meme - SFBC 50 significant books.

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.

*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 (Finished 1.5 books worth the first time. Read the first book a second time, cause it was assigned reading in a university course, so had to re-read it for the course.)
*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
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 (I read about 50 pages, decided it was too derivative of Tolkien, and stopped. Why the heck is it on the list? Unless because it influenced others to write endless derivative fantasy series?)
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Given their list, I'm pretty well read in this field, I guess. Doesn't actually surprise me.

Of course, I also believe that if you ask any 10 fans for a list of the 50 most significant works in sf/f, you'll get at least 20 different lists. :)

SFBC 50 books meme

I'm almost tempted to go back through the list and highlight how many of them are in my library. (I've read all but 7 of them, 3 of which I started but didn't finish.)

Mmm... cookies

Came home to find that, for some reason, my black paper & cardboard recycling container had been pushed in front of the door. "Odd", I thought. Then, I noticed behind it a box that had apparently been delivered with the mail. A box... from the US... fairly light... address to gabriel_le and me... looks like cookies. Open it up, and yup, cookies. Lemon-poppy seed cookies. Home-made lemon-poppy seed cookies. Yummy cookies. Yay. :)