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Reader's Choice Award
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pizzakarin
Posted 2014-08-21 1:12 PM (#8335)
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Location: Austin, Tx		I just created the "Reader's Choice Award" challenge. This challenge is to read 5 books that were nominated for the same award in the same year and choose your own winner.

I am going to read the 5 nominees for the 2008 Hugo Award.
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justifiedsinner
Posted 2014-08-21 6:51 PM (#8338 - in reply to #8335)
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Nice idea. But what about the Nebula with 8 and the Campbell with 15 and the PKD with 7? How would you choose?

Edited by justifiedsinner 2014-08-21 6:52 PM
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pizzakarin
Posted 2014-08-21 8:49 PM (#8339 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: Austin, Tx		I suppose that's up to the person doing the challenge. I picked 5 because it is the largest number that wouldn't leave out any major awards.
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daxxh
Posted 2014-08-22 2:56 PM (#8346 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: Great Lakes, USA		Most of the Hugo lists are out for me because I've read at least one book off of the nominee list most years. There tend to be only 5 or 6 nominated. I try to read the Nebula nominees every year. I had a personal challenge this year to read all of the 2013 Nebula nominees. (I did that and my favorite of that list, Ancillary Justice, won!) So, I will be joining this challenge, since I'll probably do the same thing this year. Or I may choose books from the Campbell or Clarke Awards since those awards nominate more than 5 and I haven't read as many of them.
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DrNefario
Posted 2014-08-23 6:42 AM (#8352 - in reply to #8346)
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Location: UK		I like the idea of this one, so I've decided to throw in my hat and sign up. I haven't quite narrowed down an award or year yet, though.
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justifiedsinner
Posted 2014-08-24 9:15 AM (#8362 - in reply to #8335)
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At least we have until July. I'm going to wait and finish off some of the 14 Challenges I still have outstanding.
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DrNefario
Posted 2014-08-24 4:22 PM (#8368 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: UK		I'm certainly not taking on anything else that has to be done this year, but I'm having a good month, so I'm willing to look ahead.
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FeminineFantastique
Posted 2014-08-24 9:29 PM (#8370 - in reply to #8335)
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Cool idea for a challenge! As I have no hope to complete all the ones I've already signed up for it will have to wait til next year. But still, pretty awesome.
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DrNefario
Posted 2014-08-26 7:44 AM (#8372 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: UK		I feel like I have an easy option and a hard option, and I can't make up my mind which to go for. I'm leaning towards the easy option, given that I want to take it much easier next year.

My selection criteria were that I should already have several of the books, and should already be intending to read some of them in the near future. Obviously I also need to have not read anything on the shortlist, which ruled out most of the SF awards. This left me with:

Mythopoeic 2014
World Fantasy 2013 or 2014
Morningstar 2012 or 2013

The Morningstar is the one I consider the easy option. Epic fantasy is what I'd read if left alone to flow downhill and settle into my comfort zone. Obviously there's plenty of variation in quality and imagination, but I think I'd be happy enough reading all ten of those books. When I started looking I had two books in each of the two years, now I have four for 2013 and three for 2012. I'm not happy with the lack of women in 2013.

The World Fantasy I've decided to rule out. I had three books each for the two years in question. The 2014 award hasn't been given yet, and that seems like cheating. It also has six nominees, one of which doesn't much appeal to me. The 2013 award appeals slightly less, and Crandolin doesn't seem to have an ebook edition in the UK.

Which leaves me with the 2014 Mythopoeic. This has two books in common with the 2014 WFA, I own three of the five nominees, and of the other two, The Ghost Bride is the only one which sounds like it might not be my kind of thing.

So really it's Mythopoeic 2014 vs Morningstar 2012 or 2013. Maybe I'll end up doing all three, but I guess I'll still need to pick one to show on the challenge page.
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pizzakarin
Posted 2014-08-26 9:55 AM (#8373 - in reply to #8372)
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DrNefario - 2014-08-26 7:44 AM

So really it's Mythopoeic 2014 vs Morningstar 2012 or 2013. Maybe I'll end up doing all three, but I guess I'll still need to pick one to show on the challenge page.


I'm excited to see what you pick as your winner. I haven't read a ton of fantasy and I tell myself that it's because I'm picky about it, but that's only half true. I'm mostly intimidated by the history/geography/politics learning curves of most fantasy stories. I'm not very good at holding all of the information in my head. A lot of times there isn't a good way to tell from the cover (or even the reviews) how that information is presented. I'm ok if it gets dumped on me and then spoonfed again when each piece of information becomes relevant.

Maybe next year I'll do more of the fantasy-geared challenges and get out of my comfort zone (this year's out-of-the-comfort-zone challenge for me was The Guardian challenge).
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DrNefario
Posted 2014-08-26 10:21 AM (#8374 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: UK		I've decided to go for the Mythopoeic, partly because it makes me look classier, and partly because I just bought the two books I was missing.
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HRO
Posted 2014-08-26 1:38 PM (#8376 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: Neither here...nor there		I've decided to join this challenge and will be reading from the 2008 Tiptree Award list. (The Tiptree is in the process of being added to WWEnd. The books are all in the database but the coding or something needs to be done.)

I already had three books from that list on my reading plan for this year and a fourth one planned for next year so I need only add one title to complete the challenge. Sounds doable.

Great idea for a challenge!

