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DrNefario

Posted 2012-02-28 4:19 PM (#3072)
Subject: The end in sight

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Yesterday, I received in he post a yellowed paperback of Double Star, by Robert A. Heinlein. This is significant because it's the last Hugo winner I needed to complete the set. I have 17 left to read by my count, 15 by WWE's (I'm including the Retro Hugos and All Clear), but now I have all 17 of them in my possession.

I wonder if I'll manage to get them done before this year's winner is added?

I'm planning to start on the three I most fear next: The City & the City, The Wanderer and Stranger in a Strange Land.

Rhondak101

Posted 2012-02-28 4:34 PM (#3073 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Congratulations. That will be a great accomplishment. My stats tell me that I've only read 33% of the Hugo winners. I came to this site a couple of years ago thinking that reading the Hugo winners was my goal, but since I arrived I keep getting sidetracked by other interesting lists, books and series. Maybe one day I'll return to that goal.

Rhonda

Engelbrecht

Posted 2012-03-09 2:55 AM (#3098 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: RE: The end in sight

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I just finished my last one - Sawyer's Hominids. I'd held off on reading this for years because reading Sawyer sometimes feels like chewing tinfoil.

Now it's back to working on 2011 books...

Administrator

Posted 2012-03-09 9:49 AM (#3099 - in reply to #3098)
Subject: RE: The end in sight

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@DrNefario: Must be nice getting down under 20! I'm just over halfway at 52% read. Considering the Hugo was the impetus for WWEnd (my friends and I wanted to read them all) I've fallen way off the pace. Like Rhonda said, there are many distractions here. My focus now is just to read as many great books as I can from all the awards and lists. I do like to find the books with the most noms and list inclusions to read. Those should be the better books available and will kill multiple birds with one stone.

@Englebrecht. I'm starting to think that you're some kind of evil book reading cyborg from the future. Skynet built you to make us mere mortals look bad by comparison.... Those are some impressive stats!

DrNefario

Posted 2012-03-10 6:57 AM (#3102 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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There's so much else I want to read that I'm probably only doing a Hugo winner every fourth book or so. It does help that a lot of them double up for the GMRC.

I'm over half way through The City and he City now, and I'm liking it much more than I feared. I had developed a bit of an irrational dislike of China Mieville based on just one book and the fact that he seems to be flavour-of-the-month for award nominations.

Engelbrecht

Posted 2012-03-12 4:14 AM (#3107 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: RE: The end in sight

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@Dave

Thanks! Years ago, when I was in college, I got a part-time job in a science fiction bookstore, largely on the strength of my having read most of the books on the list on the application form! I keep hoping to duplicate that success, but no luck so far...

justifiedsinner

Posted 2012-03-19 9:56 AM (#3115 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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In the middle of reading Mirror Dance. After that I have Double Star and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and the Hugos will be complete. Completing Mirror Dance will also leave me with 6 Locus SF awards to complete the set.

splunge52

Posted 2012-03-21 3:36 PM (#3122 - in reply to #3115)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Since the summer of 2010 I have been reading the Hugo,Nebula and Locus winning and nominated books chronologically from the begining that are available in the library system of my state.I am currently up to 1972. I just finished Farmer's "To Your Scattered Bodies Go". I have a long way to go.

Edited by splunge52 2012-03-21 3:38 PM

Emil

Posted 2012-03-22 8:54 AM (#3124 - in reply to #3122)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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@Engelbrecht ROFL about the Sawyer comment. From all the Hugo winner's I've read (leaving still 10 more to go to have 100%) Hominids was for me the all time weakest winner. And I did read www.Wake, but not bothered to continue the series :-)

*I'm going into a witness protection program to hide from Sawyerians*

Engelbrecht

Posted 2012-03-23 9:26 AM (#3128 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: RE: The end in sight

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@Emil: Sadly for me, I'm a completionist and was perforce obliged to read the next two books in Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax trilogy. The third book, Hybrids, was truly bad. The worst Hugo winner for me, as for many, was Clifton & Riley's The Forever Machine (They'd Rather be Right). Ironically, the worst book I've ever read (I gave it a 2 out of 10) was Hugo Gernsback's Ultimate World. Th's right, the person for whom the Hugo award is named is the worst author ever!

