Now that I'm well on my way to watching the Top 250 movies on IMDb, I'm slowly turned my attention to fiction. My interest is mainly in the Fantasy & Science Fiction area. Unfortunately, I don't know of any list like the IMDb Top 250, but there are a few awards that could take the place of the Oscars for books. That's probably a good place to start.

The most popular awards in Science Fiction are the Hugo award and Nebula award, followed by the Philip K Dick award, John W. Campbell award, Arthur C Clarke award and other awards. I collated a list of all the awards (from LocusMag) into the spreadsheet below

Very few of these books have won multiple awards. None have won more than 3 on this list. Of these, only five have 3 awards:

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke American Gods by Neil Gaiman Neuromancer by William Gibson Gateway by Frederik Pohl Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman

Over 20 books have won two of these awards.

Dune by Frank Herbert The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov Ringworld by Larry Niven Timescape by Gregory Benford Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman Gloriana by Michael Moorcock Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley The Forever War by Joe Haldeman Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke Doomsday Book by Connie Willis Boy's Life by Robert McCammon Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter Startide Rising by David Brin Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I haven't read most of these books. The ones I have read are:

  1. The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (which I loved)
  2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (which I loved)
  3. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (which was OK)
  4. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (which I didn't like)
  5. Dune by Frank Herbert (which I didn't like)

That's about a 50% ratio, so I guess this list doesn't quite very well work for me. Or at least, my taste doesn't match the Award critics. But maybe you will find something interesting to read...