| Wade’s Ranking | Science Fiction | Fantasy/Myth/Legend | Adventure/ Mystery/ Spy/ Thriller | Horror | General | Nonfiction (history/ biography/ sociology) | Nonfiction (science/ philosophy) | Epic Poem | Lyric Poem | Short Story | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Dune series (Herbert) | The Once and Future King (White) | The Scarlet Pimpernel (Orczy) | The Adversary Cycle series (Wilson) | Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain) | The Greek Way (Hamilton) | The Panda’s Thumb (Gould) | The Iliad (Homer) | “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (Coleridge) | ||
| #2 | Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein) | The Alice books (Carroll) | James Bond Series (Fleming) | Dracula (Stoker) | Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck) | The Roman Way (Hamilton) | The Selfish Gene (Dawkins) | The Odyssey (Homer) | “The Raven” (Poe) | ||
| #3 | The Gods Themselves (Asimov) | The Tarzan series (Burroughs) | Sherlock Holmes novels (Doyle) | Pet Sematary (King) | Catch-22 (Heller) | March of the Millenia (Asimov) | On the Origin of Species (Darwin) | Paradise Lost (Milton) | “Annabel Lee” (Poe) | ||
| #4 | Brave New World (Huxley) | Lord of the Rings series (Tolkien) | The Godfather (Puzo) | Frankenstein (Shelley) | I, Claudius (Graves) | Civilization before Greece and Rome (Saggs) | The Dragons of Eden (Sagan) | The Idylls of the King (Tennyson) | “To Helen” (Poe) | ||
| #5 | The Forever War (Haldeman) | Le Morte d’Arthur (Malory) | The Mark of Zorro (McCulley) | ‘Salem’s Lot (King) | Shogun (Clavell) | Asimov’s Guide to the Bible (Asimov) | The God Delusion (Dawkins) | The Song of Hiawatha (Longfellow) | “Jabberwocky” (Carroll) | ||
| #6 | Childhood’s End (Clarke) | The Broken Sword (Anderson) | The Three Musketeers (Dumas) | The Exorcist (Blatty) | Gone with the Wind (Mitchell) | A Distant Mirror (Tuchman) | Ever Since Darwin (Gould) | Beowulf (unknown) | “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” (Thomas) | ||
| #7 | The Man Who Folded Himself (Gerrold) | Small Gods (Pratchett) | And Then There Were None (Christie) | The Dead Zone (King) | Lord of the Flies (Goldman) | Great Harry (Erickson) | Origins Reconsidered (Leakey) | The Divine Comedy (Dante) | “Kubla Khan” (Coleridge) | ||
| #8 | 1984 (Orwell) | The Last Unicorn (Beagle) | The Little Sister (Chandler) | The Night Church (Streiber) | Siddhartha (Hesse) | Beginnings (Asimov) | Why We Do It (Eldredge) | The Aeneid (Virgil) | “The Walrus and the Carpenter” (Carroll) | ||
| #9 | The Robot series (Asimov) | Animal Farm (Orwell) | Ivanhoe (Scott) | Rosemary’s Baby (Levin) | The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) | Glory Road (Catton) | The Physics of Superheroes (Kakalios) | “Charge of the Light Brigade” (Tennyson) | |||
| #10 | Flatland (Abbot) | One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (unknown) | The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Pyle) | Jaws (Benchley) | The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) | A Stillness at Appomatox (Catton) | The Laughing Jesus (Freke & Gandy) | “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (Frost) | |||
| #11 | The Uplift series (Brin) | The Jungle Books (Kipling) | The DaVinci Code (Brown) | Coma (Cook) | God Knows (Heller) | Star Trek Memories (Shatner) | Reinventing Darwin (Eldredge) | “How Do I Love Thee” (Browning) | |||
| #12 | The Time Machine (Wells) | Hour of the Dragon (Howard) | The Stepford Wives (Levin) | The Tommyknockers (King) | Call of the Wild (London) | History of Rome (Grant) | Female Choices (Small) | “The Bells” (Poe) | |||
| #13 | Flowers for Algernon (Keyes) | The Mysterious Stranger (Twain) | Ben-Hur (Wallace) | The Hunger (Streiber) | A Separate Peace (Knowles) | Against Our Will (Brownmiller) | Why Sex Is Fun (Diamond) | “Paul Revere’s Ride” (Longfellow) | |||
| #14 | A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller) | Elric series (Moorcock) | The A, B, C Murders (Christie) | Christine (King) | Go Ask Alice (anonymous) | Mr Lincoln’s Army (Catton) | “O, My Luve Is Like a Red Red Rose” (Burns) | ||||