I've been out of town for a few days, during which time I read James H. Schmitz's The Witches of Karres, which finishes the Locus Best SF Novels of All-Time list for me. I'm surprised that this book was ever that highly regarded.

justifiedsinner

Posted 2012-03-23 10:03 AM (#3130 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Congratulations on the Locus SF All Time. I have 7 to go on that. Over on Library Thing Ian Sale agreed with you about The Witches of Karres but I guess I'll have to read it anyway.
I quite liked The Forever Machine, very archaic but the premise was interesting. I found it a lot better than A Case of Conscience.
I also thought the Sawyer book was awful and I was not a fan of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy.

DrNefario

Posted 2012-03-27 3:07 PM (#3142 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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I wasn't keen on The Forever Machine either, but it at least had the virtue of being short.

justifiedsinner

Posted 2012-04-17 11:45 PM (#3180 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Finally. Finished the Hugos.

DrNefario

Posted 2012-04-18 7:59 AM (#3181 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Well done. What's next?

I don't think I'm likely to get through them all before the end of the year. There's too much else I want to read, so the gaps between winners can get quite big. I've just started on this year's shortlist, though. I should be ahead of the game for this one.

justifiedsinner

Posted 2012-04-18 9:07 AM (#3182 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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It took me a couple of years and I had already read a substantial number. One hurdle is the amount of series. This increases the task. My final winner was the Harry Potter which was 4th in the series. Bujold poses the same problem. I'm going to start on the Locus (SF) winners next. I have 6 to go not including the Baroque cycle novels before The System of the World.

DrNefario

Posted 2012-04-20 7:32 AM (#3186 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Luckily, I was already up-to-date with Bujold before I started. And Harry Potter, for that matter. (I'd read about half of the Hugo winners when I decided to try to complete the list, maybe two years ago.)

The only one I still have "blocked" is Foundation's Edge, for which I need to read the original Foundation trilogy. I read the first book in January, and will probably read the second next, between the two halves of A Dance With Dragons (the UK paperback version has been split into two books, again.) If ADwD wins this year, that will be an uphill struggle for some.

According to my omnibus, I should also read Forever Free before Forever Peace, but since Peace was written first, I can't see that that matters.

dustydigger

Posted 2012-05-29 6:33 AM (#3244 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Congratulations! I feel quite intimidated,I have been out of science fiction for many years,and only know the old stuff.I have read 15 Hugo winners(25%) and 34 nominees(12%),so I had better get cracking.Sadly as an old age pensioner with 4 children and 6 grandkids,I rarely have money to buy books,so I am reliant on the library,and unfortunately it is very hard to find old books.In May I read Pohl's Gateway and Clarke's Childhood's End,and June is sorted out too.I have The Forever War,Stephenson's Snow Crash,,and Leiber's The Wanderer sitting on the shelf ready :0)

icowrich

Posted 2012-05-29 8:58 AM (#3245 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Dustydigger: If you're on a budget, you may appreciate the free ebooks we list in our resources section. It may be found here:

https://www.worldswithoutend.com/resources_ebooks.asp

We are planning on expanding this list in the future.

dustydigger

Posted 2012-05-29 10:23 AM (#3246 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Oh,I am a regular Project Gutenberg reader!.I get all my old vintage crime,classics etc there,I think its a brilliant resource,though it has an horrendous layout,and is typed with what looks like an oldfashioned manuel typewriter! lol.I am going to read Harry Harrison's Planet of the Damned and Doc Smith's Skylark of Space.Good old Doc.The hero is using super technology,a space drive that is the ultimate,it cant be bettered- then in the next book,it is bettered! lol.Good fun though.
Thank you for your advice anyway.Definetely need to read those early Andre Norton stories; perhaps I should just give up sleeping,then I may have time for this towering TBR pile.Joining this group two days ago has promptly adding dozens extra to the list :0(

Administrator

Posted 2012-05-29 10:49 AM (#3248 - in reply to #3246)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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dustydigger - 2012-05-29 10:23 AM ...and Doc Smith's Skylark of Space. Good old Doc. The hero is using super technology,a space drive that is the ultimate,it cant be bettered- then in the next book,it is bettered! lol.Good fun though.

