This August NPR posted the results of a survey that asked readers Science-Fiction and Fantasy books. There were 5,000 nominations, and 50,000 votes. So how did Stephen King do? I mean, you could get washed out in 5,000 nominations! NPR.org
Two King novels appear in the list:
#23 The Dark Tower Series
#25 The Stand
Of course, #1 on the list was The Lord of the Rings.
Here are some other beloved books that hit the NPR chart:
#2 The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Really, this beat the Dark Tower and The Stand?)
#4 The Dune Chronicles
#6 1984
#7 Fahrenheit 451
#9 Brave New World
#11 The Princess Bride
#12 The Wheel Of Time Series
#13 Animal Farm
#16 I, Robot
#19 Slaughterhouse-Five
#20 Frankenstein
#24 2001: A Space Odyssey
#27 The Martian Chronicles
#28 Cat's Cradle
#30 A Clockwork Orange
#31 Starship Troopers
#36 The Time Machine
#37 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
#39 The War Of The Worlds
#63 The Road
#65 I Am Legend
#70 The Time Traveler's Wife
#72 Journey To The Center Of The Earth
#79 Something Wicked This Way Comes
#80 Wicked
#91 The Illustrated Man
#96 Lucifer's Hammer
#100 The Space Trilogy
So where are. . . The Chronicles Of Narnia, Ben Bova's "Mars" and The Tommyknockers, HUH?! Really.
Okay, how many of these were required reading in school? We had to read: Animal Farm and Cat's Cradle. I'm not sure any of us understood Cat's Cradle at the time, we just knew our English teacher was totally excited that we got to study this.
I was thinking it was a pretty great list until I saw that some Star Wars novels had gotten voted onto the list. And ahead of The Illustrated Man! For shame...
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, boy, there's a lot of great books on that list.
I thought the same thing about star wars books being on the list! But, I haven't read it, so maybe it's super.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the illustrated man was AWESOME! Esp that story about the playroom that actually transports the kids to Africa (the velt ?). Reminds me of the King story where the playroom is actually a spaceship.
I'd love to read the Lord of the Rings book. It was intriguing. I will really save my time for this.
ReplyDeletefantasy romance novels