Top 5 SF/F Novels

NPR is having a poll for the best science fiction or fantasy novels and has asked for people to submit a list of nominations. I'm a sucker for this type of thing so noodled a bit and came up with this list:

• Time Enough for Love - Robert Heinlein. Some 2500 years in the future there lives an incredibly old man, one who has lived since 1911 or so. He has decided that it's time to end it all but his descendants keep him alive so he can share his accumulated wisdom. This book is high on talk-talk and is easily my all time favorite.
• War for the Oaks - Emma Bull. Set in the Twin Cities of the 80's, this book deals with a war between good and bad faeries. It centers on a musician who has been thrust into the middle of the whole deal. Very good storytelling. Has one of my all time favorite characters (the Pooka). Filled with local geography.
• The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson. It was tough to figure out which of Stephenson's books to go with here. I picked 'Diamond Age' because I think it has the most immersive world of any of his novels, one of the most immersive of any that I've read. Also, the idea of a special book to help teach children of the dangers of life is outstanding. The ending is weak but the rest is good enough to cover that.
  
• Lest Darkness Fall - L. Sprague de Camp. The story of a modern (well 1938) man who is transported back to Rome. He uses his modern knowledge of technology to carve out a living and tries to stop the coming of the dark ages. Great story, great humor.
• Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie. (Fantasy? Well, magical realism which is a type of fantasy, right?) Story of the birth of India told in context of a boy with special powers. Simply outstanding storytelling. Another all time favorite.

This is the list that I submitted and I'm happy with it. Two of the books, 'War for the Oaks' and 'Lest Darkness Fall', are certainly too little known to make it to any kind of final poll. 'Midnight's Children' while well known and celebrated won't be thought of as part of the genre. The other two are well known and well loved, though each is controversial in their own way.