SFBC List

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From Sara Howe’s site:

Science Fiction Book Club listed the most significant SF novels between 1953-2006.

Bold the ones you have read, strike through the ones you read and hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put a star next to the ones you love.

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
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.
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 – Just the movie.
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
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 – Just the movie.
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Read: 6
Read & Hated: 0
Read & Loved: 5
Started & DNF: 1

Wow, there are a lot of these I’d never heard of. And a few I’d never want to read. But I’m not turning in my scifichick status. I usually don’t agree with other’s Best-of lists.

15 thoughts on “SFBC List”

  1. Wow, I started looking at that list and realized that I had read an awful lot of them. I think in the top twenty I had read 17 of them. The funny thing is that I haven’t read their number one book yet.

  2. 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
    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.
    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 – Just the movie.
    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
    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 – Just the movie.
    47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
    48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
    49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
    50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

    Read: 19

  3. John – You HAVE read a lot of them! I can’t believe you haven’t read the LOTR trilogy yet though!

    Scotty – I take it you like the Thomas Covenant books? LOL.. I’ll have to look into those.

  4. Okay I’m feeling rather uneducated in the world of scifi right now. I’ve read a few, and have heard of most of the others, but there are some that are completly new. I may have to take this list at some point and make it my scifi TRB list.

    My husband LOVES the Thomas Covenant books. We have them and he’s been after me to read them for years. I may have to dig them out now…

  6. Read: 1,2,3,4,5,7,9,10,12,13,17,18,21,26,27,29,30,37,39,41,42

    Read and Loved: 1,2,4,17,26,27,30,37

    Read and Hated: 29,41

    Started Never Finished: 20,22,23,38,

  7. I havn’t heard of a lot of those either. Just gives me some more things to add to my reading list. I’m glad that Harry Potter and LOTR made the list. I never really thought of them as SiFi… more fantasty but I love those. 🙂

  8. Read: 1, 2 (book one), 7, 22, 24, 26, 27, 39, 42
    Read and Hated: 7 (the ending upset me)

    Sad part is I probably own 75% of those books, just haven’t read them yet. I will be reading Neuromancer soon though…

  9. I’ve only read one, yes one, from the list. Interview with a Vampire. I’m hanging on to this list though in case I join in the Sci Fi challenge that’s coming up.

  10. I’ve heard of most of those authors and books. Haven’t read a whole lot.

    I loved Stranger in a Strange Land, but I know how you feel about Heinlien. 😉

  11. The Sword of Shannara series, as well as Dragonflight is really good. I keep meaning to read Dune. I love the movie (the original, not the crappy remake they released with the children grown up)

    Otherwise, I think we’ve read the same.

  12. Most I haven’t read, but there are a few I have. The Dune ones are good, as LOTR and Foundation. I suppose the Duncton Wood novels fit into a weird fantasy rather than SF.

  13. Did the 5 stars give me away, you think? Hehe. I borrowed the First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant from a friend some twenty years ago and read that trilogy in 4 days; I just couldn’t put them down. A few days later, I did the same with the Second Chronicles (another trilogy). About a month after that, I bought all six books for my own collection and have had them ever since, reading them all again a number of times over the years. Now I’m just waiting for the final Chronicles to be completed…

    A synopsis of the series can be found here.

  14. Read 9 of them, hated The Silmarillion and only really enjoyed LOTR (the second time I read the series), Dragonflight and Harry Potter. Unfortunately, I found the Thomas Covenant trilogy somewhat tedious, perhaps because I couldn’t bring myself to care about the main character. I’m surprised Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery is mixed in with Science Fiction but am just being picky! 🙂

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