Hugo Reading

In 2019 I decided to work my way through reading all of the Best Novel Hugo Award winners (however long it takes), and am using this page to track my progress. While I started with the (then) most recent three winners, once I finished those, I went back to the beginning and am reading forward chronologically. I expect this will take a few years, as I will definitely be pausing to read each year’s Philip K. Dick Award nominees when they’re announced in January or February, for several of the entries on this list I may well pause to read prior or later books in whatever series they come from, and sometimes I might just want to read something else entirely. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

Once I’ve read an entry for this project, I link the title to my brief review on Goodreads (through 2021) or The StoryGraph (starting in 2022).

First book finished Jan 2, 2019. Last book finished…sometime in the future!

Current progress:

58/81 (71.6%)

Overall (includes those I read at some point in the past):

63/81 (77.78%)

Key:
✓ = I read it at some point in the past, though I may not remember exactly when. I will probably be re-reading these as I go.
✅ = I’ve read it for this project.

  1. ✓✅ 1939 (Retro) T. H. White: The Sword in the Stone (read as book one of The Once and Future King)
  2. ✅ 1941 (Retro) A. E. van Vogt: Slan
  3. ✅ 1943 (Retro) Robert A. Heinlein (as Anson MacDonald): Beyond This Horizon
  4. ✅ 1944 (Retro) Fritz Leiber: Conjure Wife
  5. ✅ 1945 (Retro) Leigh Brackett: Shadow Over Mars
  6. ✅ 1946 (Retro) Isaac Asimov: The Mule (read as part two of Foundation and Empire)
  7. ✅ 1951 (Retro) Robert A. Heinlein: Farmer in the Sky
  8. ✅ 1953 Alfred Bester: The Demolished Man
  9. ✓✅ 1954 (Retro) Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
  10. ✅ 1955 Mark Clifton & Frank Riley: They’d Rather Be Right (also known as The Forever Machine)
  11. ✅ 1956 Robert A. Heinlein: Double Star
  12. ✅ 1958 Fritz Leiber: The Big Time
  13. ✅ 1959 James Blish: A Case of Conscience
  14. ✓✅ 1960 Robert A. Heinlein: Starship Troopers
  15. ✓✅ 1961 Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Canticle for Leibowitz
  16. ✓✅ 1962 Robert A. Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land
  17. ✅ 1963 Philip K. Dick: The Man in the High Castle
  18. ✅ 1964 Clifford D. Simak: Here Gather the Stars (also known as Way Station)
  19. ✅ 1965 Fritz Leiber: The Wanderer
    (NOTE: This was the last of 22 read in 2019; I started with N.K. Jemesin’s 2016-2018 winning Broken Earth trilogy)
  20. ✓✅ 1966 (1) Frank Herbert: Dune
  21. ✅ 1966 (2) Roger Zelazny: …And Call Me Conrad (also known as This Immortal)
  22. ✅ 1967 Robert A. Heinlein: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
  23. ✅ 1968 Roger Zelazny: Lord of Light
  24. ✅ 1969 John Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar
    (NOTE: This was the last of five read in 2020)
  25. ✅ 1970 Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness
  26. ✓✅ 1971 Larry Niven: Ringworld
  27. ✅ 1972 Philip José Farmer: To Your Scattered Bodies Go
  28. ✅ 1973 Isaac Asimov: The Gods Themselves
  29. ✓✅ 1974 Arthur C. Clarke: Rendezvous with Rama
  30. ✅ 1975 Ursula K. Le Guin: The Dispossessed
  31. ✅ 1976 Joe Haldeman: The Forever War
  32. ✅ 1977 Kate Wilhelm: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
    (NOTE: This was the last of eight read in 2021)
  33. ✅ 1978 Frederik Pohl: Gateway
  34. ✅ 1979 Vonda N. McIntyre: Dreamsnake
  35. ✅ 1980 Arthur C. Clarke: The Fountains of Paradise
  36. ✅ 1981 Joan D. Vinge: The Snow Queen
  37. ✅ 1982 C. J. Cherryh: Downbelow Station
  38. ✅ 1983 Isaac Asimov: Foundation’s Edge
  39. ✓✅ 1984 David Brin: Startide Rising
  40. ✓✅ 1985 William Gibson: Neuromancer
    (NOTE: This was the last of eight read in 2022)
  41. ✓✅ 1986 Orson Scott Card: Ender’s Game
  42. ✓✅ 1987 Orson Scott Card: Speaker for the Dead
  43. ✓✅ 1988 David Brin: The Uplift War
  44. ✅ 1989 C. J. Cherryh: Cyteen
  45. ✓✅ 1990 Dan Simmons: Hyperion
  46. ✅ 1991 Lois McMaster Bujold: The Vor Game
  47. ✅ 1992 Lois McMaster Bujold: Barrayar
  48. ✓✅ 1993 (1) Vernor Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep
  49. ✓✅ 1993 (2) Connie Willis: Doomsday Book
    (NOTE: This was the last of nine read in 2023)
  50. ✓✅ 1994 Kim Stanley Robinson: Green Mars
  51. ✅ 1995 Lois McMaster Bujold: Mirror Dance
  52. ✓✅ 1996 Neal Stephenson: The Diamond Age
  53. ✅ 1997 Kim Stanley Robinson: Blue Mars
  54. ✅ 1998 Joe Haldeman: Forever Peace
  55. ✅ 1999 Connie Willis: To Say Nothing of the Dog
  56. 2000 Vernor Vinge: A Deepness in the Sky
  57. ✓ 2001 J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  58. ✓ 2002 Neil Gaiman: American Gods
  59. 2003 Robert J. Sawyer: Hominids
  60. 2004 Lois McMaster Bujold: Paladin of Souls
  61. 2005 Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
  62. 2006 Robert Charles Wilson: Spin
  63. 2007 Vernor Vinge: Rainbows End
  64. 2008 Michael Chabon: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
  65. ✓ 2009 Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book
  66. 2010 (1) Paolo Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl
  67. 2010 (2) China Miéville: The City & the City
  68. 2011 Connie Willis: Blackout/All Clear
  69. 2012 Jo Walton: Among Others
  70. ✓ 2013 John Scalzi: Redshirts
  71. ✓ 2014 Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice
  72. 2015 Cixin Liu: The Three-Body Problem
  73. ✅ 2016 N. K. Jemisin: The Fifth Season
  74. ✅ 2017 N. K. Jemisin: The Obelisk Gate
  75. ✅ 2018 N. K. Jemisin: The Stone Sky
    (NOTE: All three books in this series were read in 2019; when I started this project, they were the most recent winners, and any winners after this point were added after I started the project)
  76. 2019 Mary Robinette Kowal: The Calculating Stars
  77. 2020 Arkady Martine: A Memory Called Empire
  78. 2021 Martha Wells: Network Effect
  79. 2022 Arkady Martine: A Desolation Called Peace
  80. 2023 T. Kingfisher: Nettle & Bone
  81. 2024 Emily Tesh: Some Desperate Glory

List of winners sourced from Wikipedia.