3.81 avg rating — 12,331 ratings

"It's bigger on the inside. My favorite work of fiction period. Also, one of two books (the other is Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster of Hed) that caused me to despair of ever being a great fantasist. "

4.28 avg rating — 707,394 ratings

"These books are on this list because I love them so. My favorite? The Silver Chair. "There is no other stream.""

3.72 avg rating — 49,878 ratings

"Who doesn't want to visit the Land? People who don't want to see it come to ruin, that's who. Donaldson's language and syntax fascinate me.
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4.22 avg rating — 11,290 ratings

"Mesmerizing. McKillip's is another whose style I find compelling. But the riddle is always buried in what motivates her characters."

3.93 avg rating — 46,026 ratings

"If you read this, promise me that you won't put it down before you've finished the first six chapters. The third of Lewis' "science fiction" trilogy, this book is about how a normal person can become hideously evil, and the back story of the entire trilogy is about how a normal person can become a creature quite good. You'll find in it a narrative explication of the short but dense "Abolition of Man" and also Lewis' oft-quoted line from his essay, "The Weight of Glory": "There are no *ordinary* people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours." "

3.97 avg rating — 1,284,536 ratings

"1984 for the school-age set. One idea after another, taking the reader on a tour of good and evil."

4.17 avg rating — 595,991 ratings

"This is book is what science fiction is for. It invented a new study that did not exist at the time, can barely exist today, but one day probably will.
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4.29 avg rating — 1,625,556 ratings

"Epic sci-fi. One of the first books I encountered where I realized that the author had thought of ideas that it was beyond my grasp to have conceived of on my own. The idea of being able to speak in the Voice had my parents looking at me strangely for months afterward. "

4.27 avg rating — 10,689 ratings

"Delightful and funny. And a reminder that fantasy isn't necessarily best based in Western medieval culture."

4.31 avg rating — 1,473,063 ratings

"The protagonist is impossible and odd and ruthless, but believable and endearing. Plus, action! "

4.12 avg rating — 15,607 ratings

"Tight plotting across the series--across two or three or four series, actually. Quick, snappy reads. Competent anti-heroes. I'm glad I don't know anyone like Vlad--I probably wouldn't know how to stay on his good side."

3.99 avg rating — 421,833 ratings

"Better than Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which turns bitter about three books in)--From book to book, footnote-master Pratchett examines some aspect of life through the lens of Discworld. My wife chased me out of bed while reading some of these books, because I kept laughing out loud and waking her up."

4.22 avg rating — 2,014,595 ratings

"No one else will ever teach you to keep track of your towel."

4.01 avg rating — 297,788 ratings

"The epitome of cyberpunk and a candy store for the inner eye. Action clips right along. If you want to try cyberpunk just to see what it can do, read this and you can be done. If you intend to linger, move on to William Gibson. But cyberpunk is dead, and if this seems like yesterday's version of tomorrow, well, that's because cyberpunk tries to play SF too close to Now.

On the other hand, you should probably read cyberpunk for the sense of imminent pandemic cataclysms that are actual possible futures for us."

4.47 avg rating — 11,404,330 ratings

"Harry Potter is one of the grandest epics, ever (except maybe for the chronic whining of the main characters). At the same time, it simultaneously welcomes and challenges younger readers. I'm irritated by it, however--it ensured that my children's Lord of the Rings wouldn't actually be The Lord of the Rings. But that's okay--lots of talking points with the kids about why Harry's troubles are sometimes (often, even) of his own making.
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