| #15 | Foundation series (Asimov) | Job: A Comedy of Justice (Heinlein) | Rage of Angels (Sheldon) | The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde) | The Thorn Birds (McCullough) | A Concise History of the Catholic Church (Bokenkotter) | “Concord Hymn” (Emerson) | ||||
| #16 | The Mote in God’s Eye (Niven & Pournelle) | The Dragon and the George (Dickson) | Murder at the Vicarage (Christie) | The Shining (King) | Looking for Mr Goodbar (Rossner) | The Erotic Silence of the American Wife (Heyn) | “Young Lochinvar” (Scott) | ||||
| #17 | The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Heinlein) | Chronicles of Amber series (Zelazny) | Sphinx (Cook) | The Dunwich Horror (Lovecraft) | Parachutes & Kisses (Jong) | A Respectable Army (Martin) | “Casey at the Bat” (Thayer) | ||||
| #18 | The End of Eternity (Asimov) | Reluctant King series (deCamp) | Peril at End House (Christie) | Misery (King) | Flowers in the Attic (Andrews) | “A Visit from St Nicholas” (Moore) | |||||
| #19 | Barsoom series (Burroughs) | The Dark Tower series (King) | The Hunt for Red October (Clancy) | The Shadow over Innsmouth (Lovecraft) | The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne) | “Trees” (Kilmer) | |||||
| #20 | The High Crusade (Anderson) | Watership Down (Adams) | Firestarter (King) | The Red Badge of Courage (Crane) | |||||||
| #21 | The Sirens of Titan (Vonnegut) | The Princess Bride (Goldman) | Apt Pupil (King) | Heart of Darkness (Conrad) | |||||||
| #22 | The Dragonriders of Pern series (McCaffrey) | A Treasury of Hans Christian Andersen | Psycho (Bloch) | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain) | |||||||
| #23 | Double Star (Heinlein) | The Elenium trilogy (Eddings) | Desperation (King) | The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) | |||||||
| #24 | Darkover series (Bradley) | Incarnations of Immortality series (Anthony) | The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (Stevenson) | The Valley of the Dolls (Susann) | |||||||
| #25 | Farnham’s Freehold (Heinlein) | The Vampire Chronicles (Rice) | Needful Things (King) | In Cold Blood (Capote) | |||||||
| #26 | Galapagos (Vonnegut) | Earthsea series (LeGuin) | Carrie (King) | ||||||||
| #27 | The War of the Worlds (Wells) | The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm | Cujo (King) | ||||||||
| #28 | Time Enough for Love (Heinlein) | Chronicles of Castle Brass (Moorcock) | The Turn of the Screw (James) | ||||||||
| #29 | The First Men in the Moon (Wells) | A Spell for Chameleon (Anthony) | Demon Seed (Koontz) | ||||||||
| #30 | The Dancers at the End of Time series (Moorcock) | The Dracula Tape (Saberhagen) | Night of the Ripper (Bloch) | ||||||||
| #31 | Times without Number (Brunner) | Three Hearts and Three Lions (Anderson) | The Stand (King) | ||||||||
| #32 | The Black Cloud (Hoyle) | Chronicles of Prydain (Alexander) | The Wolfen (Streiber) | ||||||||
| #33 | The Stainless Steel Rat series (Harrison) | Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser series (Leiber) | The Book of Skulls (Silverberg) | ||||||||
| #34 | Cat’s Cradle (Vonnegut) | The Vampire Tapestry (Charnas) | Gerald’s Game (King) | ||||||||
| #35 | The Man in the High Castle (Dick) | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Baum) | Thinner (King) | ||||||||
| #36 | Lest Darkness Fall (deCamp) | The Screwtape Letters (Lewis) | The Last Vampire (Streiber) | ||||||||
| #37 | Friday (Heinlein) | Hotel Transylvania (Yarbro) | Hideaway (Koontz) | ||||||||
| #38 | West of Eden (Harrison) | Glory Road (Heinlein) | Shadow Fires (Koontz) | ||||||||
| #39 | The Number of the Beast (Heinlein) | Mary Poppins (Travers) | The Hybrid (Vance) | ||||||||
| #40 | The Planet of the Apes (Boulle) | The Eye of the World (Jordan) | Ghost Story (Straub) | ||||||||
| #41 | A Clockwork Orange (Burgess) | The Deryni series (Kurtz) | The Dark Half (King) | ||||||||
| #42 | The Midwich Cuckoos (Wyndham) | The Crystal Cave (Stewart) | The Regulators (King) | ||||||||
| #43 | A Wrinkle in Time (L’Engle) | The Complete Enchanter (deCamp) | |||||||||
| #44 | Battlefield: Earth (Hubbard) | Lord Foul’s Bane (Donaldson) | |||||||||
| #45 | Slaughterhouse-Five (Vonnegut) | Like Water for Chocolate (Esquivel) | |||||||||
| #46 | The Cat Who Walks through Walls (Heinlein) | The Eyes of the Dragon (King) | |||||||||
