Blog Challenge and other things…

First and foremost, Ambulance Driver has a blog challenge post up to benefit Male cancer organizations, go HERE and read the post and sign up. There are some good prizes that have been donated, and they are ALL worth it.  Please take the time to sign up and participate, it IS for a good cause (it’s all about keeping our ‘bits’ working as advertised)… Just sayin…


And I’ll play along on the book meme…

Via Mostly Cajun, and a WHOLE bunch of other folks, the NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy novels with the ones I have read in bold:

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card- This SHOULD be required reading for everybody today! It is now on the required reading list for the Military!

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert Well, I read the original and that was it… Lost interest…

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov – THIS was one of Isaac’s best.

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut- Another HARD read…

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien  This one was HARD to get through…

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett – I will be.  I’ve actually read ALL his books…

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi- Read all three of his…

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson – And after I was done, my reaction was “Meh.”

96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis


I’ve read over half of them, after all those LOOOOOONG flights are good for something, along with a bunch of nights in hotels…


I also recommend getting an e-reader, as they DO save money, space, and are convenient as hell 🙂


But some, like Gaiman, I just can’t get into…  Others not on the list, Andre Norton, Spider Robinson, John Ringo, David Drake, and a bunch of others in the long past… 


Sadly, if you gave this list to a teen today, I’d have doubts that they would have read 10 of them…


And if you go over to Kevin’s blog Smallest Minority, he’s starting his own Top 100 list!    

Comments

Blog Challenge and other things… — 10 Comments

  1. You’ve read some that I haven’t and missed some that I have. Flowers for Algernon was made into a movie called Charly, staring Cliff Robertson. Just about the time the MASH movie came out I think. Book was good, movie wasn’t bad.

    le Guin’s The Dispossessed is one you’d probably like. Many of those on the list fall more in the fantasy genre than sci-fi. le Guin is both artist and philosopher.

    I Robot was one of the first sci-fi books I read, and Asimov is my all-time favorite author. The movie with Will Smith is a sorry excuse. They had to wait for Asimov to die before they could peddle that garbage.

    I didn’t see Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky on the list… or did I miss it. Definitely a top 100 novel for me.

    Being stuck in some of those forsaken West African outposts and backwater South American airports made good time for reading.

  2. Clifford Simak. I left out Cities in Flight. Good one too. and its kind of interesting that Greg Bear is left off the list. Lots of folks think he is Heinlein reincarnate.

  3. Guffaw- I hope at least SOME of them can read…

    MB- Thanks for the recommendations! Their list is kinda funky… They ARE missing good books!

    Ed- That’s one I haven’t read, thanks too!

    MB- Yep Greg Bear is good!

    WSF- Dunno, I don’t have one, and sure as hell ain’t gonna wear one 🙂 That would give commando a whole NEW meaning!!!

  4. Just read this post and have read all you highlighted except 30,53,83,+86. Add too yours 14,18,40,42,48,52,62,67,78,89,100.

    Have been a member of the SFBC ever since I found them 20 years or so ago. I have 23 milk cases full of those same sized books in my attic, and at least one of my 15 year old granddaughters is working her way thru them. She especially loves the A. McCaffery, Dragon riders of Pern series! Me too!

    Are you still enjoying those classroom days?

    Still no work on my SCAR 17!!! Man, my gun shop must be on the bottom of the list!

  5. Ev- When you don’t have TV or the internet or Playstations and that crap, you read 🙂 Glad the grand is reading, it will not hurt her! I can give my dealer a call if you want me to!

    Andy- All I can say is boredom??? 🙂

  6. The largest percentage of that which is on NPR is apolitical, entertaining, educational and worthwhile. Cutting off the nose to spite the face is not necessarily the best of policies.