NPR's top 100 speculative fiction novels

So, how many novels in this list (which seems to lack Harry Potter despite those books being stupidly popular) have you read?

I've read:

• The Lord of the Rings: Finally worked up the courage to read what I had heard over and over again would be a long and boring book after seeing Peter Jackson's adaptations a hundred times. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was afraid it would be.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Saw the film first, loved it (perhaps because of Zooey Deschanel), and then decided to read the first two books. I stopped after the second one because the humor started getting repetitive.
• Ender's Game (and Speaker for the Dead, but that's not on the list): My first real science fiction novel. I picked it up from Barnes & Noble on a whim with a coupon or something for a free book in the youth section. I wouldn't exactly call it a youth novel, but it was a really good choice nonetheless.
• Dune (and Dune Messiah and Children of Dune): Tried reading it (and watching the Sci-Fi Channel's adaptation) in middle school and found myself bored. Second attempt a few months back was much more successful, and I even went into the sequels (albeit on audiobook, since I was busy with other books at the time).
• A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings from A Song of Ice and Fire: I wasn't motivated to read this series because of Game Of Thrones (I didn't even start watching the show until after I finished the first book), but rather because of the series' high position on the NPR list.
• Nineteen Eighty-Four: Read it in high school. For a while it was my favorite book.
• The first book of the Foundation series: Listened to it on audiobook. Big mistake, since I couldn't pay attention to it that well while driving.
• Brave New World: Read it after hearing it was the other Trope Codifier for dystopian fiction asides from 1984. Didn't like it as much, though.
• Currently working on The Eye of the World from The Wheel of Time: Seems a lot like a more accessible version of The Lord of the Rings.
• The first six books of The Dark Tower (The Gunslinger, The Drawing Of The Three, The Waste Lands, Wizard And Glass, Wolves Of The Calla and Song Of Susannah): Really liked The Drawing of the Three, but the other books are pretty slow, and the rules of this universe don't really seem all that well established to me.
• Part of A Clockwork Orange: Love the film, but the NADSAT is really annoying in this book and I kept on having to check the glossary every sentence or so. I eventually gave up on it.
• Starship Troopers: I didn't like it when I read it, since I was expecting something like the film. Also, I was 15.
• Dragonflight: It was decent enough, but a little slow for my liking. The unexplained terms used in the story took a little getting used to. I'll read the sequels eventually.
• Flowers for Algernon: Read it in middle school. Not quite my thing, thanks to it falling in the Sci Fi Ghetto.
• Part of The War Of The Worlds: Started reading it when I was about 15 or so. Never got around to finishing it. Probably should one of these days.
• World War Z: Bought it when it was just published because I loved the Zombie Survival Guide so much. Great work of zombie fiction (also the only one I've ever read). It brings some much needed realism to the genre.

edited 16th Jul '12 12:16:38 PM by RLNice

1. American Gods

2. Stranger in a Strange Land

3.Frankenstein

4. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

5. Ringworld

6. Neverwhere

7. Book one of the Thrawn Trilogy

8. Lucifer's Hammer

Pretty sure we've had a thread on this before, but OK.

I've read:

• The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
• Enders Game
• A Song Of Ice And Fire
• Nineteen Eighty Four
• Fahrenheit 451
• Brave New World
• American Gods
• The Princess Bride
• Animal Farm
• Neuromancer
• Watchmen
• The War Of The Worlds
• The Mistborn Trilogy
• Ringworld
• Neverwhere
• Stardust
• Small Gods
• Going Postal
• I Am Legend
• The Farseer Trilogy
• The Way Of Kings
• Codex Alera

Additionally, I've read at least one book of each of the following series:

• The Wheel Of Time (the first three)
• The Dark Tower (the first one)
• Sandman (the first two)
• The Legend Of Drizzt (the first two)
• Kushiels Legacy (the first one)
• Malazan Book Of The Fallen (the first one)

edited 16th Jul '12 5:26:27 PM by LizardBite

Huzzah, speculative fiction lists! Let's see, I've read...

• The Lordof The Rings trilogy
  * The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. I'm halfway through the sequel.
  * Enders Game
  * The Dune Chronicles
  * I'm about fifty to a hundred pages away from finishing A Gameof Thrones.
  * 1984
  * Fahrenheit 451
  * The Foundation Trilogy, which I adored
  * American Gods
  * The Princess Bride
  * I Robot
  * Stranger in a Strange Land
  * The Martian Chronicles
  * Watership Down
  * Dragonflight and about half of the rest of the series
  * The Time Machine
  * Flowers For Algernon (I will admit I cried when I first read it)
  * The Mists Of Avalon (best Arthurian tale I've read)
  * Over halfway through Ringworld
  * I've read parts of The Silmarillion
  * Neverwhere
  * Stardust
  * Small Gods
  * The first of The Sword Of Shannara trilogy, which I found painfully derivative. I don't know if I'll keep reading it.
  * Codex Alera
  * The Caves Of Steel

Hmm...judging by this, I'd say I like speculative fiction.

edited 17th Jul '12 12:53:45 AM by Accela

• Lord Of The Rings
• Enders Game
• Dune books
• A Song Of Ice And Fire
• 1984
• Fahrenheit 451
• American Gods
• The Princess Bride
• The Wheel Of Time
• Watchmen
• I Robot
• Slaughterhouse Five
• The Dark Tower series
• The Stand
• The Sandman series
• Starship Troopers
• The Amber Chronicles
• Currently reading Mists Of Avalon
• The Once And Future King
• Neverwhere
• Stardust
• World War Z
• The Last Unicorn
• Small Gods
• Going Postal
• The Mote In Gods Eye
• The first half dozen or so books of The Sword Of Truth, although I eventually threw the books aside and never looked back.
• Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell
• The Sword Of Shannara
• The Thrawn Trilogy

Some others like hitchhiker's Guide, Foundation, etc I've started to read and plan to return to some day. A few others like Animal Farm are on my to do list.

I've read 13 of them.

I've read 17, although most were the more mainstream, less 'hardcore fantasy' ones, like The Handmaid's Tale (which is excellent).

The ones I've read:

• The Lord of the Rings
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• American Gods
• Animal Farm (read it as a school set text, but enjoyed it a lot)
• The Handmaid's Tale
• Watership Down
• The Time Machine
• The Belgariad
• The Silmarillion
• Stardust
• Small Gods
• Going Postal
• The Sword of Shannara Trilogy
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth
• The Diamond Age
• Rendezvous with Rama
• Something Wicked This Way Comes
• The Eyre Affair
• The Book of the New Sun
• The Thrawn Trilogy
• The Illustrated Man
• The Space Trilogy

22, not too shabby. (As a side note, I'm a bit saddened to realise how many of these I read before age 18. It's like I don't have the same appetite for reading nowadays.)

In addition, some series where I've read some books, but not the entire thing:

• The Wheel of Time
• The Amber Chronicles
• The Once and Future King
• The Sword of Truth
• The Farseer Trilogy
• Xanth

I have no desire to read more of The Sword of Truth or Xanth. The others I'll finish some day.

edited 17th Jul '12 11:10:09 AM by DoktorvonEurotrash

It's more likely that you don't have time. You probably don't ride the bus to work or read during class/work since you already know the materiel like you did in school.

& I feel you. I honestly don't know how I found the time to read at all back then. I definitely don't even come close nowadays.

Kindly carry on the "100 Best whatever" Lists and Other Miscellany thread.

EDIT: Wrong thread.

edited 8th Aug '12 4:48:56 AM by WarriorEowyn