Calling all bookworms/Top Five Sci-Fi or Fantasy Novels
POSTED BY: ServantofKushiel
UPDATED: Friday, April 14, 2006 23:54
VIEWED: 18433
PAGE 5 of 6
1. Harry Potter - (without a doubt my number one, can't wait for the 7th book)
2. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
3. LOTR
4. 1984
5. 20,000 Leagues under the sea
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
1. Fire and Ice Series (George RR Martin)\
2. Dark Tower Series (Stephen King)
3. In Light of other Days (Arthur C Clarke & Stephen Baxter
4. Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Papa Tolkien)
5. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series (Douglas Adams)
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. – H.L. Mencken
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Here's mine...
1.) Lord of the Rings/Simarillion-- J.R.R. Tolkein
2.) Riddle Master of Hed --Patricia McKillip
3.) Discworld series -- Terry Pratchett
4.) Sword and Circlet series -- Carole Nelson Douglas
5.) tie: a.) Newford stories --Charles de Lint
b.) Hitchhikkers Guide -- Douglas Adams
Yeah, I cheated, but I couldn't make up my mind and now my brain hurts from the effort. 
*****
RMMC
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Man, only FIVE? Can't do it. I tried narrowing my list down, but it's still too long.
How's about I start by giving you the five sci-fi novels that HOOKED me on the genre, back when I was but a wee one? They might not be on anyone's "best" list, but they certainly opened my eyes - and my mind!
Have Space Suit, Will Travel, by Robert A. Heinlein
Star Rangers, by Andre Norton
Orphans of the Sky, by Robert A. Heinlein
2001: A Space Odyssey, by Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C. Clarke (and the short story that inspired it, Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sentinel"
Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
Those were the books, ideas, and stories that made me say "WOW!" when I was a kid. They made me WANT to think about things in new ways and look at them from other perspectives. Mind-altering substances, they were.
Moving on, we get to the more paranoid adolescent stage, with books like:
1984, by George Orwell
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
The Lathe Of Heaven, by Ursula K. LeGuin
A little later, I started going for almost anything (as long as the story and writing grabbed me), like:
Ringworld, by Larry Niven
Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
Dune, by Frank Herbert
Anthem, by Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead were also life-changing reads for me, but I don't know if they quite qualify as sci-fi)
The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Phillip K. Dick. Though I'll admit I liked the movie Blade Runner better than the book. Same basic story, but the movie was just much grittier, and I loved the film noir aspect of it. And "Replicants" just sounds so much more menacing than referring to the androids as "Andies". :)
And, for some good light-hearted FUN, I like
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. The whole series of his Hitchhiker's Guide books is hilarious.
Venus On The Half-Shell, by Kilgore Trout. [Lots of people made the mistake of thinking that this book was actually written by Kurt Vonnegut (because the protagonist's name in his Breakfast of Champions was Kilgore Trout), but I've seen copies of it with Phillip José Farmer listed as the author. This book has some similarities to The Hitchhiker's Guide, but was published some years earlier. Again, it's hilarious.]
And I'll gladly read almost any short stories by Clarke, Harlan Ellison, Niven (LOVE his "Known Space" stories and novels!), or Gibson. The Ellison-edited anthology, Dangerous Visions holds a special place in my heart, too.
Dang. So much good sci-fi, so little time to read it all. Ah, well... "Time enough at last," as Burgess Meredith said in The Twilight Zone. ;)
Mike
A baby seal walks into a club...
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Many of my faves have been mentioned except:
David Brin's Uplift Series
and if you like Brin's work,
you'll also like everything by Vernor Vinge. "A Deepness in the Sky" is just...the shiniest! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Appears they've cancelled the show and we're still here. What does that make us?"
"Big damn junkies, Sir!"
"Ain't we just."
http://karenallover.blogspot.com/
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Just for the record:
We haven´t had H.G. Wells, yet. Therefore I nominate: "The Time Machine", which is a very very good read indeed!
Some of the books named here aren´t so much Science Fiction but Fantasy / Sword & Sorcery. The only occasion on which Terry Pratchet came into contact with Science were his attempts in online-banking, probably. I´m from Germany, you know. We love categories. There´s nothing better, than a good and tight category. In fact, I´m nothing without it... (heavy breathing).
Editorial note: Forget the above. I´ve just read the title of the thread. Those who can read are always in advantage.
A.
"Oh Dragonbreth! Gilthorpial!" he yodeled, waving his cleaver around like a madman. He lunged at the nearest wraith with his unwieldly sword. "Banzai!" he screamed. "No quarter asked or given! Dam* the torpedoes" Taking a vicious swipe, Stomper missed his mark by a good yard and tripped on his scabbard.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
None of mine are terribly original, I'm afraid, but they're honest:
1. Lord of the Rings: for countless and obvious reasons.
2. His Dark Materials: takes Paradise Lost and turns it upside down. Fantastic characters and imagination.
3. Dune: works on so many levels -- sci-fi, coming of age, revenge drama, messiah tale, ecocriticism... plus it's just a great story; plenty of memorable characters.
4. Ender's Game: simple but incredibly effective story; great study in child & military psychology. Its sequel, Speaker for the Dead, could not be more different from it, and is also fantastic.
5. Watchmen (graphic novel): I just read this; I'm still in awe of it. Was ranting about it over in the 'Graphic Novel' thread. Most astounding comic I've ever seen; a masterpiece of the medium. Of any medium, for that matter.
"We need a hood ornament."
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I've read a lot of good books recently but I'll limit myself to books that I read over and over:
Serpent's Reach by C.J. Cherryh
The Deed of Paksenarrion (trilogy) by Elizabeth Moon
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Water Witch by Connie Willis & Cynthia Felice
There are probably another dozen I like just as well but all my read books are boxed up to make way for my unread books. :(
___________________________________________
Hobbes: How come we play war and not peace?
Calvin: Too few role models.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I'm not going to list out favorite 5.
I have a hard time figuring out what qualifies, and what doesn't.
Is Catch-22 science fiction? How about A Clockwork Orange? Does all science fiction have to be in the future? Is the original "Terminator" any less sci-fi, now that it's not the 1980s anymore? How? What effects does a hermeneutic change have on speculative fiction?
Anyway...
I DON'T SEE THIS GUY ON ANYONE'S LIST
Jack Vance is without question one of the most underrated science fiction writers of all time. The creativity, diction, and pure entertainment value of these works are second to none.
I recommend that you start out with "The Demon Princes" series before migrating to his more outlandish works.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Some of the greats have already been mentioned:
Foundation, Honor Harrington, Childhood's End, LOTR, Silmarillion, Thursday next, and many more.
So let me add some that are missing but should be required reading.
Ridley Walker by Russell Hoban
In my mind the best post-appocalypse book ever written, A Canticle for Liebowitz not withstanding. Don't let the language stop you. Just keep reading.
After Long Silence by Sherri Tepper
Pretty much everything she writes is good, but this was the first of her truly great books followed by The Gate To Women's Country.
The Fionivar Tapestry by Guy Gaveil Kay
The best high fantasy after LOTR. Kay helped Chris Tolkien put The Silmarillion together.
The Deed of Paksenarion by Elizabeth Moon.
Great military fantasy trilogy. The Honor Harrington of Fantasy (sort of).
Laugh while you can, monkey-boy.
If I were you, I'd run!
If you were me, you'd be good-looking
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME