I have gone back and looked at more of the list. I shall not deal with the contents directly, but I think I can reasonably conclude that the people who compiled the list are neither SF readers nor members of the general audience.

How can I tell?

Because the books they have chosen generally - not entirely, I admit that I'm generalizing heavily here - address a particular audience. They, pretty clearly, want books that feature angst, allusions, deep secrets to tease out via analysis, interpersonal relations, feminist/marxist/Belgian theory, moral quandaries, and so on.

There is nothing wrong with that *for them*. After you read a few hundred less complex novels, you probably want something different. The thing that frosts me - continually, it's why I did not graduate with a degree in English, instead lunging for film, and it's something that I'm sure I've ranted about here at least twice before, but, well, grrrrrr - is that those kind of people, the one who want that kind of thing refuse to admit that any other desire in literature is worthy of consideration.

An analogy would be a gourmand who only *ever* eats food prepared from the Escoffier tradition, who says that that's the only food anyone SHOULD ever eat. That other food preferences are inferior, not worthy of consideration, the mark of the worthless man. I've seen far too many literary critics and professors who stare at people who argue for the validity of non-Escoffier (let's call it) writing with the wide-eyed stare of the incomprehending. "This person is saying that _The Stars My Destination_ has merit? He must be mad! Mad, I say! Mad!"

This list is a compilation of works selected by people, quite bluntly, who don't get that someone might not WANT heavy french food with lots of aspic. They miss out on the fact that, sometimes, someone might want a really good burger instead of a crown rack of beef with tomato sauce and garlic sauerkraut.

The average SF reader is in it for the jolt of the sensawunda. The average mystery reader likes puzzles and external conflict. The average romance reader likes the sweep and the passion, and so on. These are desires that the people who compiled the list don't have, don't share, don't even admit the validity of.

So - what good is a list of the thousand finest foods picked by people who would never be caught dead at a philly cheese steak stand?

Grr.

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6 books by PG Wodehouse...

Tolkien is there...

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But the navigation which is supposed to show how the articles are related isn't obvious. I almost missed the links.

When these sorts of lists come out, I reckon Foundation and Dune will be on there.

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Not that I think he particularly belongs on such a list, though.

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