There’s a meme going round at the moment to list all the Hugo-winning novels you have read. I have, in fact, read all of them, so won’t do it that way. But I will list the ones I have written on-line reviews of below – most are short notes, but in several cases I have posted longer analyses on my website (marked with an asterisk):
2004 Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
2003 Hominids, Robert J. Sawyer
2002 American Gods, Neil Gaiman*
2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling
2000 A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge*
1999 To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
1998 Forever Peace, Joe Haldeman*
1997 Blue Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
1996 The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
1995 Mirror Dance, Lois McMaster Bujold
1994 Green Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
1993 Doomsday Book, Connie Willis*
1993 A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge
1992 Barrayar, Lois McMaster Bujold
1991 The Vor Game, Lois McMaster Bujold
1990 Hyperion, Dan Simmons
1989 Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
1988 The Uplift War, David Brin
1987 Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card
1986 Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card*
1985 Neuromancer, William Gibson
1984 Startide Rising, David Brin
1983 Foundation’s Edge, Isaac Asimov
1982 Downbelow Station, C. J. Cherryh
1981 The Snow Queen, Joan D. Vinge
1980 The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C. Clarke*
1979 Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre*
1978 Gateway, Frederik Pohl*
1977 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Kate Wilhelm
1976 The Forever War, Joe Haldeman*
1975 The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin*
1974 Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
1973 The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov*
1972 To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip José Farmer
1971 Ringworld, Larry Niven
1970 The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
1969 Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
1968 Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
1967 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
1966 Dune, Frank Herbert*
1966 “…And Call Me Conrad” (This Immortal), Roger Zelazny
1965 The Wanderer, Fritz Leiber
1964 “Here Gather the Stars” (Way Station), Clifford D. Simak
1963 The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
1962 Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
1961 A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M., Miller Jr
1960 Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
1959 A Case of Conscience, James Blish
1958 The Big Time, Fritz Leiber
1956 Double Star, Robert A. Heinlein
1955 They’d Rather Be Right (The Forever Machine), Mark Clifton & Frank Riley
1954 (Retro-Hugo) Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
1953 The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
1951 (Retro-Hugo) Farmer in the Sky, Robert A. Heinlein
1946 (Retro-Hugo) The Mule, Isaac Asimov (part II of Foundation and Empire)
My favourites off that list are the novels by Le Guin, Clarke, Zelazny, Bujold, and Leiber, and also Gateway, A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Big Time and Fahrenheit 451.
My least favourites: Hominids, Neuromancer, C.J. Cherryh, The Gods Themselves, They’d Rather Be Right.
Yes, this. TS3 has a lot more going for it when you know the background to the relationships, the kind of world view and sense of identity the toys have, and so on.
That said I’d probably rank these 5 films in similar order – swapping TS3 and HP7 – but without the No Award line. I liked them all, but do think that viewed as individual films TS3 and HP7 are weak. HTTYD is good, and rather sweet, but nothing like the book; SP was great fun; Inception was spectacular and gripping on so many levels (pun intended).