My 100 Favorite Novels, the May 2017 version

Greetings from sunny Sicily, to be more precise, Selinunte, where battles were fought and lost and earthquakes ravaged buildings. Maybe.

Thanks to Nathan Bransford for the challenge to create a top 100 novel list. He said it was hard. He was right. I have no doubt I've forgotten many that should be on this list - which is why I gave it a dated version. This is a little like forgetting to acknowledge people, which is why I have a slight feeling of anxiety for forgetting a novel I really loved. But, hey, I've read a crapload of books and not all of them have floated to the surface in trying to create this list.

There are also a lot of novels that I probably *should* have read but haven't yet and so aren't on the list or novels that others thought are in the 'best' category but didn't rank as my favorites.

I've only included novels in this list - no short story collections, no poetry, no plays, no anything but novels. The list is, for...reasons ('cause it's what I like to read most), top heavy with SFF and I don't think there are many non-genre favorites in there.

I listed novels that are a part of series separately, because sometimes there were only one or the other novel in a series that made it into the favorites list. In some cases (hello, Zelazny) this was not the case. I did include a few contemporary novels, but most of them are ones that made a strong impression on me during my impressionable years (ahem, Ayn Rand - that's why she made the list, and no, I'm not embarrassed about it).

I would have loved to include a couple by Dr. Seuss, but they don't fall under the category of novel. Another list, then, sometime, for Favorite Children's Books.

I have no links - maybe I'll add them later when I'm not so tired after a full day in the field or full of Sicilian wine and dust and ...

Alphabetical order. Hopefully, I haven't gotten that too far wrong.


1.    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
2.    Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams
3.    I, Robot, Isaac Asimov
4.    The Robots of Dawn, Isaac Asimov
5.    Foundation, Isaac Asimov
6.    Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov
7.    Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov
8.    The Naked Sun, Isaac Asimov
9.    The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
10.    Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
11.    Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
12.    Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
13.    Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury
14.    Sundiver, David Brin
15.    The Postman, David Brin
16.    Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
17.    Storm Front, Jim Butcher
18.    Stella Luna, Janell Cannon
19.    Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
20.    Alice Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll
21.    The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
22.    Midnight at the Well of Souls, Jack Chalker
23.    2001, Arthur C. Clarke
24.    The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton
25.    David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
26.    A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle
27.    The Sign of Four, Arthur Conan Doyle
28.    Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
29.    The Game of Kings, Dorothy Dunnett
30.    Queen's Play, Dorothy Dunnett
31.    Disorderly Knights, Dorothy Dunnett
32.    Checkmate, Dorothy Dunnett
33.    Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson
34.    Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
35.    Eye of the Needle, Ken Follett
36.    The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
37.    The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
38.    Cold Mountain, David Frazier
39.    Tintenherz (Inkheart), Cornelia Funke
40.    Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
41.    Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
42.    Sherwood, Parke Godwin
43.    Beloved Exile, Parke Godwin
44.    Firelord, Parke Godwin
45.    The Last Rainbow, Parke Godwin
46.    I, Claudius, Robert Graves
47.    Something from the Nightside, Simon Green
48.    The Anodyne Necklace, Martha Grimes
49.    The Old Contemptibles, Martha Grimes
50.    Help the Poor Struggler, Martha Grimes
51.    Pompeii, Robert Harris
52.    Enigma, Robert Harris
53.    Dune, Frank Herbert
54.    These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
55.    The Corinthian, Georgette Heyer
56.    The World According to Garp, John Irving
57.    The Children of Men, P. D. James
58.    The Shining, Stephen King
59.    The Dead Zone, Stephen King
60.    Christine, Stephen King
61.    The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K. LeGuin
62.    The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis
63.    The Call of the Wild, Jack London
64.    The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scotta Lynch
65.    The Crystal Singer, Anne McCaffrey
66.    China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F. McHugh
67.    Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
68.    Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan
69.    The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
70.    Sabriel, Garth Nix
71.    Crocodile on the Sandbank, Elizabeth Peters
72.    Gateway, Frederik Pohl
73.    The Cabinet of Curiosities, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
74.    The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
75.    The Disappeared, Kristin Kathryn Rusch
76.    Strong Poison, Dorothy Sayers
77.    Clouds of Witness, Dorothy Sayers
78.    Have His Carcase, Dorothy Sayers
79.    Gorky Park, Martin Cruz Smith
80.    Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
81.    Snowcrash, Neal Stephenson
82.    The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart
83.    The Hollow Hills, Mary Stewart
84.    The Last Enchantment, Mary Stewart
85.    The Fellowship of the Ring, J. R. R. Tolkien
86.    The Two Towers, J. R. R. Tolkien
87.    The Return of the King, J. R. R: Tolkien
88.    Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow
89.    The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut
90.    The Time Machine, H. G. Wells
91.    The Once and Future King, T. H. White
92.    The Sword in the Stone, T. H. White
93.    Shadow and Claw, Gene Wolfe
94.    Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny
95.    The Guns of Avalon, Roger Zelazny
96.    Sign of the Unicorn, Roger Zelazny
97.    The Hand of Oberon, Roger Zelazny
98.    The Courts of Chaos, Roger Zelazny
99.    Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
100.  A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny