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 (including milkshake duck skips):
Overall (includes those I read at some point in the past):
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.
🚫 = 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.