I'm a huge Pulp SF fan and absolutely adored the Skylark of Space! I wrote up a blog bit about Pulp some time ago that you might find amusing: In Praise of Pulp

dustydigger

Posted 2012-05-29 11:35 AM (#3251 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Oh boy,Dave,just had a glorious time reading your blog about the glories of Pulp,and I totally agree.Had to smile about how your comments about the super speed melded so well with my own comment about Doc Smith.The books are so ridiculous,and move at warp speed in the plot department,and are just riotous fun.And if you check up on SF authors,I'll bet you any money,no matter how po-faced heavy duty hard SF they are today,they too lapped up these books in their teens.Ok,not too good on technology,but that wide eyed joy in the wonders of the universe gave us all so much pleasure.So many sneer that such paltry stuff(well,in their eyes),but you bet we had a lot more pleasure that people are getting today from their SF.Having fun seems to be frowned on.
If you can think of any modern authors still taking us out into the unknown to boldly go,I would love to hear of them.
Oh,by the way,all that lovely dust and mold causing horrendous but happy sneezing? That's what my user name means.I am the person who is rooting around in those intriguing boxes in the corners of the second hand bookshop searching for treasures-well.I was before they all closed down to become wine bars and the like.Now my name preserves the honourable memory,and nothing more :0(

Administrator

Posted 2012-05-29 8:54 PM (#3260 - in reply to #3251)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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dustydigger - 2012-05-29 11:35 AM Oh boy,Dave,just had a glorious time reading your blog about the glories of Pulp...

Glad you liked it! I wrote that after reading Skylark and I was well stuck in the pulp.

I am the person who is rooting around in those intriguing boxes in the corners of the second hand bookshop searching for treasures...(

Been there, done that. Got the T-shirt. I'm betting that most folks around here can identify! Great user handle by the way. Especially now that I know it's origins.

dustydigger

Posted 2012-06-01 6:06 AM (#3281 - in reply to #3072)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Ah,the good old days,when there was dust around.Now the only books around are in thrift shops,and in my area,very provincial,they are stuffed with chicklit,Dan Brown,and action adventure books.Not my cup of tea,and not a speck of dust anywhere.I faithfully check every week hoping to see my first Harry Dresden,(I have the first three sadly bought at full price,and they had a half price sale the following week.Aaarrgghh!.I could have had the first six for the money),but nary a one.Obviously the SF/F readers are either few in my little town,or faithfully hang on to their books,probably the latter.Makes for slim pickings though in adding books cheaply,and with the libraries chucking out SF books wholesale,its hard to get them there too..

Emil

Posted 2012-06-01 8:40 AM (#3282 - in reply to #3281)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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@dd you make a very interesting comment: "Obviously the SF/F readers are either few in my little town,or faithfully hang on to their books" - I also tend to think it's the latter. Very rarely, as in VERY rarely, can I find decent SF books second-hand. The usual suspects are there, yes, and the fact that I keep running into an odd few of the same ... err ... lovestruck vampires is an indication of their status - they are no keepers. But the really decent novels, the classics, and the likes are as scarce as chicken teeth. I hold on to my books and don't often let them go. I take time before buying anything, and WWEnd of course is a huge help. If I can't find the book in the database, I don't buy it. That's as anal as it comes, I guess.

I'm hoping that my SF collection will hold some future appeal to my descendants

3 more books, then I've got all the Hugo winners collected. 10 more to read to complete all the winners.

Administrator

Posted 2012-06-06 12:53 AM (#3322 - in reply to #3282)
Subject: Re: The end in sight

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Emil - 2012-06-01 8:40 AM 10 more to read to complete all the winners.

I can picture a tall stack of books on your nighstand being whittled away over time... If I bought all the books I have left to read for the Hugo my stack would reach the ceiling and emperil life and limb!

I think you should start a countdown, Emil: "T minus 10 books and counting..."

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