Got this from my fellow now-skinny buddy BhagwanX
This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. 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.
- The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien (I can only get about halfway through the second book — love the movies though!)
- The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov*
- Dune, Frank Herbert*
- Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein*
- A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
- Neuromancer, William Gibson*
- Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
- The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
- The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
- A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
- The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov*
- Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
- Cities in Flight, James Blish
- The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
- Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison*
- Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison*
- The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
- Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
- Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
- Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card*
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson- The Forever War, Joe Haldeman*
- Gateway, Frederik Pohl*
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling*
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
- I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
- Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
- The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
- Little, Big, John Crowley
- Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
- The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
- Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
- More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
- The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
- On the Beach, Nevil Shute
- Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
- Ringworld, Larry Niven
- Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
- The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
- Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
- Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson*
- Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
- The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
- Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein*
- Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock*
- The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
- Timescape, Gregory Benford
- To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
What about ‘The Mote in God’s Eye’ by Larry Niven? What about ‘Footfall’ by L. Niven and J. Pournelle? How ’bout ‘Stormbringer’ by M. Moorcock? Well, at least there was only ONE ‘Shannara’ title listed..sigh..
Stormbringer is there. But yeah, I agree with the rest.
And I’ve heard Shannara sucks so I didn’t even bother. Are LotR ripoffs really worthy of being “significant”?
KInda curious as to why you’ve marked out Thomas Convenant??
I read about half of the first book, and hated the writing style, and really really hated the “protagonist”. Call me crazy, but an insane rapist just isn’t my kind of hero.
It took me about 3 times to get through the first book of the Covenant series. After I accepted the ‘premise’ of the scene, I found I enjoyed the series more for the world building, and outside characters than the main one. Though, over time, I grew not to hate him.
As to Shannara, I think it ranks high on the lists because I believe it was one of the first fantasy books to reach the New York Times best seller list.