Top list of science fiction and fantasy

[nicosomething]

After reading nontacitare's post and link to the NPR voting list for the top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, she got me thinking of my own list. Like her, I'll go with a top 20 list

Comments

[nontacitare]

I just bought Canticle for Leibowitz this weekend at the Oxford Friends of the Library book sale.

I like your list. Some of your picks, such as Dragonflight, made my longer list of 52 titles. (I would have been more inclined to include the Pern saga, but there were enough problems with the first novel that I decided to give the spot to other novels.)

Still disagree with Starship Troopers ;-) The ideology is disturbing, characterization weak and plot virtually non-existent. But to each their own.

The original NPR list was very thorough. I would not have included anything not already there. It will be interesting to see what the final ten are.

[nicosomething]

While I do like Starship Troopers (which doesn't preclude me agreeing with your criticism), its role in the genre is hard to ignore. It's an icon of the military sci-fi genre. It's like why I included Pern, even though I don't particularly care for Pern.

The book I wasn't surprised to see on the NPR list, but to this day have no idea why it is so popular, is the Thomas Covenant book. Not only because I wanted to reach into the pages and strangle the main character, but besides that it's just not that good.

[nicosomething]

Which makes me think of another fun bit of snark. What books do you wish were not on the list and why?

[nontacitare]

Actually, I think every book on the huge list belongs there for one reason or another. There are some I like better than others, but I understand why they were all nominated.

Other than the Thomas Covenant series (which I'm tempted to read now because of your critiques), which ones do you think shouldn't have been included?