Twenty Core SF Books Every True SF Fan Should Have On Their Shelves

[kjn]

Per james_davis_nicoll; books I have are bold, books I have are bolded, books I've read are italics. Authors I have or read other works by get the same treatment.

A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski
A Voice Out of Ramah by Lee Killough
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh

Don't Bite the Sun by Tanith Lee
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton
Gate of Ivrel by C.J. Cherryh

Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle
Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Female Man by Joanna Russ
The Many Colored Land by Julian May
The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Warm Worlds and Otherwise by James Tiptree, Jr.

So I have 11/20 in my library and have read 7/20.

Comments

[madfilkentist]

Not a single one by Heinlein or Anderson? I'm not sure I've even heard of half of those. My list of 20 core books would be quite different, though I would include Frankenstein.

[kjn]

It's twenty sf books per James Nicoll. But like most such lists (including those made up of Heinleins and Andersons) I view them as recommendation lists or as starters for discussion.

I think you'd appreciate Tanith Lee's books.

[rosefox]

Not a single one by Heinlein or Anderson?