(no subject)

[swestrup]

The Hugo Winners. I've put a hatch mark '#' in front of the ones I've read. If I've read it, there's a 90% chance I own a copy.

2005 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
2004 Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
2003 Hominids, Robert J. Sawyer
# 2002 American Gods, Neil Gaiman
# 2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling
# 2000 A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge
# 1999 To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
1998 Forever Peace, Joe Haldeman
# 1997 Blue Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
# 1996 The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
# 1995 Mirror Dance, Lois McMaster Bujold
# 1994 Green Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
1993 Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
# 1993 A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge
# 1992 Barrayar, Lois McMaster Bujold
# 1991 The Vor Game, Lois McMaster Bujold
1990 Hyperion, Dan Simmons
1989 Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
# 1988 The Uplift War, David Brin
# 1987 Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card
# 1986 Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
# 1985 Neuromancer, William Gibson
# 1984 Startide Rising, David Brin
1983 Foundation's Edge, Isaac Asimov
1982 Downbelow Station, C. J. Cherryh
# 1981 The Snow Queen, Joan D. Vinge
1980 The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C. Clarke
# 1979 Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre
# 1978 Gateway, Frederik Pohl
1977 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Kate Wilhelm
# 1976 The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
1975 The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
# 1974 Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
# 1973 The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov
# 1972 To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip José Farmer
# 1971 Ringworld, Larry Niven
1970 The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
1969 Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
# 1968 Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
# 1967 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
# 1966 Dune, Frank Herbert
# 1966 "...And Call Me Conrad" (This Immortal), Roger Zelazny
1965 The Wanderer, Fritz Leiber
# 1964 "Here Gather the Stars" (Way Station), Clifford D. Simak
1963 The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
# 1962 Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
# 1961 A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M., Miller Jr
# 1960 Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
1959 A Case of Conscience, James Blish
1958 The Big Time, Fritz Leiber
# 1956 Double Star, Robert A. Heinlein
1955 They'd Rather Be Right (The Forever Machine), Mark Clifton & Frank Riley
1953 The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester

Looking over the list, there are several that I read and didn't like:

• Blue Mars,
  
• The Snow Queen,
  
• Dreamsnake.

some that I tried to read and couldn't get into at all

• The Left Hand of Darkness,
• Stand on Zanzibar,
• A Case of Conscience,
• Downbelow Station,

a few that I'm sure I read but can't recall any details from the title

• The Forever War
• Way Station
• Double Star

a few that I may have read, or should have read (as they are by authors which were/are on my 'must read' list) but which I don't remember ever encountering

• The Wanderer
• Big Time

a few that I did not read specifically because they were disrecommended to me, Hugo winner or not:

• Hominids
• Doomsday book
• Hyperion

and at least one that I own in a foreign language that I specifically bought to give me something to read in that language (and which I've never gotten past the first chapter):

• Cyteen (French translation)
  

Comments

[cpirate.livejournal.com]

I've read The Forever War, it's a hard-SF exploration of what happens when you have relativistic space travel in the context of a war - every now and then your battle would be with someone a few thousand years behind in their development, if they'd been travelling from farther away. Or sometimes vice-versa. And of course the soldiers had to put up with society changing massively as they "spent" thousands of years at near-light speeds. Ring any bells?

My list is also much smaller:
- Hominids
- American Gods
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- The Diamond Age
- Speaker for the Dead
- Ender's Game
- Neuromancer
- The Forever War
- The Left Hand of Darkness
- Dune
- A Canticle for Leibowitz
- Stranger in a Strange Land

I guess that's pretty good considering I don't read a lot of SF these days. I do have to concur with whomever dis-recommended Hominids though; it was really bad. A mediocre idea, with mind-wrenchingly bad prose.

[swestrup]

It rings vague bells, but I may well have read a dozen books with similar themes to The Forever War. I can't recall anything in particular from the book though. I wouldn't even have put it in the list, except I own a copy and its filed as 'already read'.