April Read something from NPR's top 100 Sci/Fi Fantasy list

NPR created a list of 100 best Science Fiction/Fantasy books nominated by listeners of NPR (readers) in 2011. More than 5,000 people participated in nominating books and 60,000 voted. I've been working on this list for awhile, well maybe since 2011 and still have a ways to go. Have you been working on it or is it new to you? It really isn't new any more. It is 5 years old so I am sure that we may feel that this list is dated. It does include classics and according to NPR, they removed young adult and horror from the list.

You can find the list here http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fanta...

Here's a flow sheet to help you make your choices.


http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/09/flowchart_for_navigating_nprs_top_100_s...

Oooh. From the TBR shelves:

Game of Thrones
American Gods
Conan the Barbarian
The Crystal Cave
Perdido Street Station

I started the audio of Journey to the Center of the Earth. I may or may not finish in April--I'm slow with audiobooks--but I did pick it for this month.

That flowchart is great. I have a number of candidates on my shelves:

Ender's Game
The Shadow Rising (from the Wheel of Time series)
World War Z
Cryoburn (from the Vorkosigan series)
Childhood's End
Green Mars (from the Mars trilogy)

>4 mathgirl40: Ender's Game is very, very good.

I'm glad Roger Zelazny's Amber series made the list, but am disappointed that neither Tad Williams or CJ Cherryh's books were on it. Oh well.

>1 Kristelh: Thanks for choosing this topic and setting up the thread! I was maybe peripherally aware of this list but hadn't really looked at it - it will be fun to see what I've read and what I have on my TBR list for next month. Now to go and explore.

I'll probably read Perelandra by C. S. Lewis (the 2nd book of his Space Trilogy) for this challenge, although there are a few other books on the list that look interesting if I bump into a copy and have time.

Love the flowchart! And especially those times where after saying "no" it says "tough" and gives that option anyway :)

I was going to read Childhood's End this month but I can push it to the beginning of April. And I am planning on Hyperion on audiobook.

I am going to be reading Brothers In Arms which is one of the Vorkosigan Sagas. I am looking forward to getting back to this series. I am also reading Journey To The Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, but as I am reading this by installments from Daily Lit, I am not sure if I will complete it in April.

I've been meaning to try Brandon Sanderson for a while, so I might pick up Mistborn for this CAT.

The list is actually new to me, so I'm looking forward to exploring it :) For the record, #77 is one of my favorite series of all-time. In fact, I've got a tattoo of the rose symbol on my left forearm (you'll see it on the cover, if you haven't seen it before). Every once in a while, someone recognizes it from the Kushiel books and we get into the longest conversations, in the oddest of places!

In any case, I don't know what I'm going to read yet, but I had to suggest you all check out that series if you haven't already :)

>11 whitewavedarling: I've read the first two in the series and they are good - very different, very good world-building.

It looks like I'll finally be getting around to The Handmaid's Tale--I've got a few others, but they're in boxes in preparation for a move, and may not be unpacked till mid-month, so it'll be easier to just keep this one on hand :)

Well, I've reviewed the list and I was surprised to see that many of the 'books' listed are actually series of books. So, it's way more than 100!

I have a lot of work to do on a lot of these series, but I think I'd like to look at some of the one off books on the list, or at least books that are part of shorter series.

So here's my list of potentials for April:
American Gods
A Canticle for Leibowitz (unless I get to it this month)
The Road (ditto)
Neverwhere
I Am Legend

>1 Kristelh: would any book in the Vorkosigan Saga work? I've read a couple, but want to continue.

>15 fuzzi:, It says The Vorkosigan Saga so I think that includes all of them. Is there one book called the The Vorkosigan Saga?
There are many trilogies listed which include all 3 and there are series listed which would all the books unless it only names one, therefore my question on The Legend of Drizzt Series. It looks like there are many books in that series. Does anyone know if I can read The Thousand Orcs?

I thought I posted my possibles but I must have done something wrong as I don't see them;
Shards of Honor
Ringworld
The Sword of Shannara

I'll take that as a "any book in the series" answer. :)

Reminder, add your books to the Wiki, here: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2016_Unofficial_SF/SFFKIT#March

So, are we accepting the 'any book in a named series' as acceptable? I'm hoping to get to The Crippled God - last in Steven Erikson's Malazan series which is listed with the first book of the series in the NPR list.

And the list is new to me, so glad to have it come to my attention.

>19 majkia:, the way it looks to me when I look at the list, sometimes it is the whole series and sometimes a single book and in the case of Malazan, it is the whole series. The same for Vorkosigan Saga.

I'm thinking The Princess Bride as it's the first unread on the list than I own.

