![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogAs you know, I’m a sucker for book lists, if only because they make fun memes. That said, the Locus list should be read with the caveat that it’s an online poll, and the votes were all write-ins. So this list should be taken with a few grains of salt.
And I do have a few grains of my own:
1. There is no Norman Spinrad on it. I know Spinrad’s an acquired taste, but personally I don’t see how you could have a Best SF list this long without at least one of his books.
2. re: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? – I’m a big fan of PKD, but honestly I suspect this particular book makes lists like this mostly because of the film version, which is markedly different from the book. It’s a good book, to be sure, but PKD has written far better books than this. Okay, two of them also made the list. Still.
3. I was not aware that Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude was a fantasy book.
4. I noticed that China Mieville’s The City & the City is listed in both SF and Fantasy for 21st Century books. I haven't read it, so maybe it’s a hybrid of both. Even so, surely there should be a rule against that.
Anyway, here’s my own stats:
20th Century:
I have read 25 of the Top 50 SF novels. Of the ones I have read, 14 are in the Top 20.
I have read 19 of top 50 fantasy novels – which is surprising to me as I don’t read much fantasy. Then again, some of them aren’t your typical “fantasy” genre novel (with swords and dragons and wizards and hobbitses and whatnot).
21st Century:
I have read 7 of top 15 SF novels.
And I have read 6 of top 15 fantasy novels.
The full list follows, with the usual meme rules:
Bold – read it
Italics – I want to read it or it’s already in my to-read pile
Italics/strikethrough – tried to read it but gave up
50 BEST 20TH CENTURY SF NOVELS
1 Herbert, Frank : Dune (1965)
2 Card, Orson Scott : Ender's Game (1985)
3 Asimov, Isaac : The Foundation Trilogy (1953)
4 Simmons, Dan : Hyperion (1989)
5 Le Guin, Ursula K. : The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
6 Adams, Douglas : The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
7 Orwell, George : Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
8 Gibson, William : Neuromancer (1984)
9 Bester, Alfred : The Stars My Destination (1957)
10 Bradbury, Ray : Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
11 Heinlein, Robert A. : Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
12 Heinlein, Robert A. : The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
13 Haldeman, Joe : The Forever War (1974)
14 Clarke, Arthur C. : Childhood's End (1953)
15 Niven, Larry : Ringworld (1970)
16 Le Guin, Ursula K. : The Dispossessed (1974)
17 Bradbury, Ray : The Martian Chronicles (1950)
18 Stephenson, Neal : Snow Crash (1992)
19 Miller, Walter M. , Jr. : A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)
20 Pohl, Frederik : Gateway (1977)
21 Heinlein, Robert A. : Starship Troopers (1959)
22 Dick, Philip K. : The Man in the High Castle (1962)
23 Zelazny, Roger : Lord of Light (1967)
24 Wolfe, Gene : The Book of the New Sun (1983)
25 Lem, Stanislaw : Solaris (1970)
26 Dick, Philip K. : Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
27 Vinge, Vernor : A Fire Upon The Deep (1992)
28 Clarke, Arthur C. : Rendezvous with Rama (1973)
29 Huxley, Aldous : Brave New World (1932)
30 Clarke, Arthur C. : 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
31 Vonnegut, Kurt : Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
32 Strugatsky, Arkady & Boris : Roadside Picnic (1972)
33 Card, Orson Scott : Speaker for the Dead (1986)
34 Brunner, John : Stand on Zanzibar (1968)
35 Robinson, Kim Stanley : Red Mars (1992)
36 Niven, Larry (& Pournelle, Jerry) : The Mote in God's Eye (1974)
37 Willis, Connie : Doomsday Book (1992) 433 33
38 Atwood, Margaret : The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
39 Sturgeon, Theodore : More Than Human (1953)
40 Simak, Clifford D. : City (1952)
41 Brin, David : Startide Rising (1983)
42 Asimov, Isaac : Foundation (1950)
43 Farmer, Philip Jose : To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971)
44 Dick, Philip K. : Ubik (1969)
45 Vonnegut, Kurt : Cat's Cradle (1963)
46 Vinge, Vernor : A Deepness in the Sky (1999)
