NPR - Vote for Top 100 SF/Fantasy Books

[carld]

Originally Posted by Ravensknight

That's because Codex Alera is the MUCH superior series. You can tell because Dresden keeps on selling and selling. Only the unwashed masses keep on buying. The truly elite take a meal, then are done

But I am not surprised really. Codex Alera was a fantastic series.

Ha! Thanks. I've been waffling on reading Codex Alera for a long time. I do sometimes read traditional fantasy but not all that often. I think I burnt out on the genre after reading so much of it growing up.

[jgaiser]

And may I have the envelope....

Here's the NPR reader's poll results for the top 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy Books:

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/139248...-fantasy-books

And the Xanth series made the list. Oh well...

[Illinifan]

Interesting list.

Can someone who is better versed in these things tell me which category "The Stand" by Stephen King falls into? SF or Fantasy?

Personally, I have maintained for many years that "The Stand" is my favorite novel, but I never thought of it showing up on this list.

Hmmm...

[carld]

Originally Posted by Illinifan

Interesting list.

Can someone who is better versed in these things tell me which category "The Stand" by Stephen King falls into? SF or Fantasy?

I believe King calls it a Dark Christian Fantasy.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

And may I have the envelope....

Here's the NPR reader's poll results for the top 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy Books:

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/139248...-fantasy-books

And the Xanth series made the list. Oh well...

The list is screwed then. A series is MULTIPLE books. So every Xanth book is a separate book and that makes the list OVER 100. Way to go. Don't they realize this? A series is NOT one book.

Series, saga, trilogy.. that list is awful. It's way more then 100 books. How can they put in say a series like Xanth and just put in one of the Pern books? Ok, who needs to be fired?

[DiapDealer]

The list is screwed then. A series is MULTIPLE books. So every Xanth book is a separate book and that makes the list OVER 100. Way to go. Don't they realize this? A series is NOT one book.

Dude. You do realize the Lord of the Rings was ONE book divided into multiple volumes, right? So while it may not be the case with all of these, there are certainly many series that can be considered single "books" that were broken up into smaller chunks. Stop being so literal and realize that there are other definitions for the word "book" besides "some pages contained between two covers (or in one file)." Besides, who cares if they decided not to waste time picking the favorite "installment" of a favorite series? It's a favorites list... and another one will be along soon to wipe this one from memory.

[jgaiser]

And it was created and voted on by "Science Fiction Readers/Fans". So I guess we're all to blame.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

And it was created and voted on by "Science Fiction Readers/Fans". So I guess we're all to blame.

Silly genre readers. Imagine not knowing the difference between a book and a series.

[Badandy]

I don't like how Foundation was at #8 (I think). It has its detractors on this site, but it deserves to be way higher in my eyes.

Also, just for fans of SciFi who I'm sure are reading this thread, Hyperion recently became available on the Kindle store. I'm excited to read it.

[pdurrant]

So, how many have you read? (For a series, count it if you've read any of the books in the series.)

I've read
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 27, 31, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 52, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 66, 67, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 99

Hmm... 48/100.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

So, how many have you read? (For a series, count it if you've read any of the books in the series.)

1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 26, 27, 31, 32, 34, 35, 40, 44, 47, 53, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 66, 74, 75, 79, 63, 91, 98, 99

Only 33 out of 100, though a few I've read more than once and I've got a lot on my TBR list.

[DiapDealer]

Excellent idea!

1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9-11, 13, 14, 16-21, 23-28, 31, 32, 34, 36-39, 44, 46-48, 51-53, 56, 58, 59, 62, 63, 67-69, 72, 74, 75, 81, 83, 85, 90, 95, 97-100

57/100

For a series, count it if you've read any of the books in the series.

I was conservative... some of those series, I just can't swear one way or the other with much certainty, so I didn't count them.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

And it was created and voted on by "Science Fiction Readers/Fans". So I guess we're all to blame.

But the people behind the poll could have not allowed the trilogies/series/etc. to be nominated and make it so only singe books are allowable.

[JSWolf]

Given the list, here is my sub-list.

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
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
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
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
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever[/i], 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
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The list is screwed then. A series is MULTIPLE books. So every Xanth book is a separate book and that makes the list OVER 100. Way to go. Don't they realize this? A series is NOT one book.

I'm making my way through the Martin Beck police procedural series. The series is made up of ten books, written and published over ten years, but the authors have stated they viewed it as one very long novel. So, I think you can argue that a series containing essentially one story (like "Foundation") can be treated as a single entry in the poll. Maybe it's best to view this as a poll of the top one hundred SF/F stories rather than books.

Besides, breaking up the series into separate books would drastically shrink the breadth of the list if you wanted to stick to one hundred entries. I'm sure the real point of the poll was to draw people in, and I doubt you would get more participants if half the books were written by half a dozen old-school authors.