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 to the title on Goodreads (through 2021) or The StoryGraph (starting in 2022).
First book finished Jan 2, 2019. Last book finished…sometime in the future!
63/81 (77.78%)
Key:
✓ = I read it at some point in the past, though I may not remember exactly when; I’m re-reading these as I go.
✅ = I’ve read it for this project.
🥤🦆 = Milkshake duck; not re-reading.
- ✓✅ 1939 (Retro) T. H. White: The Sword in the Stone (read as book one of The Once and Future King)
- ✅ 1941 (Retro) A. E. van Vogt: Slan
- ✅ 1943 (Retro) Robert A. Heinlein (as Anson MacDonald): Beyond This Horizon
- ✅ 1944 (Retro) Fritz Leiber: Conjure Wife
- ✅ 1945 (Retro) Leigh Brackett: Shadow Over Mars
- ✅ 1946 (Retro) Isaac Asimov: The Mule (read as part two of Foundation and Empire)
- ✅ 1951 (Retro) Robert A. Heinlein: Farmer in the Sky
- ✅ 1953 Alfred Bester: The Demolished Man
- ✓✅ 1954 (Retro) Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
- ✅ 1955 Mark Clifton & Frank Riley: They’d Rather Be Right (also known as The Forever Machine)
- ✅ 1956 Robert A. Heinlein: Double Star
- ✅ 1958 Fritz Leiber: The Big Time
- ✅ 1959 James Blish: A Case of Conscience
- ✓✅ 1960 Robert A. Heinlein: Starship Troopers
- ✓✅ 1961 Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Canticle for Leibowitz
- ✓✅ 1962 Robert A. Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land
- ✅ 1963 Philip K. Dick: The Man in the High Castle
- ✅ 1964 Clifford D. Simak: Here Gather the Stars (also known as Way Station)
- ✅ 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) - ✓✅ 1966 (1) Frank Herbert: Dune
- ✅ 1966 (2) Roger Zelazny: …And Call Me Conrad (also known as This Immortal)
- ✅ 1967 Robert A. Heinlein: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
- ✅ 1968 Roger Zelazny: Lord of Light
- ✅ 1969 John Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar
(NOTE: This was the last of five read in 2020) - ✅ 1970 Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness
- ✓✅ 1971 Larry Niven: Ringworld
- ✅ 1972 Philip José Farmer: To Your Scattered Bodies Go
- ✅ 1973 Isaac Asimov: The Gods Themselves
- ✓✅ 1974 Arthur C. Clarke: Rendezvous with Rama
- ✅ 1975 Ursula K. Le Guin: The Dispossessed
- ✅ 1976 Joe Haldeman: The Forever War
- ✅ 1977 Kate Wilhelm: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
(NOTE: This was the last of eight read in 2021) - ✅ 1978 Frederik Pohl: Gateway
- ✅ 1979 Vonda N. McIntyre: Dreamsnake
- ✅ 1980 Arthur C. Clarke: The Fountains of Paradise
- ✅ 1981 Joan D. Vinge: The Snow Queen
- ✅ 1982 C. J. Cherryh: Downbelow Station
- ✅ 1983 Isaac Asimov: Foundation’s Edge
- ✓✅ 1984 David Brin: Startide Rising
- ✓✅ 1985 William Gibson: Neuromancer
(NOTE: This was the last of eight read in 2022) - ✓✅ 1986 Orson Scott Card: Ender’s Game
- ✓✅ 1987 Orson Scott Card: Speaker for the Dead
- ✓✅ 1988 David Brin: The Uplift War
- ✅ 1989 C. J. Cherryh: Cyteen
- ✓✅ 1990 Dan Simmons: Hyperion
- ✅ 1991 Lois McMaster Bujold: The Vor Game
- ✅ 1992 Lois McMaster Bujold: Barrayar
- ✓✅ 1993 (1) Vernor Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep
- ✓✅ 1993 (2) Connie Willis: Doomsday Book
(NOTE: This was the last of nine read in 2023) - ✓✅ 1994 Kim Stanley Robinson: Green Mars
- ✅ 1995 Lois McMaster Bujold: Mirror Dance
- ✓✅ 1996 Neal Stephenson: The Diamond Age
- ✅ 1997 Kim Stanley Robinson: Blue Mars
- ✅ 1998 Joe Haldeman: Forever Peace
- ✅ 1999 Connie Willis: To Say Nothing of the Dog
- ✅ 2000 Vernor Vinge: A Deepness in the Sky
- ✓🥤🦆 2001 J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- ✓🥤🦆 2002 Neil Gaiman: American Gods
(NOTE: This was the last of seven read and two skipped in 2024) - ✅ 2003 Robert J. Sawyer: Hominids
- 2004 Lois McMaster Bujold: Paladin of Souls
- 2005 Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
- 2006 Robert Charles Wilson: Spin
- 2007 Vernor Vinge: Rainbows End
- 2008 Michael Chabon: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
- ✓🥤🦆 2009 Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book
- 2010 (1) Paolo Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl
- 2010 (2) China Miéville: The City & the City
- 2011 Connie Willis: Blackout/All Clear
- 2012 Jo Walton: Among Others
- ✓ 2013 John Scalzi: Redshirts
- ✓ 2014 Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice
- 2015 Cixin Liu: The Three-Body Problem
- ✅ 2016 N. K. Jemisin: The Fifth Season
- ✅ 2017 N. K. Jemisin: The Obelisk Gate
- ✅ 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) - 2019 Mary Robinette Kowal: The Calculating Stars
- 2020 Arkady Martine: A Memory Called Empire
- 2021 Martha Wells: Network Effect
- 2022 Arkady Martine: A Desolation Called Peace
- 2023 T. Kingfisher: Nettle & Bone
- 2024 Emily Tesh: Some Desperate Glory
List of winners sourced from Wikipedia.