Comments on: What Hugo-winning books have you read?

By: Hugo winners at Ruminations

Hugo winners at Ruminations — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 03:52:02 +0000

[...] inspiration came from Raph Koster – Hugo Award winners I’ve read, in italics. (Also, it seems doubly apt to look at a list of [...]

By: Max Battcher

Max Battcher — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 08:57:32 +0000

Bart: There have been quite a few very enjoyable books since 1990 on that list, it just depends on what types of books you want to read. The {Color} Mars trilogy is well written and often engrossing (plus full of good hard science). The Diamond Age is what you make of it… if you like Stephenson’s full bore explorations with great beginnings, interesting middles, and odd unsatisfactory endings.

American Gods is probably the stand-out to me (of those I have read) post-1990. Gaiman just has a magical prose ability when steeped in crazy fantasy and American Gods is top notch. Grab American Gods and Anansi Boys and you’ll have some great reading for at least a couple of days.

By: Tess

Tess — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 22:17:37 +0000

I would feel bad about how few of those books I had read, except I have read a decent number of the authors listed — just not necessarily those specific books.

By: moo

moo — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 23:07:29 +0000

Damn, I’ve only read 16 of them (mostly by folks like Heinlein, Connie Willis, Kim Stanley Robinson and Frank Herbert). Oh well.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:28:02 +0000

Looks like “They’d Rather Be Right” was republished in ’81 by Doubleday. Abebooks has pointers to quite a few for sale.

To 9: Run, don’t walk, to get “A Fire Upon the Deep”. Lots of fun.

Raph: fancy new live preview! What other new WP2.0 features do we get?

By: Bart Stewart

Bart Stewart — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:19:07 +0000

Ditto on The Man in the High Castle and The Forever War as being very worth reading, but I also thought Cyteen (the trilogy) was very good (unlike Cherryh's fantasy novels). Looking at the list, I found I've read most Hugo winners since The Demolished Man up until 1990 (including Hyperion which I found lethally dull). Since then, the only winner I've read was the Harry Potter book. Since 1990, it seems to me, the Hugo has mostly been about what you're "supposed" to have read rather than about what's actually enjoyable SF. Maybe the cycle will eventually turn once again....

By: Raph

Raph — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 22:05:31 +0000

To reply…

2. It is if you really love SF and fantasy, I suppose.

3. My grandmother was a schoolteacher specializing in early education. She started teaching me to read unfashionably early. I cannot recall a time when I couldn’t read. I was reading by age two. In preschool I got in trouble for bringing Ludlum’s “Bourne Identity” to school with me. I was indiscriminate — I was also reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys and Ferdinand the Bull at the same time. I read the first Xanth book when I was six, Sturgeon’s “More Than Human” in first or second grade, and Dante’s Inferno in fourth grade. I think I was in in sixth before I decided to read all of Shakespeare, plus the Bible cover to cover. Yes, I was a bit of a weird kid.

Anyway, one of the results of that is that I read exceptionally quickly. It takes me a while to build up to speed, but once I am immersed in a book, I will read as fast as a page a second. Interrupt me, and I have to build back up again slowly. If left to my own devices and without interruption, I can easily knock off two or three full-length books in a day.

By: Prokofy Neva

Prokofy Neva — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:20:35 +0000

1. I only read 4.
2. Is it worth marching through this list, really?
3. How are you able to read so many books at once? Are you speed-reading lol?

I’ve been meaning to read Vernor Vinge for a long time.

By: Raph

Raph — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:01:36 +0000

Hugos are actually voted on by readers — people who attend the Worldcon. The Nebulas are picked by the members of the SFWA, so it’s picked by writers.

By: Brew

Brew — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 03:03:49 +0000

cyteen wasn’t bad, but not my favorite of Cherryh’s books. Other than that, I look at the list and am quite disappointed. Soooo many great books didn’t hit the list, and comparing many of the winners to books *I* consider top notch books, I guess i’m just not on the same wavelength as the judges…

Then again, I’m sure most avid reading consumers aren’t on the same page as the judges either…

That said…2 books stand out as being The BEST of the best… Dune, and Neuromancer. They’ve definately stood the test of time, and forged paths into new territory.