boiled leather Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 I just stopped myself from the "me too" post. Nevertheless, I agree that three is too much of a "what's popular" now flavor. Several of these should be in the top 500 or 1000, not 100. IMHO. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickg Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 /facepalmThat says it all really.pretty much proves that we all wasted our time with this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lannes Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I read 9 out of the top 10, 17 out of the top 20, and 52 out of the whole 100. There are some that got on there because they're currently popular, and others that made it because they're perennial classics. All in all, I like the list and agree with many of the choices included, if not their exact rating.My wife and I were talking about the rankings today, and you're right- there's not too much to complain about, other than the actual placings. I've read 39 of the rankings (my wife somewhat less,) so we've printed it out and put it on the refrigerator to give us a shopping list when going to the bookstore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 It's not the best list, but I've seen worse.I've read 38, own probably ten more that I haven't read, and of the other 52 I don't have interest in about 30 of them./facepalmThat says it all really.You missed one:80. Wicked :shocked: And yet, Earth Abides, Lord of Light, and The Prince of Nothing don't even make the list :bang: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Wow. Only read 28 of them(and a few of those only half of the series). Some things sucked, two Pratchett entries, but not Diskworld as a series, where i think it may have hit harder. No Black Company, PoN was already pointed out, as was Long Price.But the list could have been worse, so Ill take it for what it is worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZOLTAN THE MERCILESS Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind :rofl: :lol: Why the hell was I not given Stanek as an option!!??? ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 No....Black Company?*turns green and starts smashing things* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tybeechris Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 Very interesting results. All of my favorite authors made it, except Phillip Jose Farmer and Julian May, but not necessarily for what I thought was their best book. Really surprisingly good showing for Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I loved their books but they had not made my 10 cut. I finally read their text and they state young adult was not considered which explains the missing His Dark Materials. That had me confused. Lists like this are fun. They spark discussion and now I can check out those I have missed and go back and reread some old treasures.I'm the OP and I finally entered a thread that sparked discussion. Yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 The fuck? Fucking Xanth?urgh, Franken-emo in the top 20?Read it recently and it might have been the worst book I've ever read.That's a joke right?I have lost my faith in humanity. Magneto was right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reposado Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 The fuck? Fucking Xanth?That's a joke right?I have lost my faith in humanity. Magneto was right.nope. that was atrocious. painful to read from beginning to end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tybeechris Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 I think many of the votes were a mixture of sentimental and merely treasured memory. I voted for some books that I loved 50 years ago. I have no idea if they would hold up in my esteem now, I voted for that magical feeling they gave me way back when. I think reactions like mine really shaped the list. And we had an incredible range of ages voting. And some I think got votes just on name recognition even by those who never read them. Kind of like Citizen Kane always winning the best movie ever made.P.S. I was glad to see Piers Anthony on the list even though I liked The Apprentice Adept the most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lannes Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I think many of the votes were a mixture of sentimental and merely treasured memory. I voted for some books that I loved 50 years ago. I have no idea if they would hold up in my esteem now, I voted for that magical feeling they gave me way back when. I think reactions like mine really shaped the list. And we had an incredible range of ages voting. And some I think got votes just on name recognition even by those who never read them. Kind of like Citizen Kane always winning the best movie ever made.P.S. I was glad to see Piers Anthony on the list even though I liked The Apprentice Adept the most.Not the Incantations of Immortality series as a whole, but I've always thought Anthony's 'On a Pale Horse' was a damn fine read...A whole lot of younger people crap on books like the first Shannara books, the first Dragonlance books, and the first Xanth books but what they don't realize is that they were very, very popular when they first came out, oh so many years ago, simply for the fact that there was a dearth of fantasy books being published compared to today. We took what we could get...and liked it.It's all about perspective and the older one gets, the more perspective one hopefully garners and that is helpful when dealing with lists whose books span 70 or so years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tybeechris Posted August 13, 2011 Author Share Posted August 13, 2011 Not the Incantations of Immortality series as a whole, but I've always thought Anthony's 'On a Pale Horse' was a damn fine read...A whole lot of younger people crap on books like the first Shannara books, the first Dragonlance books, and the first Xanth books but what they don't realize is that they were very, very popular when they first came out, oh so many years ago, simply for the fact that there was a dearth of fantasy books being published compared to today. We took what we could get...and liked it.It's all about perspective and the older one gets, the more perspective one hopefully garners and that is helpful when dealing with lists whose books span 70 or so years.I agree. What blows your mind at 16 will not be the same at 60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Yeah, me beef with the Xanth books doesn't have much to do with perspective as how...what's a good word...peverted? they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seli Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 It seems like a decent list with the normal problems all voted lists have.I can only discover one non-anglo writer in the top 100 for example. ETA:(although that is probably better than the Hugo, Nebula and WFA combined) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 amazing that dystopian novels are so dominant. the subgenre demands a grand setting but almost no story--the narratives uniformly present evil society contra heroic individual; the only variation in the narrative is the degree to which the heroic individual loses. this alone should keep them off best lists (that's bad voter behavior, i guess); but the persons who vetted the list should've known better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imladolen Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos owns most of the books on this list. When HBO finishes with ASoIaF I hope they make Hyperion next!!!Is the Hyperion Cantos as Islamophibic and Zionistic in its attitudes as his Ilium/Olympos series was?I found it highly offensive the way he portrayed muslims as being obsessed with "Kill the Jew" (and I'm not even muslim!).Just as I have given up reading O.S. Card for his very homophobic comments (no, not gay either), I am not sure if I could stomach reading anything more by Simmons after that duology. But if it isn't as bigoted as Ilium/Olympos, I could consider trying Hyperion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Is the Hyperion Cantos as Islamophibic and Zionistic in its attitudes as his Ilium/Olympos series was?I found it highly offensive the way he portrayed muslims as being obsessed with "Kill the Jew" (and I'm not even muslim!).Just as I have given up reading O.S. Card for his very homophobic comments (no, not gay either), I am not sure if I could stomach reading anything more by Simmons after that duology. But if it isn't as bigoted as Ilium/Olympos, I could consider trying Hyperion. I share your sentiments and kind of want to hug you.I don't remember there being anything racist/Islamophobic in Hyperion, but it's been a LONG time since I last read it. It's a shame too cause I really like a lot of his earlier stuff. Don't get me started on Drood though...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shryke Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 There's some. It's not terribly upfront though.Hyperion gets worse and worse with every book though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alguien Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 There's some. It's not terribly upfront though.Hyperion gets worse and worse with every book though.Doesn't Kassad straight up disintegrate a crazy Mullah's head vis a vis his implanted communicator? I definitely got a bit of a strawman-esque flavor in his depiction of Muslims in that moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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