Since if all of my friends were jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, I would do it, I decided to see how many of the books that won said awards that I've already read. Since I can't do a list without comments, I'm sure I'll comment.
First up: the Hugo Awards.
- 2005 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Yes - 2004 Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
Yes - 2003 Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer
Yes - 2002 American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Yes - 2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Yes - 2000 A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
My first miss. Maybe someday. - 1999 To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Yes - 1998 Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
Yes - 1997 Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Yes - 1996 The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Yes - 1995 Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Yes - 1994 Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Yes - 1993 (tie) A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
The book people are most surprised to find I haven't read, so there's a part of me that doesn't want to read it and break that streak. - 1993 (tie) Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Yes - 1992 Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
Yes - 1991 The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
Yes - 1990 Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Yes - 1989 Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh
Almost read it last year, when planning the '80s series of the SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection, but it was too big and too daunting, so I didn't. Maybe someday. - 1988 The Uplift War by David Brin
Yes - 1987 Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
No point in getting to it before the book immediately below.... - 1986 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
I know I need to read this, but I think I would have been a far more receptive audience at the time (when I was 17). - 1985 Neuromancer by William Gibson
Yes - 1984 Startide Rising by David Brin
Yes - 1983 Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov
I honestly can't remember, so let's say I didn't read it. - 1982 Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh
Missed it. I haven't read much Cherryh, and what I have read is all 1991 and later. - 1981 The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Yes - 1980 The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke
Missed it. - 1979 Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
Yes - 1978 Gateway by Frederik Pohl
Yes - 1977 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
I have a copy, and I keep meaning to read it, but I haven't gotten to it yet. - 1976 The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Yes - 1975 The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
I love the Earthsea books, but Science Fictional Ursula (what I've read of her) always struck me as being like a visit to your ex-Wobbly grandmother: an afternoon of tedium and oh-so-sensible stories about how everyone should behave. - 1974 Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Yes - 1973 The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
Tried to start it once, about a decade ago, and got bogged down. - 1972 To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
Yes - 1971 Ringworld by Larry Niven
Yes - 1970 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Missed it; see above. (Though this is short, and I keep thinking I will read it one day.) - 1969 Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
Read big chunks of it, but not actually cover-to-cover. - 1968 Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Yes - 1967 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Yes - 1966 (tie) Dune by Frank Herbert
Yes - 1966 (tie) ...And Call Me Conrad (aka: This Immortal) by Roger Zelazny
Yes - 1965 The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
Haven't wanted to read it: Leiber is one of my favorite authors, and this is generally considered his worst book. So as long as I don't read it, there's still one book of his left. - 1964 Here Gather the Stars (aka: Way Station) by Clifford D. Simak
Pretty sure I never read it. - 1963 The Man in the High Castleby Philip K. Dick
Yes - 1962 Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Yes - 1961 A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Yes - 1960 Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Yes - 1959 A Case of Conscience by James Blish
Yes - 1958 The Big Time by Fritz Leiber
Yes - 1956 Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein
Yes - 1955 They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley
The one book on the list I'm happy not to have read. - 1953 The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Yes
5 comments:
Of the ones you've missed (and I've read), the greatest book is Cyteen. If after reading, you feel (as I did) that you've missed something, you can Google up the rec.arts.sf.written threads in which Jo Walton, Graydon et al. discuss it in painstaking detail. It's one of the few SF books that rewards close reading and re-reading in the way that, say, Ulysses does.
Read "Way Station" ... it's short (by the the standards of today) and best of all... it's not part of a series!
I liked it enough to put my money down to reprint it.
Darn good classic...
Michael Walsh
I always moan that I haven't read enough classics, and here I am with a nearly 20% rate on the Hugo list! And spread out from the 59 to 2002, which makes me wonder how that happened. Can't wait to see how I do on the Nebulas and WFAs, but I'll wait for your lists (I love lists too!)
Elizabeth (A Gaiman-freak who stayed)
I've missed five, three since 2000. I did fairly well on the Nebulas as well.
It was pointed out that I claimed to have read Ringworld here, and not to have read it on the Nebula list.
I must come clean: I haven't read Ringworld, and so I must restate my Hugo-reading percentage as 36 of 53. Please be assured that my accounting firm, Wiley Underhanded & Bastard, is completely responsible for the error, and that they have already been removed from the account.
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