Nominate for NPR’s 100 Best SF/F Books EVAR
Posted on June 20, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 19 Comments
Over on the National Public Radio Web site, the book folks there are soliciting reader suggestions for the 100 best science fiction and fantasy books. And, hey, lots of you read science fiction and fantasy books, right? Sure you do. So head on over and nominate some of your all-time favorites — the NPR folks let you nominate up to five books for inclusion. It should be interesting to find out what makes the all-time list over there.
Reminder:
It doesn’t count if you list them here. You have to go to the NPR Web site and do it there.
D’oh! *deletes hastily typed list and hangs head…..*
I’d have a hard time deciding on this. I mean, my favorite book is easy – The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Heinlein. But anything beyond that? I dunno. Books are so personal, I’m not sure how relevant _my_ favorites are to anyone else. Before I recommend books to others (happens a lot, when people find out how much I read), I always ask them what they’ve already read and liked.
I am hereby annoyed with the NPR login scheme. They claim to permit a login through OpenID (thereby, supposedly, sidestepping the whole “registration” process)…
…but when I supplied my LiveJournal URL for login purposes, the NPR engine still demanded name-and-email-address data from me, just as if I were signing up for an NPR account. That seems to me to violate at least the spirit if not the letter of the OpenID protocol.
Bad NPR; no biscuit.
What are the chances that the top three won’t be Tolkein, Jordan, and Heinlein? Or some variation thereof?
Eh. It’ll be interesting to see if the answers are any different than the ones in the Grauniad’s poll a couple of weeks ago, where we got all of 18 women writers mentioned in several hundred entries.
You left out what order you want us to put your books in.? Is there one that you want to be #1, or is it enough that you take the top spots with whatever?
@pez dispenser; I know right? He really is the worst overlord ever sometimes.
@Tumbleweed: I suspect your own taste is very relevant to other people – after a quick glance at the entries, I think I can often get a clear sense of the writer’s preferences and whether I would like most of what they like. I saw Tolkein people, mostly-21st-Century people, mostly pre-70’s people, people who clearly prefer a dense prose style, people who clearly want strong characterization, specific subgenre fans, folks who like them some weird, storystorystory people, etc. I definitely feel an affinity with the entirety of some of the entries, and think others don’t have a good book on their whole list.
I nominated Zealzny, Bester and some guy named Scalzo, Scalsi…it’s on the tip of my tounge….
@cofax: Meh. I didn’t vote for any of those. Personally, I prefer Hogan (Two Faces of Tomorrow, Proteus Operation), Nowlan (Armageddon 2419), Wells, and …that guy that Mike Kranjcevich can’t remember.
I never voted for prom king or queen either …. Popularity contests. To many good books from to many authors to give a definitive list. I use the lists to find out about new authors.
NPR, draconian login process… Funny as hell!
Anyway, do NPR people read such non-important things as sci – fi and fantasy?
I’ll have to think a day about my 5 nominees, but I wish the deadline for submission was clearer – they mentioned “weeks” and “rounds”, so I assume there will be several periodic cullings of the not-so-loved books.
Apropos of the person who had trouble logging in–I couldn’t do it at all. They kept demanding a “valid” first name. What the heck does that mean? Wasn’t trying to pass myself off as Dejah Thoris–maybe they would have liked that one. So they may have to do without my opinions–which would have included Zelazny, Mieville, Willis, Elizabeth Bear–and maybe someone named Scalzi.
I’m curious John, what five books would you, or did you, vote for? Five books was not enough for me.
I approached this as desert island list (as opposed to dessert island list. Hmmm… donuts…)
Lord of the Rings – Tolkien
Sprawl Trilogy – Gibson
Stand On Zanzibar – Brunner
Cyteen – Cherryh
Starship Troopers – Heinlein
I also included my non-SF/F ones:
Iliad and Odyssee – Fitzgerald Trans.
Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage – Maugham
Winter of Our Discontent and Cannery Row – Steinbeck
A Winter’s Tale – Mark Helprin
Portrait of the Artist – Joyce
EVAR?? Is that some new age way to pronounce “ever”? Wow, am I behind the times.
@17 Dr. Jim.
I prefer “EVEH!” as in At Mythbusters, we’re professionals. Don’t try what you’re about to see. EVEH!
I saw somebody nominate dthe Dresden files, which I kind of agree with. But they say Charlaine Harris is not allowed, so doesn’t that disqualify all urban fantasy? They say no Stephen King, but what about the Dark Tower?
I know I’m being nitpicky but they seem to be too.