*That is if you consider Frankenstein the first science fiction novel.
*Kind of late. Frankenstein was published on January 1st.
So what’s your favorite SF novel?
I’d have a hard time picking. The Rama novels & the Giants of Ganymede are some of the most interesting. Kevin Anderson’s Commonwealth novels are really good as well.
It may be a kind of boring, stock answer, but for me it has to be Dune.
Single favorite, read it more often than any other is hands-down Heinlein’s The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.
Startide Rising by David Brin.
Underdog humans and dolphin allies in a galaxy filled with some truly original aliens.
The whole Uplift Universe series is good, but Startide Rising is the best.
Hard to pick one. The Stars My Destination? The Left Hand of Darkness? Fluke; or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings? Dhalgren? The Book of the New Sun? Replay? Gravity’s Rainbow?
I guess I’ll go with the one that changed my life: Titan by John Varley.
Yes.
FWIW, ***Somnium ***was published in 1634.
Very difficult decision indeed but I think I’ll go with HG Wells’ The Time Machine, if only for its enormous influence on SF.
And I wouldn’t dream of considering Frankenstein the first SF work, You’d have to discount works like Lucian (2nd century AD) Voyage to the Moon and Voltaire’s 18th century novella Micromégas about an alien from a planet orbiting Sirius who at the age of 450 (just finishing his infancy) travels to Earth, first stopping off at Saturn to enjoy a conversation with a Saturnian Academician. If these books aren’t SF then I don’t know what they are, and of course there are many more pre-Shelley.
I spent my entire Middle School years reading Sci-Fi. What was my favorite? Short stories.
(Ha! Dodged the question.)
If only I could make money by having strangers (or Alex Trebek?) naming a story and my identifying which anthology it was in:
“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, Harlan Ellison. Tenth story in World’s Best Science Fiction of 1968!”
HG Wells’ War of the Worlds.
Sorry, you forgot to phrase it in the form of a question. 
Agree with all of this, except not sure that they are the “best.”
I’ve read most of these and agree that they are very good.
Curious in what way Titan changed your life?
I’ll have to second the vote for The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
But where science fiction really shines is the short story, not the novel. My nomination for the best science fiction short would be Niven’s “Inconstant Moon”.
Robert Heinlein.
Either The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress or The Rolling Stone.
Lois McMaster Bujold.
Either A Civil Campaign or Diplomatic Immunity
Fixed link: Somnium (novel) - Wikipedia
That’s fantasy, not science as magicians and demons are involved.
Me, too!
Good choices both. For short story however, I’d go for “Fondly Fahrenheit” by Alfred Bester. As for novel, I think it varies for me day by day. Some days it might be “Double Star” or MiaHM, while other days it could be Pohl’s Jem or Varley’s The Golden Globe
If we’re choosing between well-known classics, I’d be wavering between The Disposessed, A Fire Upon the Deep or Stand On Zanzibar
But I think for my absolute favourite I have to go with an obscure entry: Nancy Kress’s An Alien Light which is a great character-driven book about the process of discovering that Science is a thing, and trying to bring it into a traditional/medieval society that can’t even process the idea of Sciencing, or why it might be good.
Favourite SF series: Julian May’s saga of the Pliocene Exiles - great Space Opera hovering just the right side of the Fantasy line
ETA: Short Story entry - Built Up Logically by Howard Schoenfeld. Does that count as SF? It’s kinda weird - which is of course the best thing about it
Great books! I read them several times (and was just talking about Aiken Drum with Dendarii Dame today)
Whether Frankenstein is the first science fiction novel depends upon whether utopian literature can be classified as science fiction (in which case, the science would be social rather than life or physical). If so, the strongest argument would be for Plato’s Republic.