[Meme] Significant SF/F novels, 1953-2006

[edenfalling]

Gakked from willowgreen: The most significant SF/F novels from 1953-2006 according to Time.

Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk (*) beside the ones you loved.

I almost never hate a book -- even if I dislike them, I usually find something of redeeming value to counteract my main reaction, and besides, hating things is such a waste of energy -- so instead of striking things out, I've just added lots of comments. :-)

1. *The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. *The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov (Asimov is the patron saint of clarity.)
3. Dune, Frank Herbert (This book needs about 100-200 pages hacked out of it with a machete. The idea's brilliant; the execution is mediocre at best.)
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein (There's good stuff in here, but there's also a lot of bloat. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is still my favorite of his non-juveniles.)
5. *A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin (The Tombs of Atuan is my favorite of the series, but this one's good too.)
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke (This book freaked the hell out of me when I was a kid.)
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley (I liked it when I was about twelve. Looking back, it's far too simplistic.)
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (I got distracted by other things, and never quite got back to this. I should fix that -- I remember liking the beginning.)

11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. *A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr. (Just read this a couple months ago -- slow start, but it packs a hell of a punch by the end.)
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 (Least good of the Discworld novels, really -- why isn't Night Watch on here instead, or maybe Reaper Man or Small Gods?)
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (I loved The Stars My Destination -- which is also on this list, near the end -- so I'm really not sure why I haven't read anything else by Bester. I should fix that.)
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany

21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey (Pern was not a bad idea at first. It just dragged on way too long and has now zombified.)
22. ***Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card (Love. Utter love. When Card is on his game, he is amazing.)
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson (This series... I dunno... Donaldson is so didactic and uncompromising, and he has this thing where he falls in love with particular strange words, like 'argence,' and overuses them abominably, but there's something compelling about the story and characters that kept me reading through all three books, and the second trilogy as well. I never particularly liked them, though.)
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling (Fun.)
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (It's somewhat overrated, but I love the tone and it is actually quite funny.)
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson (Not a comfortable book, and not without some serious handwaving issues, but it makes you think.)
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice (A lot more subdued and depressing than I expected from Rice's reputation.)
30. *The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin (I really like The Dispossessed much better -- that book had a profound effect on me -- but this one is quite good and was probably very thought-provoking at the time of its publication.)

31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. ***Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny (I love this book with a huge, sweeping, epic, romantic love that I cannot adequately explain. Also, it has one of the best endings ever.)
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick (I do mean to read this someday.)
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 (I never emotionally connected with this book, but it was intellectually interesting.)
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys

41. *The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien (I'm chronically weak toward world-building and mythology.)
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut (It's funny; I think this is Vonnegut's most famous book, and yet, while I've read a lot of his 'lesser' works, I've never even started this one.)
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner (I keep meaning to read this...)
45. *The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (Grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go... in a good way.)
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein (Pay no attention to the movie. Please pay no attention to the movie.)
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock (To be perfectly honest, all of Moorcock's Elric books blur in my mind, so I can't say if I've read this specific one or not. But it's quite possible that I have.)
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks (I liked this when I was eleven or so. In retrospect, it's very trite.)
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer (It's a fascinating concept, but I've never been able to finish a single one of Farmer's books. For whatever reason, he both irritates and bores me.)