Scoring Myself Vis-à-Vis The NPR Top 100 Sci Fi Books/Series

Courtesy of Woody, we have the top 100 NPR Science Fiction and Fantasy Books and Series. What? A list of books! Of course we have to measure ourselves against it.

Gentle readers, remember this means I read the book, this means I own the book and haven’t read it yet, and this means I’ve read part of the series. Also, I’ve included a link to those books whose book reports I’ve published on MfBJN.

• The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
• Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
• The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert (1 / ?)
• A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
• 1984, by George Orwell
• Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
• The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
• Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
• American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
• The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
• The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
• Animal Farm, by George Orwell
• Neuromancer, by William Gibson
• Watchmen, by Alan Moore
• I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
• Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
• The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
• Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
• Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
• Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
• The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
• The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King (3 / 7)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
• The Stand, by Stephen King
• Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
• The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
• Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
• A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
• Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
• Watership Down, by Richard Adams
• Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
• The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
• A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
• The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
• 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
• Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
• The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
• The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
• The Belgariad, by David Eddings
• The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
• Ringworld, by Larry Niven
• The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
• The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
• Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
• Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
• Contact, by Carl Sagan
• The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
• Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
• Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
• World War Z, by Max Brooks
• The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
• The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
• Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
• The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
• The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
• The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
• The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
• The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
• I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
• The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
• The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
• The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
• The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
• The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
• The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
• A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
• The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore (2 / 9 according to this definition of the series) – I know I’ve read some of them
• Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
• The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
• Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
• The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
• The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
• Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
• The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
• The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
• The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
• The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
• Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
• The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
• The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
• The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
• The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
• The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
• The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
• Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
• A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
• The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
• The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
• Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
• Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
• The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
• The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

It looks like 28 complete novels/series and 3 partials. On the other hand, I have read other books in series whose first book is mentioned (the Rama series, the Ringworld series, 3 of the 4 books in the Elijah Bailey series by Asimov, maybe an extra Foundation book or two beyond the Foundation trilogy, and so on.

Frankly, I’d rather the compiler of these lists include books in series as individual books if they’re going to include them at all, just for consistency sake.

Also, note that to catch up with Woody (who has read 44 of the list, somehow), I should to focus on individual novels on it instead of series, since reading the Lord of the Rings and Dune took me most of the summer, but only counts as one item on this list. Or I could read what I want and just let the list items embolden where they may.

I like the last. Also, when the world comes out with the best 100 best Gold Eagle Books, I’ll…. Well, considering that Gold Eagle has been publishing a large number of books for 30 years, I’d still have a hard time with meeting those list items unless the early Executioner series was overrepresented. Which it very well might be.

Also, I’d like to lament that only one of the authors on this list has said anything nice about my writing. It was Marion Zimmer Bradley after a submission to her eponymous magazine in the 1990s. At least I think it was complimentary: “Much like 200 others, but better written.” Hey, in those days as these, I’ll take what I can get.