1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
The Amber Chronicles were at number 40, and Lord of Light didn't even make the top 100, being beaten out by such luminaries as Piers Anthony with his Xanth series and R.A. Salvatore for the Legend Of Drizzt.
I will swap the American Gods slot with Lord of Light. In my imagination, I am king!
ReplyDeleteBit puzzled as to how Lord of Light failed to make the top 100 -- there were only a hundred books to choose from, and Lord of Light was one of them. Am I missing something?
ReplyDelete--Chris DeVito
Nevermind, I see there were well over 100 books listed.
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck is a "drizzt," anyway? Sounds like a urinary tract disease. The drippy, burning kind.
--CDV
MI: "I will swap the American Gods slot with Lord of Light. In my imagination, I am king!"
ReplyDeleteI like Neil Gaiman. I loved American Gods. I think it's his strongest novel and it has all of the elements he does well. I don't think it's the 10th best SF/Fantasy novel ever written though.
CDV: Bit puzzled as to how Lord of Light failed to make the top 100 -- there were only a hundred books to choose from, and Lord of Light was one of them. Am I missing something?/Nevermind, I see there were well over 100 books listed.
ReplyDeleteI had the very same thought as I was scrolling down the list of results. As I got into the high 90s, I was thinking, "Wow, is Lord of Light really number 100?" and then I did pretty much the same thing you did, because I thought the list of the finalists was only 100 items too and we were essentially voting on the order.
CDV: What the fuck is a "drizzt," anyway? Sounds like a urinary tract disease. The drippy, burning kind.
Yes. Yes it is.
I just recently read A Spell for Chameleon (the first book in the Xanth series). It's the first Piers Anthony book I've read.
ReplyDeletePretty sure it's also the last.
Aargh. I had a long post that disappeared into cyberspace when I clicked submit, so it's lost. I won't try to recreate it except to say that:
ReplyDeletea) these are lists of popularity and not necessarily enduring quality or enduring popularity. I'm reminded that The Bay City Rollers outranked The Beatles more than once on some lists of "best rock music or bands of all time" -- and if you don't recognize the band's name or believe that it was possible, that just confirms my point. Today it would be Justin Bieber.
b) I am a huge fan of Gaiman's work -- in fact, I have every first edition book of his and signed, too -- but I don't think "American Gods" should have been in the top 10, and Gaiman's work didn't justify 4 in the top 100. But when he tweeted the voting link to his 1.6 million followers, the result was inevitable. I think "Neverwhere" is his best novel and "Stardust" shouldn't have appeared on the list. I'm surprised "Sandman" didn't rank higher for popularity.
c) I've read "1984" several times and endured it each time. It's not a best of or a most popular for enjoyment. But it was influential. Is it there for being influential, or because it was a title that people could recognize from their high school reading assignments?
d) "Amber" ranking higher than "Lord of Light" just confirms this is a "most popular" and not a "best of" list. I'm delighted Zelazny appeared in the top 100 despite everything.
e) "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" is a heck of a better novel than the other two Heinlein books that ranked above it, though I can see how "Stranger in a Strange Land" ranked higher by name recognition alone.
Chris
Locus used to do an occasional (once a decade -- 1970s, '80s, and '90s) "all-time best novel" poll, and LORD OF LIGHT did pretty well, ranking in the top 10 or 20. Look up LORD OF LIGHT on isfdb and you can see the full listings.
ReplyDelete--Chris DeVito
A friend just sent me this link, and I thought you guys might find it interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.box.net/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3o8m.jpg
I actually went through every possible path, but then I went back to the beginning and answered the questions as I felt I really would have answered them. There were some tough choices, and I tried not to base my decisions on what I knew was coming up; in the end, I came out with Dan Simmons's Hyperion.
If anyone else wants to take the time to navigate the chart, I'd be curious to hear where you ended up!
I did it backwards -- picked books I like, then tried to trace my way back to the origin. No dice. Apparently, you just can't get here from there.
ReplyDelete--Chris DeVito