Could you narrow your favorite science fiction and fantasy books down to just ten? In an effort to compile the top-100 titles in this combined genre, NPR is hosting an online poll. Nominations took place last month and garnered more than 5,000 responses. NPR narrowed the field down to just a few hundred and invites the public to chime in with votes for their top ten picks. They don’t specify a closing date for voting, but promise to release results by about August 11, 2011.
I was surprised to see Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series in the mix. They’re a great read, but I wouldn’t have put them in this genre. I was happy to see the Temeraire series included here (recommended years ago by fellow homeschooler Chris O’Donnell) but noticed a glaring omission: A Wrinkle in Time.
Is there a title on the list that surprised you? Or one you think is missing?
Photo: Photographed during the making of a BBC documentary (no known copyright restrictions).
There were several on the list that are great books (Watership Down, Animal Farm, etc) but that I wouldn’t consider science fiction or fantasy. Just because there are talking animal doesn’t mean it’s Fantasy in the literary genre sense.
I heard that they deliberately left off YA and children’s titles because they’re going to be doing separate lists for those eventually. That’s why there isn’t even any Andre Norton, either. (And A Wrinkle in Time is MY number one book ever, period, so I feel you there– but most of my favorite books are “for young people,” so I don’t even think I found a full ten books I felt like voting for on this list! Though I did happily vote for the six or seven I DID find…)
Also, I was unable to vote on my home computer, but my work computer worked. My work computer is on Internet Explorer and my work computer on Firefox, so I don’t know if that made the difference, or if it’s some kind of issue with add-ons. So if anyone is having problems, they might want to try it on a different computer or browser…
I mean my HOME computer (the one that didn’t work) is on IE and my WORK computer (the one that DID) is on Firefox.