Posted on 08/11/2011 5:46:33 PM PDT by Tanniker Smith
More than 5,000 of you nominated. More than 60,000 of you voted. And now the results are in. The winners of NPR's Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy survey are an intriguing mix of classic and contemporary titles.
A quick word about what's here, and what's not: Our panel of experts reviewed hundreds of the most popular nominations and tossed out those that didn't fit the survey's criteria (after — we assure you — much passionate, thoughtful, gleefully nerdy discussion). You'll notice there are no young adult or horror books on this list, but sit tight, dear reader, we're saving those genres for summers yet to come.
So, at last, here are your favorite science-fiction and fantasy novels. (And a printable version, to take with you to the bookstore.)
Thank you. I have waited a long time to read that article.
Combining fantasy and science fiction is ridiculous - they are totally separate genres. And there is far too much fantasy on the list, which may simply be symbolic of the times. Rather than trusting in reason, people (Democrats) prefer stories where magic somehow saves them from the dragon. :)
Look again, it was on the list.
Mark
I plan to read Mockingjay (Bk #3) this weekend. Generally the series is interesting, but the feminist character annoys me a little. I'm tired of girls who act like boys--or have male best friends. Maybe because I live in a religious community, where interaction between the sexes (especially at that age) is more limited.
Good point. See "Horowitz, David."
The first trilogy was on the list, #58.
A Clockwork Orange? [A great book, yes. SF/Fantasy, no.] Same comment for 1984, Animal Farm, Brace New World...
These sorts of books/stories are often lumped into the SF genre, but I think Harlan Ellison had a better term for it, "Speculative Fiction." Ellison was a master at the genre, but while he's a terrific author, I like him better as an editor: Check out his "Dangerous Visions" anthologies. If not for them, I never would have discovered Piers Anthony or Fritz Lieber.
Mark
Top fantasy book: Dreams From My Father
When Virginia Heinlein saw what they they had done with the movie, she attempted to have his name removed from the project.
Mark
I heard that a movie is coming out soon.
Mark
Interesting observation, I thought it was just me.
I DID look at the top 100 list about 3 months ago. I read between 30 and 70 books a year (about 50-50 fiction and non-fiction,) and wasn't aware that NPR was having a survey/vote.
I have to check and see where my top ten ended up.
My mother, I, and both of my brothers, all without prior coordination, gave each other copies of “A Canticle” for Christmas one year.
The funny part - every copy gifted had been read.
NPR. What, no “Battleship Earth??” /sarc hee hee hee.
Not meaning to hijack the thread, but this is an ongoing war.
*Also add : no trees needed, no paper manufacturing and shipping, no warehousing, no remainers, no shipping costs, and yet the "publishers" make more money than the authors, and the "books" have not dropped in price.
The greedy bastards are going the way of the RIAA. Good riddance.
As for me, I have read it, and I have also read all of Le Guin's stuff hoping in vain that someday I'd get a glimpse of what people in college assured me was her brilliance. Nope. It's awful: only an NPR audience would put one of her books in the top 100, let alone several.
As would Lucifer's Hammer, and Footfall. On the positive side, Rendezvous With Rama made the list. I challenged my daughter, a precocious 12 year old reader, to "just read the first 20 pages," and just leave it if it was not interesting. She finished it overnight that weekend.
As for combining S/F and Fantasy in one list, was a horrible idea, but understandable. NPR's audience would not have given the vote a second glance if there were no "Sword and Sorcery" chick books on the list.
Another author hot in about the same period was John Varley, whose first book, The Persistence of Vision should have made this list and did not. The Star Trek film with the whales stole one of the core ideas in The Ophiuchi Hotline from him, again without attribution. So it goes.
Yes indeed. One of the fond memories of my undergraduate reading list. I re-read that about a month ago. Holds up very well.
>>> How is Starship Troopers controversial? Oh ya mean the part where citizens have more rights than the leaches.
But you see even you get it wrong. ALL people under that political system have the same RIGHTS. It is the full citizen who however chooses to undertake the added RESPONSIBILITY of the franchise.
“”Superficially, our system is only slightly different; we have democracy unlimited by race, color, creed, birth, wealth, sex, or conviction, and anyone may win sovereign power by a usually short and not too arduous term of service — nothing more than a light workout to our cave-man ancestors.
But that slight difference is one between a system that works, since it is constructed to match the facts, and one that is inherently unstable. Since sovereign franchise is the ultimate in human authority, we insure that all who wield it accept the ultimate in social responsibility — we require each person who wishes to exert control over the state to wager his own life — and lose it, if need be — to save the life of the state. The maximum responsibility a human can accept is thus equated to the ultimate authority a human can exert. Yin and yang, perfect and equal.””
Keyboard made in China?
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