Here's a kickass meme.

[katster]

again, stolen from Kevin Fox

The Science Fiction Book Club has come out with their list of The 50 Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002.

We'll contine like Kevin did, and mark them this way: books I've read and books I started:

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
   
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
    
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
    
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
    
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
    
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
    
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
    
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
    
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
    
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

I think I need to do more reading.

Comments

[damienroc.livejournal.com]

Read: LotR, Colour of Magic, Dragonflight, Ender's Game, Gateway, Harry Potter, Ringworld, Snow Crash, and Starship Troopers.

Started: Foundation, Dune, Neuromancer, Wizard of Earthsea (god, that was a long time ago), Canticle for Liebowitz, Thomas Covenant, Hitchikers.

And I may have started Farenheit 451 and Stormbringer. I'm not really sure at this point.

It's kind of odd, but in a few cases, I'd argue that other books by some of the authors were much better. IMNSHO, The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring both are far better than Ringworld. And Dragonsdawn was probably the best Pern book I read (I've been rather out of date, though, so more recent ones may have topped it.)

However, in a discussion of general significance, "quality" (at least compared to other works the author has put out) probably isn't the primary concern.

And, at least regarding Gateway and the other Heechee books (if not Pohl overall) it is the best one.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Don't bother with some of the later Pern novels, she's just writing to pay the bills now, and obviously suffering from too strict deadlines. Last one of hers I read [Rebels of Pern] was half a book and some notes, and they damn well published it!
It stopped being good at "All the Wyers of Pern".