SFBC's Top 50 SF and Fantasy Books? Hmmm...

My friend, Michael (see list of blogs I read to the right) has mentioned that I don't post very often, either here or on my other blog, Roman's Colosseum at LJ.

*sigh* He's right, of course.

So, I am going to try to make an effort to post something daily. I really should make more of an effort, as I enjoy building and growing online communities.

That said, I'm continuing the meme of the meme he began with The Top 50 Science Fiction and Fantasy books according to the Science Fiction Book Club

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 [Sorcerer'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

The ones I've read are in bold.

The problem with lists of this sort is, of course, that not all classics age well (I'm looking at you, Stranger in a Strange Land).

Also, there's no way everybody's going to agree on which should belong (which is a good thing, really).

If we allow for anthologies of short stories, I would have included New Worlds, edited by Michael Moorcock--back in print after far too long.

Also, if I had only 50 books I could list, I would absolutely remove Interview with the Vampire and The Sword of Shannara.

It's good to see Sturgeon's More Than Human on the list.

I would plug the Dying Earth tetralogy by Jack Vance into one of those spots, and include both Clark Ashton Smith on this list, as well as Robert E. Howard. And where the hell is Edgar Rice Burroughs? Come on, SFBC! What the hell?!


Thoughts?