45+ Great 20th Century SciFi/Fantasy Novels

Columns: RANK and point values (PTS) explained below; READ year is most recent reading (red color indicates read since August 2011 retirement, “+” indicates at least one earlier reading). See also 113 Great 20th Century Novels (titles italicized here appear on it at number indicated in parenthesis) and 46 Great 20th Century Crime Novels.

Current progress: read 38 of 51 novels (74%).

# DATE READ TITLE AUTHOR
123,5,102013+Nineteen Eighty-Four (2)George Orwell
216,6,22014DuneFrank Herbert
315,4,42012A Clockwork Orange (38)Anthony Burgess
415,3,72012+Brave New World (16)Aldous Huxley
514,6,02013The Left Hand of DarknessUrsula K. Le Guin
514,6,02013The DispossessedUrsula K. Le Guin
714,5,11988+Fahrenheit 451Ray Bradbury
813,5,02017Cat's CradleKurt Vonnegut
813,5,02014A Canticle for LeibowitzWalter M. Miller Jr.
1013,4,32011The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams
1013,4,32015+Slaughterhouse-Five (62)Kurt Vonnegut
1213,3,62003+The Lord of the Rings (29)J.R.R. Tolkien
1312,5,02013Flowers for AlgernonDaniel Keyes
1412,4,12018The Martian ChroniclesRay Bradbury
1511,5,02018The Forever WarJoe Haldeman
1511,5,02022RingworldLarry Niven
1511,5,02021Rendezvous with RamaArthur C. Clarke
1811,4,02018The Three Stigmata of Palmer EldritchPhilip K. Dick
1811,4,02021+The Man in the High CastlePhilip K. Dick
2011,3,42018+The Handmaid's Tale (109)Margaret Atwood
2110,4,02011Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Philip K. Dick
2110,4,02021Childhood's EndArthur C. Clarke
2110,4,0A Fire Upon the DeepVernor Vinge
2410,2,5<1987+Animal Farm (33)George Orwell
259,4,12022NeuromancerWilliam Gibson
269,4,0The Gods ThemselvesIsaac Asimov
269,4,0Ender's GameOrson Scott Card
289,3,12013UbikPhilip K. Dick
289,3,12015Stranger in a Strange LandRobert A. Heinlein
289,3,1Snow CrashNeal Stephenson
318,3,02020Way StationClifford D. Simak
318,3,02021The Stars My DestinationAlfred Bester
318,3,0The Shadow of the TorturerGene Wolfe
318,3,02017The Puppet MastersRobert A. Heinlein
318,3,02014The Moon is a Harsh MistressRobert A. Heinlein
318,3,0The Foundation TrilogyIsaac Asimov
318,3,02017The End of EternityIsaac Asimov
318,3,0The Diamond AgeNeal Stephenson
318,3,0The Demolished ManAlfred Bester
318,3,02021The City and the StarsArthur C. Clarke
318,3,02014Starship TroopersRobert A. Heinlein
318,3,0Stand on ZanzibarJohn Brunner
318,3,0Old Man's WarJohn Scalzi
318,3,0More Than HumanTheodore Sturgeon
458,2,3Gravity's Rainbow (82)Thomas Pynchon
*Journey to the Center of the EarthJules Verne
*2016+Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the SeaJules Verne
*2015+The Time MachineH.G. Wells
*2014The Island of Doctor MoreauH.G. Wells
*2014The Invisible ManH.G. Wells
*2015+The War of the WorldsH.G. Wells
 

I lost the links to the sources I used to compile this list. It was composed similarly to my 113 Great 20th Century Novels and 46 Great 20th Century Crime Novels lists. Read the notes at the bottom of the crime list to get the best idea of this list’s provenance (here I used the “Nebula Award” and sci-fi and fantasy sources) and its scoring system.

I added the six books by Jules Verne and HG Wells to the bottom of this one, since I am quite a newbie to science fiction and any survey of the genre can be in improved by their addition.

The 20th century list of 45 novels includes the works of only 29 different authors. Robert Heinlein and Philip K Dick place four each, while Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke each weigh in with three.

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See also: