Recently NPR's editors conducted a a survey of readers to discover the 'best' Science Fiction/Fantasy novels of all time. After reviewing hundreds of nominations they tossed out the ones that didn't fit the survey's criteria and drew up a nicely contentious list. The 100 titles can be seen at this LINK and is pretty interesting and although I'd disagree with some of the choices it is a solid place to start for anyone curious about being well read in either genre. One could argue that they didn't seem to be too stringent about a few of their requirements - I'm pretty sure Matheson's 'I Am Legend' is a horror tale more than a SF story - but that's one of the things that makes things like this fun. Of course, my first instinct was to count how many on the list I had already read and I was disappointed to find it was only 49! Less than fifty percent? I guess it's time to finally read my copy of Scalzi's 'Old Man's War'.
If you're wanting to dive in but feel the need for some guidance the folks over at SF Signal have created the amusing flowchart below. Click to enlarge it and simply follow the path to reading pleasure.
2 comments:
I find it hard to argue with their top ten. I personally hate ENDER'S GAME but was happy to see DUNE make the top five. That is my favorite book of all time. Thanks for this post.
DUNE is one of my all time favorites as well. I think there is far too much recent work on this list and the inclusion of a couple of comics seems to be a wrong choice. I mean- three Neal Stephenson novels and no Phillip Jose Farmer, Theodore Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison or ERB? And only one Phil Dick novel?
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