As for Crichton and King, I am the kind of reader who can forgive some bad writing if the story and ideas are solid enough. Don't get me wrong, Crichton got really bad in his last few years, but his earlier works and concepts I find to be wonderful. I find Eaters of the Dead to be a beautiful book, and Timeline to be punchy and riveting (especially as many of his books are on the long side.)

I could see him being excluded from the list because some people argue that Crichton is more on the Thriller end of the genre spectrum, but then why not keep King in Horror? I'm really just confused by this list.

I will not defend Stranger in a Strange Land. In fact, I agree with what you say. I think the book completely forgot that it had a plot during a few hundred pages XD

AND I forgot, but Jonathan Strange is on my to-read list XD I've had someone actively campaigning for me to read it by now. I'm sure I was under a rock when the hype was going on, cause I am uninformed about literary trends XD