If it's published on NPR, it's official. The top 100 speculative fiction books ever, as determined by 60,000 NPR listeners, are listed at this link. With trepidation, we shall look to the list and attempt to analyze and fill the holes in our education.
Predictably, the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy tops the list. In second is a polar opposite to Tolkein's master piece: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Sprinkled through the list are true genre classics (1984, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Frankenstein) alongside a hefty dose of novels recently adapted to the big screen (Stardust, The Road, I Am Legend, The Time Traveler's Wife). Given NPR's knowledgeable and generally grounded audience, none of that is much of a surprise.
It was to my geeky glee, then, that I discovered personal favorites such as I, Robot and The Princess Bride listed in the top twenty. The beautifully written but little known (and overtly Christian) Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis landed squarely at the bottom of the list.
On the recommendations of readers all over the US, I've added a few titles to my own literary bucket list, including The Eyre Affair, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and Neverwhere.
Agree or disagree with the pics? Comment away.
Predictably, the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy tops the list. In second is a polar opposite to Tolkein's master piece: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Sprinkled through the list are true genre classics (1984, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Frankenstein) alongside a hefty dose of novels recently adapted to the big screen (Stardust, The Road, I Am Legend, The Time Traveler's Wife). Given NPR's knowledgeable and generally grounded audience, none of that is much of a surprise.
It was to my geeky glee, then, that I discovered personal favorites such as I, Robot and The Princess Bride listed in the top twenty. The beautifully written but little known (and overtly Christian) Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis landed squarely at the bottom of the list.
On the recommendations of readers all over the US, I've added a few titles to my own literary bucket list, including The Eyre Affair, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and Neverwhere.
Agree or disagree with the pics? Comment away.
Just looking at the top two books, I'd have to say Sci-Fi and Fantasy are hard categories to compare.
ReplyDeleteI mixed feelings about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy being #2, and I am sad that The Chronicles of Narnia isn't up on that list. But really, the books a wide range of people enjoy and books I enjoy can have a wide, subjective difference.
I haven't read HGttG, so I can't make a judgement there. I have a hunch that the Narnia books didn't make it because they're considered kids books, which is too bad. (But hey, the Space Trilogy made it!) Unfortunately, I think that lots of people voted for books that they'd heard of before, and had not necessarily read.
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