reading experience.

I'm surprised that the Mists of Avalon made the list... that behemoth is weird, and not necessarily in a good way. It's a good read, but it's lacking the "weight" or emphasis of most of the other selections.

moif said...

Tolkien is not sci fi.

Cyan said...

Tolkien is not sci fi.

There are quite a few items on the list that don't qualify as sci-fi, and it seems like there are some pretty big omissions as well. For example, where is 2001: A Space Odyssey?

Interesting list. I know I've probably said this before, but The Silmarillion should be right at the top of your "to-read" pile. It is an absolutely unique reading experience.

I know. I'll get to it one of these days. Honest. I'm still not sure whether I should read that one first or if should start with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

moif said...

There are loads of good books missing on the list if you ask me. CJ Cherryh wrote several excellent sci fi novels, not least 'The Chronicles of Morgaine'.

'Armor' by John Steakley.

Almost any book by Verner Vinge or Sherry Tepper.

'Vurt' by Jeff Noon.

'Solaris' by Lem or 'Contact' by Sagan.

Cyan said...

I haven't read any of the authors that you listed, but they're all on my list of things to read, particularly Solaris. That one seems like it would be right up my alley.

moif said...

Its very... eastern European

Cyan said...

After I posted that comment, I decided to pick up a copy and read it. I actually finished it today, and I thought it was excellent. It was one of the more chilling novels that I've read recently, and I think that I was more haunted by the things that you don't see.

moif said...

Have you seen the film?

Cyan said...

I did, and I liked it. I haven't seen it in a while, but since I just finished the book, I plan on watching it again in the near future to see what I think of it now.

moif said...

I liked it too, but this was probably becaue its been so long since any one made a science fiction film which didn't involve a lot of weapons being fired