NPR's Top 100 SF/Fantasy Books

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Another reminder that popularity does not automatically equate to quality.

Top 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Books

Quote:

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

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

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 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

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. Dick

22. 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 Adams

33. 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 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

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. 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 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

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 Carey

78. 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 Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

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Type: Discussion • Score: 22 • Views: 18,310 • Replies: 148

@DrewDad,

I once bought a book whose cover boasted "NPRs" top (some number) thriller" and it was positively the WORST book I've ever read. I'll never fall for that lure again.

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I have read about 30 of the books/series listed, and most of them have been pretty good. I like the Xanth series, even though its more of a children's series.

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The Hitchhikers guide sucks, Adams is a hack . . .

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If you browse DrewDad's link, you find that the top 100 came from NPR listeners, but the listeners could only choose from a list provided by an NPR panel.

1 Reply

Oh, happy to see Patrick Rothfuss on the list! I just picked up two of his books today.

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@DrewDad,

The first Dune book was a work of art but Herbert and now his son had milk this for god know how many books each seem to be worst then the one before.

Footnote his book Dragon in the Sea is well worth finding and reading in my opinion.

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who the h*ll is NPR and why does he know (or think he knows) so much about books?

1 Reply

@Linkat,

NPR=National Public Radio . . . you know, government sponsored crypto-commies . . .

1 Reply

@Setanta,

and why are they in charge of determining the top books?

1 Reply

A pretty good list, pleasantly surprised to see "The chronicles of thomas covenant the unbeliever" is there.
Don't see "The Helliconia trilogy" tut tut.

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@eurocelticyankee,

I like it, too. I've got most of Jim Butcher's Dresden series lined up to read, but I see his Codex Alera series was favored by NPR readers, so I guess I'll buy those as well.

Mr.Irish is starting to think giving me this ereader might not have been such a good idea Smile

I'm becoming Amazon's new best friend.

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I've read about a half dozen or so of those books - not a huge SciFi fan though - although with the name of this one peaks my interest...

Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

Anyone read it?

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If anyone is interested in A Canticle for Liebowitz, NPR has arranged a free download here.

I know from experience that it's a hard book to track down Smile

1 Reply

@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

I've read about a half dozen or so of those books - not a huge SciFi fan though - although with the name of this one peaks my interest...

Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

Anyone read it?

Not read it, but did see the two part Sky production.

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

It's never about what's in it, it's always what's not made the mark. My favourite non appearer would be Hiero's Journey by Sterling E Lanier.

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@Irishk,

I'm surprised you say that . . . i trip over it in used book stores all the time . . .

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@Linkat,

Beats the hell out of me . . .

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@Setanta,

Gasp!

Hitchhiker's Guide is really more comedy with a sci-fi flavor than proper sci-fi, but it's lovely.

1 Reply

@wandeljw,

wandeljw wrote:

If you browse DrewDad's link, you find that the top 100 came from NPR listeners, but the listeners could only choose from a list provided by an NPR panel.

Quote:

Last month we asked you, our audience, to nominate titles for a top-100 list of the best science fiction and fantasy ever written. The response was overwhelming — almost 5,000 of you posted to the NPR site alone, and many thousands more offered suggestions on Facebook.

We've tabulated those suggestions and, with the help of an expert panel, narrowed the list to a manageable field of a few hundred titles.

0 Replies

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