TSS: More Challenges!

The Sunday Salon.com

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and happy monday, depending on where you are on the globe. I swore I wasn't going to join any more reading challenges or set any more challenges for myself, but you know, sometimes you just can't resist. I've been thinking about the new year and reading challenges. I came up with a new challenge for myself - the Hugo Award Reading challenge.


The Hugo Awards are awards for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy and are awarded each year at the World Science Fiction convention.


"The Hugo Awards are named after Hugo Gernsback, a famous magazine editor who did much to bring science fiction to a wider audience. Gernsback founded Amazing Stories, the first major American SF magazine, in 1926. He is widely credited with sparking a boom in interest in written SF. In addition to having the Hugo Awards named after him he has been recognized as the “Father of Magazine SF” and has a crater on the Moon named after him."
The first award handed out for best novel in 1953 was The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. The 2009 award went to Neil Gaiman for The Graveyard Book. I will be working my way through the list of award winners for best novel, starting with 1953. The winners through 1969 are

  1. 1953 The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester (have)
  2. 1954 Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
  3. 1955 They'd Rather be Eight - Mark Clifton
  4. 1956 Double Star - Robert Heinlein
  5. 1957 none
  6. 1958 The Big Time - Fritz Leiber
  7. 1959 A Case of Conscience - James Blish
  8. 1960 Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein
  9. 1961 A Canticle for Leibwitz - Walter Miller
  10. 1962 Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
  11. 1963 The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
  12. 1964 Here Gather the Stars - Clifford D. Simak
  13. 1965 The Wanderer - Fritz Leiber
  14. 1966 Dune - Frank Herbert
  15. 1967 The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
  16. 1968 Lord of Light - Roger Zelany
  17. 1969 Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner
The website also lists the runner ups and I may be taking side trips reading through those books as well. They all look like really interesting books and I may just have a few packed away in the closet. I'm going to have to go through my boxes and see. At some point I will either write up a post with a total list of best novels or set up a separate site. It will be a perpetual challenge and I'll set a goal of reading the novels winners from 1953 to 1969 for the first year. If anyone wants to join me in the challenge, let me know and I'll set something up.

Two other challenges that I am joining this year are BethF's Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge and The Really Old Classics Challenge co hosted by Rebecca and Heather.

A couple weeks ago I picked up "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris and was hooked. Immediately went out and bought "Living Dead in Dallas." Target had the whole series and I was tempted to buy all then and there, but resisted the temptation. I picked up "Club Dead" and "Dead to the World" today. And when I saw Beth is hosting a Sookie Stackhouse Challenge, couldn't resist joining in on the challenge.

The challenge runs through June 30, 2010 so plenty of time to read Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series.

Then Rebecca and Heather announced their Really Old Classics Challenge which is a challenge to read those really old classics written prior to the 1600's.


We have a few books on the shelves I've been meaning to read such as St. Augustine's Confessions and Five Great Dialogues by Plato to name a couple so decided to join the challenge. The challenge runs from November 2009 through February 2010. Will definitely be Reading St. Augustine's Confessions and perhaps a bonus book or two.

How am I doing on my current challenges:

Fall into Reading: Finished 6 out of 13 so far.

Take a Chance Challenge: Finished 3 out of 10 tasks. Have til the end of November. Not sure I'm going to make it.

Random Reading Challenge
: Finished 9 out of 12.

Lisa Jackson Reading Fest: Finished 1 out of 6. Have til the end of next year so will carry over to 2010 and not worry about it for the rest of this year.

I Dare You to Accept this Challenge
: Finished 1 out of 10 things. Have til April 2010, so will concentrate on finishing those tasks next year.

Agatha Christie
and U.S. Presidents Reading Projects are perpetual challenges. Working slowly on these two.

Have a few books I finished but haven't had time to review yet and will try to get caught up before the end of the month: "Hush Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick, "From a Whisper to a Scream" by Charles DeLint, "The Brutal Telling" by Louise Penny, "The Red Siren" by M.L. Tyndale and "Kill her Again" by Robert Gregory Brown. I'm currently reading "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley" and next up to bat will be "Night Watch" by Sergie Lukyanenko.

Then I have to clear the decks for National Novel Write Month.

Happy Reading!!!



5 comments:

  1. I've never read those sookie books but they're always on the charts.

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  2. I've been reading through the Hugo winners myself. A lot of great books in that list. If you're looking for more details on the Hugo winners and nominees check out my website. You'll find synopses and excerpts for all the books in a cover art gallery that's easy to peruse. You can also use our BookTrackr feature to track them as you go. Keeping tabs on the ones I've read and needed to read was the motivation for creating the site. You might find it helpful in your quest.

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  3. I'll be watching for your Hugo winner reviews - if you discover some good ones I might have to read them!

    And thanks for joining the Really Old Classics Challenge. :)

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  4. The Hugo challenge sounds really interesting. I'll be watching your progress,

    I'm so happy that you decided to join in the Sookie challenge. The books are just fun -- great escapism.

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  5. I enjoyed reading about your challenge progress. You are such a voracious reader, I have no doubt about your ability to complete them. But I'll say - Good Luck - anyway.

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