I figured I would go through the NPR Top 100 SF/Fantasy books and see which I’ve read in full (bolded), in part (italicized), or not at all (you can figure it out, I think).
1. The Lord of the Rings (I read this for the first time back in 5th or 6th grade, and probably once more in high school. It’s easy to see why it’s at the top of the list)
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Another series I read in high school. That might explain my warped sense of humor)
3. Ender’s Game (The best of the series. I have no idea what Card was thinking with the sequels)
4. The Dune Chronicles (I’ve read all of Herbert’s books; I have not read any of the books written by his son.)
5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series (I’ve read the first book; it was good, but I’m waiting until Martin finishes the series before I read the rest)
6. 1984 (Read it in eighth grade for English class. Good in spite of that)
7. Fahrenheit 451
8. The Foundation Trilogy
9. Brave New World
10. American Gods (An excellent book; though I did prefer the main story to the many vignettes in between chapters)
11. The Princess Bride (Just as wonderful as the movie)
12. The Wheel of Time Series (I’ve read the first 7 or 8 books, and then quit until it was finished. Now I’ve got to wait until Sanderson finishes writing from Jordan’s notes; even then, I should probably start over, since there’s a cast of thousands and I don’t remember much)
13. Animal Farm (Another book I read for English in junior/senior high school; I think the teachers were just trying to depress us)
14. Neuromancer
15. Watchmen (I’ve skimmed it; I really should go through and read the entire book sometime)
16. I, Robot (Far better than the movie. No comparison. At all.)
17. Stranger in a Strange Land (I prefer Heinlein’s other works, but this had good points)
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles (The Name of the Wind was good, but since this is another giant series, I’m going to wait until it’s done before reading the rest)
19. Slaughterhouse-Five (I don’t remember much about this, other than its being extremely disjointed)
20. Frankenstein (Another eighth grade reading assignment)
21. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
22. The Handmaid’s Tale
23. The Dark Tower Series (I’ve read all but the last book and a half. I keep meaning to finish it, but…)
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Good, but overrated, I think)
25. The Stand
26. Snow Crash (How can you not like a book where the main character is named Hiro Protagonist?)
27. The Martian Chronicles
28. Cat’s Cradle
29. The Sandman Series
30. A Clockwork Orange
31. Starship Troopers (A timeless classic. Far better than Verhoeven’s awful adaptation)
32. Watership Down (Rabbits, rabbit mythology, rabbit wars…)
33. Dragonflight (I read most of the series, but I think they were mediocre for the most part)
34. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Remember, kids; when we’ve colonized the moon, it’s best to be nice to them lest they drop giant rocks on us)
35. A Canticle for Leibowitz
36. The Time Machine
37. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (I don’t remember much about the book, other than my copy was at least 40 years old when I read it)
38. Flowers for Algernon (Excerpts were assigned in English. Now I really do think they were trying to depress us)
39. The War of the Worlds
40. The Chronicles of Amber (The only books by Zelazny I’ve read. A fun read, but confusing at times)
41. The Belgariad
42. The Mists of Avalon
43. The Mistborn Series (The “magic” system Sanderson invented for this world is amazing; I’m looking forward to The Alloy of Law, his upcoming sequel)
44. Ringworld (Pierson’s Puppeteers, Pak Protectors, Kzinti, and weird alien sex. What more do you want from your SF?)
45. The Left Hand of Darkness
46. The Silmarillion
47. The Once and Future King
48. Neverwhere (Not as good as American Gods, but still not awful)
49. Childhood’s End (I started this in junior high, and never finished it. I just lost interest)
50. Contact
51. The Hyperion Cantos (Just Hyperion; not the sequels)
52. Stardust (A modern take on fairy tales, and another decent work by Gaiman)
53. Cryptonomicon
54. World War Z (An interesting look at the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, and a great read)
55. The Last Unicorn
56. The Forever War (Time dilation and how society can change when decades or centuries pass between when you leave for war and when you return)
57. Small Gods (Not my favorite of the Discworld books, but Pratchett is usually good)
58. The Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, The Unbeliever (Depressing. I read the original six, and have no interest in finishing it)
59. The Vorkosigan Saga (Intrigue, action, and politics on an interstellar scale)
60. Going Postal (How con man Moist Lipwig reformed Ankh Morpork’s Post Office and himself at the same time)
61. The Mote in God’s Eye (Niven and Pournelle’s tale of first contact)
62. The Sword of Truth (If Ayn Rand wrote fantasy, this is what she’d’ve written. I need to finish the last couple of books)
63. The Road
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
65. I am Legend (Why does Will Smith manage to ruin every book adaptation he stars in?)
66. The Riftwar Saga (I read through the first major story arc and lost interest after that)
67. The Shannara Trilogy (The first is a ripoff of LOTR. Blatant. The second and third are better)
68. The Conan the Barbarian Series (I’ve read some of the short stories, but not all of them)
69. The Farseer Trilogy
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife
71. The Way of Kings
72. A Journey to the Center of the Earth
73. The Legend of Drizzt Series
74. Old Man’s War (Scalzi’s take on human vs alien war is excellent)
75. The Diamond Age
76. Rendezvous with Rama (I didn’t much like it in junior high when I read it, but I think by then I’d read the rest of the SF they had at the library)
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series
78. The Dispossessed
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes
80. Wicked
81. The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series (Dark, epic fantasy. I’m ~2.5 books from the end, but they’re very large books…)
82. The Eyre Affair
83. The Culture Series
84. The Crystal Cave
85. Anathem
86. The Codex Alera Series (I prefer the Dresden Files to Butcher’s take on what would happen if the lost Roman legion found their way to a world filled with Pokemon)
87. The Book of the New Sun
88. The Thrawn Trilogy (I read these when they first came out. George Lucas should’ve adapted them for film instead of doing the prequels)
89. The Outlander Series
90. The Elric Saga (Just a few of the short stories, not the whole series. Very Conan-esque)
91. The Illustrated Man
92. Sunshine
93. A Fire Upon the Deep
94. The Caves of Steel
95. The Mars Trilogy
96. Lucifer’s Hammer (If Earth got hit by a comet, we would be royally screwed)
97. Doomsday Book
98. Perdido Street Station
99. The Xanth Series (Just the first few. The puns get too forced after that)
100. The Space Trilogy (For some reason I think I’ve only read the middle book. No idea why)
Huh. I’ve read (at least in part) just over half of them.
Not bad.
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