I stumbled across this list here. Like the poster of that article, I had to see how many of them I had read. I'm also not sure what qualifies these books - especially a couple of them - as 'significant'.
I've bolded the ones I've read and added comments where I felt the need.
1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien (I can see why this one would be 'significant' by just about any definition, but, honestly, the book bored me silly. It's been nearly 30 years since I read it and I just can't bring myself to pick it up again.)
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov (Asimov is one of my favorite authors and is one of the first SF authors I read when I finally got into SF over 30 years ago. I remember nothing about these books except that I liked them when I read them.)
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein (This is one of those books that everyone bows to as the greatest thing ever written. I thought it was crap when I read it 20 odd years ago.)
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (This is my favorite Bradbury. As a biblioholic, a time without books just terrifies me. I've read this one several times.)
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe (I loved these books when I read them. I only know of one other friend who has read them and enjoyed these books as much as I did. Both of us are female. All of the males I know who have tried to read these books have not liked them.)
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
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson (I tried to read these books. I managed to finish the first one but couldn't bear the second. I don't have a high tolerance for whining self-obsession and that's all Covenant seemed to do.)
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin (I have this book but I haven't read it yet.)
31. Little, Big, John Crowley (I also have this book in my TBR pile waiting to be read.)
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
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 (I'm not sure how or why this one could ever be considered 'significant'. I suppose it could qualify as best marketed derivative drivel of a classic.)
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
50.33% of the books read - .33% for the first of the Covenant books since I didn't actually finish the series - and two more of the books in my TBR pile. Not bad.
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