50 important SF books

[beowabbit]

List from the Science Fiction Book Club; meme from hrafn.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick [This was a book? I thought it was a short story. I think I read the short story in an anthology by a different name, but I’m not 100% sure.]
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr. [Tragically, Vatican II broke the future painted in this book. But Pope Benedict may end up fixing it.]
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
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
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
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien [I’ve started it several times.]
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Comments

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

I've read more than 30 of these (not an exact count because there are some that I *think* I've read, but I might just be remembering Norman's reading them). You should read both of the Besters and Ringworld, because they really are classics (both in the sense of being good and in the sense of being influential to the genre). I love Sturgeon, though I think his short stories are better than his novels. If you haven't read him, please do so -- I think he'd be a good match for you, since he writes more about relationships than ray guns, and there's a lot of sweetness in his work. Somebody's making a compilation of every story he ever published, and well, the early ones aren't so great. But Sturgeon at his best is very good indeed!

Since this list was compiled by a company that's in the business of selling books, I suspect that some otherwise inexplicable choices are the result of some books not being available to the club and some books being more likely to sell.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

beowabbit, if you do want to read the Bester (and I agree that the are good and influential to the genre), I'll be happy to give you my copies. Having discovered I'm more of a reader than a re-reader, my long-term project is to gradually divest myself of bookshelf holdings.

[beowabbit]

beowabbit, if you do want to read the Bester (and I agree that the are good and influential to the genre), I'll be happy to give you my copies.

Oh, thank you; that would be lovely!

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I second Ringworld. I read a bunch of Niven & Pournelle books in high school, but didn't get through Niven's solo works until about 2 years ago, and it was all (or mostly) so good!

[beowabbit]

Thanks! I definitely want to read Ringworld, and it sounds like I might be getting the Bester books from treacle_well. I’ve read some Sturgeon, but I don’t remember exactly what.