Day -67: The H-List

The list of Hugo Award Winners for Best Novel is not the largest list in my reading plan; I suspect by the end of 2035 it will be the smallest, as it will grow only one book a year for 20 years, give or take. (A few years ago, two books won as a single work; and a different few years ago, the 14-volume Wheel of Time was nominated but did not win, but showed that the list could get really big.)

The Hugo winners list is where this idea for a 20-year reading plan came from. When I heard of Puppygate in mid-2015, one lesson I took from it was that there was this rich literature of current books worth arguing about, and I had no idea. I eventually watched the livestream of the Hugo Awards ceremony, skipping the sportsball game my team was playing.

For the purposes of my plan, I have divided the Hugo winners into three periods. The early period starts at the beginning. The middle period begins in 1984, with Startide Rising. I chose this for purely self-serving reasons: beginning in 1984, there is a five-year chunk where all the books are either books I've read or sequels to books I've read. In contrast, the winner in 1983, Foundation's Edge, was book four in a series I've read none of. The late period begins in 2013, which was the year Redshirts won; I had at that point read the first and last Hugo winners, and that amuses me, so that's where I drew that line.

It will not be enough to read one book per year from each list. I'm starting with two from the early period, and one each from the later periods; the early books are shorter, as you can see in this graph I made.

Also, I will read The Dispossessed in 2016, because Katie told me to.



Here is the list of Hugo winners, and it's the complete list. I have struck through the books I have already read, so they are not part of my list.

The Demolished Man

They'd Rather Be Right

Double Star

The Big Time

A Case of Conscience

Starship Troopers

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Stranger in a Strange Land

The Man in the High Castle

Way Station

The Wanderer

Dune

This Immortal

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Lord of Light

Stand on Zanzibar

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ringworld

To Your Scattered Bodies Go

The Gods Themselves

Rendezvous with Rama

The Dispossessed

The Forever War

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang

Gateway

Dreamsnake

The Fountains of Paradise

The Snow Queen

Downbelow Station

Foundation's Edge

Startide Rising

Neuromancer

Ender's Game

Speaker for the Dead

The Uplift War

Cyteen

Hyperion

The Vor Game

Barrayar

A Fire Upon the Deep

Doomsday Book

Green Mars

Mirror Dance

The Diamond Age

Blue Mars

Forever Peace

To Say Nothing of the Dog

A Deepness in the Sky

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

American Gods

Hominids

Paladin of Souls

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Spin

Rainbow's End

The Yiddish Policeman's Union

The Graveyard Book

The Windup Girl

The City & the City

Blackout

All Clear

Among Others

Redshirts

Ancillary Justice
The Three-Body Problem

Yes, that's right. I haven't read (insert your favorite Hugo winner here). But you probably haven't read the books I have either. Unless you're Katie.