I was just looking at the list over at Listchallenge (http://www.listchallenges.com/npr-top-100-science-fiction-and-fantasy-books) and realized that I have an unsuspected ROOT on this list -- Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man which I bought last summer at my library's book fair. So I will be trying to fit that one in this month too.

Just finished The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

>22 leslie.98: >23 Jacksonian: I sense a shared read! :)

I was not familiar with this list before now. Upon review, I've already read 53 from the list. Of the ones I have not read yet, I would like to get to this month The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson and American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Finished Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. It was okay but I probably won't read further into the series.

>26 Kristelh: Aw. Too bad you didn't like it more. But it certainly is a challenge and definitely not for everyone.

>27 majkia: but I might reread it.

I've started reading World War Z and I have got to say it has me hooked already. It is a welcome departure from other zombie stories since it doesn't follow a young woman/young couple/young family trying to escape and always managing to run into more zombies. Rather, it's a series of interviews that attempt to track how and where a plague originated and how different countries acted. Fascinating so far!

>29 mamzel: I agree - really enjoyed it!

Just finished Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold McMaster. Interesting characters and lots of action.

>31 Kristelh: I liked that one, but I liked the sequel Barrayar even more!

I also read one of the Vorkosigan books. Brothers In Arms is another excellent entry in this superior series.

Finished The Handmaid's Tale!

Finished Childhood's End -- still mulling it over but it was not what I had expected!

Starting Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.

World War Z - completed - Wow!

I have put up May's thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/221244

>38 leslie.98: thank you.

Finished the last book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, The Crippled God. All 1200 pages. Whew.

>40 majkia:, congratulations. How many books in all? Was it worth it. Did the characters stay the same through out or were there new characters add as the series progressed?

>41 Kristelh: Yes, definitely worth it. Some characters are in nearly all the books, but there are so many characters that often some disappear for a time. The characters all grew and changed, and some died. They go through hell, so not surprising that they change so much.

I particularly like how ethics and the whole idea of war are continually tested, discussed and considered, by even some of the more lowly charaters. And I love all the black humor.

Having spent 20 years in the military, so much of it feels so true to the way we all interacted and worked together. Granted, I wasn't in a combat unit, but the esprit and attitudes feel very authentic to me.

I finished Hyperion and now must wait impatiently for my library hold of The Fall of Hyperion to come in (I am #11 in the queue so it won't be this month!). I will try to squeeze in one more for this KIT before the end of the month, The Illustrated Man...

I've had The Road on my list for some time now and read it yesterday in one sitting while on a 6-hr layover between flights. Good book - probably one of the bleakest post-apocalyptic books I've ever read.

Finished Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

Just finished World War Z by Max Brooks. So much better than the movie!

Finished a re-read Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Better than I remembered from high school.

COMPLETED Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.

My review:
In the city of New Crobuzon humans are the majority but there are minority races as well. Isaac Dan de Grimnebulin is a human scientist and his lover, Lin, is a khepri sculptor -- a relationship which if not exactly illegal is frowned upon in all but the most bohemian circles. Isaac is engaged to research biological flight while Lin is commissioned to make a statue of the city's mafia Godfather. Isaac's research unleashes a horror that threatens to depose humanity from its place at the top of the food chain while Lin finds Godfathers can turn very nasty.

Great, sprawling fantasy which is a bleak cross between Dickens and Lovecraft. I loved it and definitely want to read this author's other books.

Heading out for Cleveland, OH in the am, with a copy of Young Miles for the layovers.

I've read The Warrior's Apprentice already, but the other two in the omnibus are new to me. I should get some reading done.

Just finished The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

My library hold hasn't come through yet for the two books I was hoping to get to this month, American Gods by Gaiman and Way of Kings by Sanderson. I did manage to get to one book off the list, a reread of Pratchett's Small Gods.

Well, my hold just came in on The Way of Kings, but being that the audio is over 45 hours, I don't think it will be finished by Saturday. Still looking forward to it though.

Yay! I finished Journey to the Center of the Earth just in the nick of time. The audio was really fun.

Finished Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

Took me a while but I've finished Wizard and Glass which is the 4th book in the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I need to let it ruminate for a while before writing a review though.

Last day of April, and I have about 200 pages left in The Vor Game. However, I have a 3 hour layover (airport) later this afternoon, and suspect I'll be able to finish it then. So far, I'm enjoying it, as I have enjoyed the other books I've read by Lois McMaster Bujold. This will be my second book for the April challenge.

Oh, and for anyone who is interested, here is the link to the May challenge:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/221244#

I am finishing up Ringworld by Larry Niven. Very good, by the way.

I finished 3 books for this challenge: Cryoburn from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke and Green Mars from Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. All were excellent but Green Mars was a challenging book to read, like its predecessor Red Mars!