I blog about food, mostly. I blog about books, secondary. I live for books, mostly. I live for food, secondary.
I stumbled across this list of the top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy books as voted on by NPR folk. And with this list comes a new goal of reading ’em all (yes, I’ll break it up with some literature every once in a while, too). I won’t say that I’ve liked every book on the list (that I’ve read), but I agree that every one on here is important in some way. Those that are crossed out I’ve read. Those with links I’ve read and reviewed this year.
1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin6. 1984, by George Orwell7. 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 Orwell14. 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
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood- 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
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess- 31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey- 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- 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 Niven45. 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
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman- 49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
- 50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman- 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
- 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
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke- 65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks- 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 Carey78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin- 79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire- 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- 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
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony- 100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
#1-7? Agreed: amazing.
#17? Sitting on my shelf waiting to be read (okay, sitting on my shelf since the beginning of June, but now there’s some incentive to actually pick it up).
#89? On the way to my house right now, thanks to an oddly prescient Amazon order.
So, dear reading readers, which books should I tackle first? Any personal favorites on here I should get to right away? Do you agree with this list? Want to hear more about those I have read?
All I know is that this most certainly warrants a trip to my favorite used book store and a weekend spent curled up with good books.
ForgottenBeast 
It’s a pretty decent list.
🙂
I love number 1!! I have read a lot of these books. I love good books list, I always mark those I have read and plan on reading the whole list. But usually I don´t finish it. Good luck with the list 🙂
Thanks! This one’s a long-term goal, so I’m hoping I stick with it (but I tend to get distracted by the next good list, too)
What a great list! And great goal to try and tackle it!
What a great list! I love NPR, surprised I didn’t come across it till now. I love the fire and ice series (currently on book 4). You’ve inspired me to read all 100 though!
;-D
I can’t wait for the fifth to come out in paperback! (I’m too cheap for hardcover :D)
oooh, I get them on my “kindle” and read them on my laptop. Not at work. Definitely not while I’m on my laptop at work. No.
Such a great list. I definitely would love to tackle it, too. My tally is only a pathetic 13!
You know what’s not on that list, but I absolutely loved? It’s a trilogy by Nick Sagan with Idlewile, Edenborn, and Everfree [http://nicksagan.com/works.html].
I’ve read Slaugherhouse-Five. It’s…interesting. But I think you should read Mists of Avalon and The Farseer Trilogy. I have a Robin Hobb book, but I can’t remember which one it is, and my sister enjoys Mists of Avalon…
I’ve meant to read mists of Avalon for a long time–hopefully this will actually make me do it! And I read some ship series by Hobb that i didn’t love, but sci-fi might be different.
And I’ve heard good things about thy series! I’ll add it to my clearly never-ending list 😀
Oh my goodness!!!! I don’t even want to say what my tally would be! Let’s just say it’s not good! haha
Brilliant goal to read them all! I think the only one I’ve read that isn’t crossed out is I Am Legend which was really….. weird. Can’t describe better than that!
I love that Watership Down’s on there; such a great book, but I haven’t read so many of these! Would love to read Wicked, The Silmarillion and 1984… I started The Time Traveler’s Wife and lost interest; should maybe give it another go… 🙂
I was happy to see watership down, too. Although surprised at it being classified as sci-fi/fantasy. Wicked is a fun read, I say pick it up if you ever come across it 🙂
I must not be a big science fiction fan, because I haven’t read any of these books except for The Time Traveller’s Wife. That was one of my all time favorite books though!
That is a good one. And I’d recommend giving a couple others a try–fantasy is fun 🙂
That’s quite a list. I’m not necessarily the biggest sci-fi/fantasy fan, but I’ve read a few (~15) on the list. My top picks are The Time Traveler’s Wife (LOVE), Hitchhiker’s Guide, Slaughter House Five, and The Outlander Series. I would say: definitely tackle Outlander et al.
Not too bad for a non-sci-fi geek 🙂 And outlanders is the one I have in the mail from amazon right now–so I’ll be tackling that next!
I’ve read a lot of those books, but not nearly as many as you. I find it kinda funny that The Time Traveler’s Wife ended up on there. I never would have thought of that as sci-fi. If you like graphic novels, try Watchman and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. Both are wonderful!
I was surprised to see the time traveler’s wife there too, definitely think of that as more of a literature book than a fantasy. But loved it none the less. And will check out the graphic novels! Used to always sit in borders and read graphic novels while drinking coffee, don’t have that cheap option now, though. Although it might help explain that out of business thing…
I’ve actually read quite a few on that list! We read Ender’s Game for our book club a couple months ago and I actually really liked it. The Stand is also a good one – long, but good.
I have–somehow–never read a Stephen King novel. So I think The Stand will be one of the first I get to off of here.
food + books = a great combination. not a huge sci-fi reader, but i did read ender’s game a few years back and liked it.
Ender’s Game is pretty much a classic–I love it. It’s a good intro to scifi, since some of that genre is a little hard to access if you’re not into lots of technical mumbo-jumbo (which I’m not)
This list will definitely keep you busy! I love used book stores and amazon…great reason to shop! lol!
Thats a whole lot of books you have read. How long did it take?
Jessie.
My life? Haha, the ones crossed out have been read over the course of my reading history–read some of ’em years and years ago, while others I’ve read more recently.