47 Simak, Clifford D. : Way Station (1963)
48 Wyndham, John : The Day of the Triffids (1951)
49* Keyes, Daniel : Flowers for Algernon (1966)
49* Delany, Samuel R. : Dhalgren (1975)
50 BEST 20TH CENTURY FANTASY NOVELS
1 Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Lord of the Rings (1955)
2 Martin, George R. R. : A Game of Thrones (1996)
3 Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Hobbit (1937)
4 Le Guin, Ursula K. : A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)
5 Zelazny, Roger : Nine Princes in Amber (1970)
6 Lewis, C. S. : The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
7 Mieville, China : Perdido Street Station (2000)
8 Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)
9 Crowley, John : Little, Big (1981)
10 Adams, Richard : Watership Down (1972)
11 Goldman, William : The Princess Bride (1973)
12 Martin, George R. R. : A Storm of Swords (2000) 43
13 Beagle, Peter S. : The Last Unicorn (1968)
14 White, T. H. : The Once and Future King (1958)
15 Pratchett, Terry (& Gaiman, Neil) : Good Omens (1990)
16 Kay, Guy Gavriel : Tigana (1990)
17 Gaiman, Neil : Neverwhere (1996)
18 Wolfe, Gene : The Book of the New Sun (1983)
19 Vance, Jack : The Dying Earth (1950)
20 Bulgakov, Mikhail : The Master and Margarita (1967)
21 Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)
22 Tolkien, J. R. R. : The Silmarillion (1977)
23 Leiber, Fritz : The Swords of Lankhmar (1968)
24 Jordan, Robert : The Eye of the World (1990)
25 Donaldson, Stephen R. : Lord Foul's Bane (1977)
26 Bradbury, Ray : Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962)
27 Peake, Mervyn : Gormenghast (1950)
28 Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)
29 Powers, Tim : The Anubis Gates (1983)
30 Martin, George R. R. : A Clash of Kings (1998)
31 Bradley, Marion Zimmer : The Mists of Avalon (1983)
32 Hobb, Robin : Assassin's Apprentice (1995)
33 Pratchett, Terry : The Colour of Magic (1983)
34 Holdstock, Robert : Mythago Wood (1984)
35 King, Stephen : The Stand (1978)
36* L'Engle, Madeleine : A Wrinkle in Time (1962)
36* Pratchett, Terry : Small Gods (1992)
38 Ende, Michael : The Neverending Story (1983)
39 Peake, Mervyn : Titus Groan (1946)
40 Howard, Robert E. : Conan the Barbarian (1950)
41 McCaffrey, Anne : Dragonflight (1968)
42 Orwell : George : Animal Farm (1945)
43 Feist, Raymond E. : Magician (1982)
44 Silverberg, Robert : Lord Valentine's Castle (1980)
45 Lovecraft, H. P. : At the Mountains of Madness (1936)
46 Swanwick, Michael : The Iron Dragon's Daughter (1993)
47 King, Stephen : The Shining (1977)
48 Garcia Marquez, Gabriel : One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970)
49 Saint-Exupery, Antoine de : The Little Prince (1943)
50 Hughart, Barry : Bridge of Birds (1984)
15 BEST 21ST CENTURY SF NOVELS
1 Scalzi, John : Old Man's War (2005)
2 Stephenson, Neal : Anathem (2008)
3 Bacigalupi, Paolo : The Windup Girl (2009)
4 Wilson, Robert Charles : Spin (2005)
5 Watts, Peter : Blindsight (2006)
6 Morgan, Richard : Altered Carbon (2002)
7 Collins, Suzanne : The Hunger Games (2008)
8 Gibson, William : Pattern Recognition (2003)
9 Mieville, China : The City & the City (2009)
10 Stross, Charles : Accelerando (2005)
11 Mitchell, David : Cloud Atlas (2004)
12 McDonald, Ian : River of Gods (2004)
13 McCarthy, Cormac : The Road (2006)
14 Harrison, M. John : Light (2002)
15* Willis, Connie : Black Out/All Clear (2010)
15* Chabon, Michael : The Yiddish Policemen's Union (2007)
15 BEST 21ST CENTURY FANTASY NOVELS
1 Gaiman, Neil : American Gods (2001)
2 Clarke, Susanna : Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004)
3 Rothfuss, Patrick : The Name of the Wind (2007)
4 Mieville, China : The Scar (2002)
5 Martin, George R. R. : A Feast for Crows (2005)
6 Rowling, J. K. : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)
7 Bujold, Lois McMaster : The Curse of Chalion (2001)
8 Mieville, China : The City & the City (2009)
9 Fforde, Jasper : The Eyre Affair (2001)
10* Bujold, Lois McMaster : Paladin of Souls (2003)
10* Pratchett, Terry : Night Watch (2002)
12 Gaiman, Neil : Coraline (2002)
13 Wolfe, Gene : The Wizard Knight (2004)
14 Pratchett, Terry : Going Postal (2004)
15* Gaiman, Neil : The Graveyard Book (2008)
Off to the bookstore,
This is dF
