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An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953-2000 by Jo Walton
sarahholland's review
4.0
Finding out what I've missed reading...
Oh boy - has this given me a lot to add to my to be read list, or what! I will have to track down quite a lot of novellas and short stories, in particular
Oh boy - has this given me a lot to add to my to be read list, or what! I will have to track down quite a lot of novellas and short stories, in particular
sunscour's review
5.0
This was such a fun read. I felt like I was peeking behind the door. I discovered so many novellas and short stories to read. The reviews were informative.
chirson's review
4.0
There are some genuine flaws to this book and its format. It gets a little repetitive; it had some copyediting problems (spelling, for example); sometimes the comments that were included seemed to lack a bit of the context.
And yet, I just enjoyed it so profoundly. It made me want to read all the things, even things I *know* I don't really want to read, or that I suspect I won't enjoy much. I read the ebook, and that also made me realise I *need* this book on paper, because this is the kind of book to annotate and scribble on, and maybe stick stickers in.
I love Walton's enthusiasm and admire the breadth of her (and her commenters') knowledge of the genre. I can only hope to be 1/3 so well-read one day!
And now I must read something.
And yet, I just enjoyed it so profoundly. It made me want to read all the things, even things I *know* I don't really want to read, or that I suspect I won't enjoy much. I read the ebook, and that also made me realise I *need* this book on paper, because this is the kind of book to annotate and scribble on, and maybe stick stickers in.
I love Walton's enthusiasm and admire the breadth of her (and her commenters') knowledge of the genre. I can only hope to be 1/3 so well-read one day!
And now I must read something.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
3.0
Exhausting. And I'm glad to be done with it. But was it good. Was it readable. Mostly it was a book of lists. Lists of nominees and winners for the hugo. Lists of books that got nominated for the nebula and locus and eventually other awards. It was definitely better at the beginning of the book. As time went on and more recent times were reached, it was just less interesting. And then there's the shorter works. I have read a bunch of shorter sf and fantasy work, I've got a whole book case of them. But they generally don't stay with me except for a very few of the bigger works that I've read multiple times and seen discussed. So a lot of the book was okay but not all that interesting. It was kind of neat to see writers appear on the scene and in context. And I appreciate Jo Walton having a point of view even if her opinion of many authors were based on reading an early work and never giving them another chance. I did agree with her with lots of other works. But was this book actually good? I kind of want to use it to update my goodreads lists and my to-read lists. But basically I can use the online nominee lists without this book. But it was fun to spend the time in this space.
tpietila's review against another edition
4.0
It is not so much a history of the Hugo awards, but rather a history of Hugo winners and nominees (and about what else might have been worthy of nominating).
There have been very many books and stories I have somehow missed. There also are many books I have read, enjoyed and almost forgotten and which are ripe for a reread - I tried to be selective, but I ended up with a fairly long list of books to read and reread. The author has a tendency to abandon any author if the first book she read has been mediocre - and in a few instances her choice is laudable, but in other cases, she has missed some worthy books. The book is based on the blog posts the author has written, and every year includes some commentaries by some prominent anthologists and other science fiction personalities. Little editing has been done to those: even the numbers of the comments are left and, in a few cases, there were some comments which apparently reference other comments on the blog, comments which haven’t been included in the book. Some editing might have been nice. It is a good reference book, which I most like will return to.
There have been very many books and stories I have somehow missed. There also are many books I have read, enjoyed and almost forgotten and which are ripe for a reread - I tried to be selective, but I ended up with a fairly long list of books to read and reread. The author has a tendency to abandon any author if the first book she read has been mediocre - and in a few instances her choice is laudable, but in other cases, she has missed some worthy books. The book is based on the blog posts the author has written, and every year includes some commentaries by some prominent anthologists and other science fiction personalities. Little editing has been done to those: even the numbers of the comments are left and, in a few cases, there were some comments which apparently reference other comments on the blog, comments which haven’t been included in the book. Some editing might have been nice. It is a good reference book, which I most like will return to.
tronella's review against another edition
3.0
I got a lot of book recs out of this, which is what I wanted, but it's definitely a bunch of blog posts and not a book. I skimmed a lot of it, especially the endless litany of Locus award nominees.
annaswan's review against another edition
4.0
September 2020 resolution read: nonfiction. The “problem” with reading memoirs about books is that then my “to be read” list gets longer and longer. And Jo’s tastes overlap mine *a lot*! It was so interesting to see the genre progress from the old Heinlein, Clarke, and Asimov novels that I read from Dad’s shelf to the books and stories I knew and loved in the ‘80s and ‘90s - Bujold, Cherryh, Egan, and Hugo-overlooks I’d loved like Butler.
I smiled countless times while reading this and even laughed aloud. So four stars it is!
I smiled countless times while reading this and even laughed aloud. So four stars it is!
saruwine's review against another edition
4.0
Once again, Jo Walton did Bad Things to my Want-to-read list. Fascinating stuff. I can only hope to live long enough to see someone do a similar book on the Hugos of early 21st century—maybe then I will actually have read more of the nominees…
jimsfekas's review against another edition
4.0
Walton is a great writer of fantasy, but she really had a special talent writing about science fiction and fantasy, especially because it's so clear how much she loves it. This book is a great survey of 50ish years of the Hugo awards that helped understand what was great then and how the field had developed. Definitely worth reading if you're a fan.