| #47 | Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Adams) | Space Trilogy (Lewis) | |||||||||
| #48 | Jurassic Park series (Crichton) | The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (Steinbeck) | |||||||||
| #49 | Clan of the Cave Bear (Auel) | Silverlock (Myers) | |||||||||
| #50 | 2001: A Space Odyssey (Clarke) | The Talisman (King & Straub) | |||||||||
| #51 | The Lensman series (Smith) | Good Omens (Pratchett) | |||||||||
| #52 | Cyborg (Caidin) | Only Begotten Daughter (Morrow) | |||||||||
| #53 | The Island of Dr Moreau (Wells) | ||||||||||
| #54 | Between Planets (Heinlein) | ||||||||||
| #55 | A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Twain) | ||||||||||
| #56 | Superman: Last Son of Krypton (Maggin) | ||||||||||
| #57 | Star Wars (Lucas) | ||||||||||
| #58 | The Day of the Triffids (Wyndham) | ||||||||||
| #59 | Galactic Empire series (Asimov) | ||||||||||
| #60 | Danny Dunn series (Williams) |
| Wade’s Ranking | King James Bible | Shakespeare | General |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. (Matthew 5:39-42) | How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!—King Lear (Act I, Scene IV). | |
| #2 | Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (Mark 13:30-31) | What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!—Hamlet (Act II, Scene II) | |
| #3 | In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5) | Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, or close the wall up with our English dead!—King Henry V (Act III, Scene I) | |
| #4 | Jesus wept. (John 11:35) | The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.—Hamlet (Act II, Scene II) | |
| #5 | Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? (Matthew 6:26-30) | The quality of mercy is not strain’d, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath—Merchant of Venice (Act IV, Scene I) | |
| #6 | And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:7-9) | Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.—Macbeth (Act IV, Scene I) | |
| #7 | They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. (Exodus 32:8-14) | Now is the winter of our discontent.—Richard III (Act I, Scene I) | |
| #8 | Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:3-13) | But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon—Romeo & Juliet (Act II, Scene II) | |
| #9 | For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. (I Corinthians 7:7-9) | What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.—Romeo & Juliet (Act II, Scene II) | |
| #10 | And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. (Job 2:2) | Lord what fools these mortals be.—A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act III, Scene II) | |
| #11 | ...Lazarus, come forth. (John 11:43) | Cry, ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war.—Julius Caesar (Act III, Scene I) | |
| #12 | For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) | The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.—Merchant of Venice (Act I, Scene III) | |
| #13 | And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. (Luke 1:19) | Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.—Macbeth (Act V, Scene V) | |
| #14 | In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) | We are such stuff as dreams are made on, rounded with a little sleep—The Tempest (Act IV, Scene I) | |
| #15 | Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14) | Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.—Twelfth Night (Act II, Scene V) | |
| #16 | But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matthew 16:23) | If music be the food of love, play on—Twelfth Night (Act I, Scene I) | |
| #17 | But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? (Matthew 12:24-26) | The course of true love never did run smooth.—A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act I, Scene I) | |
| #18 | And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18) | The better part of valour is discretion.—King Henry IV, Part I (Act V, Scene IV) | |
| #19 | Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. (Matthew 10:34-35) | Brevity is the soul of wit—Hamlet (Act II, Scene II) | |
| #20 | And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. (Genesis 2:18-19) | Ay, every inch a king.—King Lear (Act IV, scene VI) |