Science Fiction Book Club all time top 50

Janice Gelb, in her Live Journal, listed and commented on the SF Book Club's all time top 50 list.

I'll follow her convention to use bold to list books I've read, asterisks to mark ones I've loved, strike through ones I hated, and italic for ones I started but didn't finish. Also, I'll add comments in square brackets.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
[Good, but overrated. I'd have instead picked Double Star, Citizen of the Galaxy, or Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.]
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke [Another good but overrated book. My favorite Clark
novel is The City and the Stars.]
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick [There are better Dick novels, but since Bladerunner, this one gets all the attention.]
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe *
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.*
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish *
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett [Another problem with this list
is the tendency to pick the first book in the series. Discworld started out slow, but
got much better.]
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison [Important, certainly, but if we're listing
anthologies, why not Adventures in Time and Space or one of the major
Conklin anthologies.]
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison [Good collection, but there are several better
Ellison collections.]
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany [I'd rank Nova higher.]
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card*
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling [Good, but later books
in the series are better.]
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice [This doesn't belong in the top 200,.
let alone top 50.]
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin * [But The Dispossessed is better.]
31. Little, Big, John Crowley [I really need to read this one.]
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny*
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick*
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement*
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon*
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith*
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute [Another one I really need to read.]
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien*
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester*
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

There is a lot missing. Janice noted the lack of Silverberg, for example. Poul Anderson also is not represented.

And how about:

A Fire Upon the Deep Vernor Vinge
The Doomsday Book Connie Willis
Red/Green/Blue Mars Kim Stanley Robinson
City by Clifford Simak

And I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.