Edited by HRO 2014-08-26 1:39 PM
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francesashton
Posted 2014-09-10 1:51 PM (#8491 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: Cheshire, England		Just signed up. Going for the 2013 Morningstar award, so as there's only ever 5 books, it just about fits! I chose this simply because I've already purchased 3 of the books (so it's going to be easy to finish) and I'm lagging behind on the Gemmells and want to catch up with some new writers.
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DrNefario
Posted 2014-09-14 3:26 PM (#8554 - in reply to #8374)
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DrNefario - 2014-08-26 4:21 PM

I've decided to go for the Mythopoeic, partly because it makes me look classier, and partly because I just bought the two books I was missing.

I've changed my mind again. Although I will be reading one of the Mythopoeic books soon, I'm just not that interested in three of them. I'd probably like them, but I don't feel like I should be forcing myself to read specific books right now. Other challenges have always had the option to swap out individual books if you just aren't in the mood, but this one is all five in a job lot, so I think I'm going to go for the safer ground of the Morningstar after all. I'm still not quite sure whether to go for 2012 or 2013.
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DrNefario
Posted 2014-09-18 7:59 AM (#8584 - in reply to #8554)
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DrNefario - 2014-09-14 9:26 PM
I've changed my mind again. Although I will be reading one of the Mythopoeic books soon, I'm just not that interested in three of them. I'd probably like them, but I don't feel like I should be forcing myself to read specific books right now. Other challenges have always had the option to swap out individual books if you just aren't in the mood, but this one is all five in a job lot, so I think I'm going to go for the safer ground of the Morningstar after all. I'm still not quite sure whether to go for 2012 or 2013.

I've made up my mind: I'm not making up my mind. I'm going to read all ten books from both years of the Morningstar. I will probably end up with 2013 officially listed in this challenge, purely because I already own the winner in 2013 and not in 2012, but it might just depend on which set I start reading first.
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francesashton
Posted 2014-09-20 2:30 PM (#8607 - in reply to #8584)
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Location: Cheshire, England		Wow, I picked a bad one to start with. 2013 Morningstar winner Malice didn't get finished having given it over 100 pages to get going. Definitely not my readers choice!
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pizzakarin
Posted 2015-02-04 9:18 AM (#9512 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: Austin, Tx		I did this a few days ago, but this challenge now has reading levels. In particular, those who would like to do awards that nominate more than 5 books.

As far as my own progress (I chose the 2008 Hugo Award), I have finished Halting State by Charles Stross and though it didn't gel with me in particular, I can see it being a 5 star book for someone else. I've started The Last Colony. I started and abandoned Brasyl earlier though that was not the fault of the book. When I pick it back up I expect the 5 star tinglies. I'm dreading the Robert J Sawyer book because I've been so disappointed by every book I've read of his except Flash Forward. I'm also dreading The Yiddish Policemen's Union because I tried listening to The Adventures of Cavelier and Clay and found it horribly dull.
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DrNefario
Posted 2015-02-05 7:45 AM (#9524 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: UK		I liked Yiddish Policemen's Union. It's still a pretty long book, but not quite as slow as Kavalier and Clay.

I'm 3/5 though the 2012 Morningstar winners. The 800-page Unremembered by Peter Orullian has been my least favourite so far. Luckily none of the others are over 500 pages, I don't think. So far, I'd order them:

Prince of Thorns
Songs of the Earth
The Unremembered

I haven't read the original winner yet.

I was also doing an unofficial challenge for 2013, where I've read 2 or the 5 books. I don't even know which one I'd say was best. Throne of the Crescent Moon was fresher, but I did enjoy the original winner Malice. I might quietly forget this unofficial challenge if I get pressed for time. Two of the remaining books here are longer than 500 pages.
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daxxh
Posted 2015-05-18 12:01 AM (#10571 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: Great Lakes, USA		I have finished this challenge. I read this year's Nebula Award nominees. I read Annihilation last year, so the remaining 5 fit into this challenge. Here's what I thought of them:

1. Annihilation
2. Ancillary Sword
3. The Three Body Problem
4. Trial By Fire
5. Coming Home
6. The Goblin Emperor

I liked the mood and the imagery evoked when reading Annihilation. That's why I chose it as my favorite of the list. I have read the other two books of the trilogy, but neither was as good as the first one. I really liked Ancillary Sword, probably because I really liked Ancillary Justice. It is a typical Book 2, though - a bit of a cliffhanger. I can't wait for Book 3. The Three Body Problem was excellent. I hope the translator for Book 2 does as good a job as Ken Liu did with Book 1. Trial By Fire was better than Fire With Fire and I will definitely be reading the next book in the series. Coming Home was ok. I haven't read any of the other Alex Benedict books, so I had no knowledge of the characters. This one seemed like a transitional book, though. I will have to go back and read the first six of the series. I didn't really like The Goblin Emperor until the end when clothing and manners seemed to be less important than the plot.

Since the award hasn't been announced yet, we will see if my choice was the winner.
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Weesam
Posted 2015-05-18 5:13 PM (#10581 - in reply to #10571)
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Location: New Zealand		I have also finished this one. And in my usual overachieving style, I did two awards rather than one.

The first award I did was this years Clark Award. I thought it was a pretty good bunch of books. Not a single one I didn't enjoy. However, if I had been in charge this is what it would have looked like:

1. Europe in Autumn
2. The Girl With All the Gifts
3. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
4. The Book of Strange New Things
5. Memory of Water
6. Station Eleven

Secondly, I did the Golden Tentacle award. Very different from the Clarks. I can't say I enjoyed all the books in this one, although I loved the book I have placed first. My order would be:

1. A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet
2. Viper Wine
3. Memory of Water
4. The People in the Trees
5. Girl in the Road
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pizzakarin
Posted 2015-05-19 12:32 PM (#10582 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: Austin, Tx		It's awesome to see everyone's progress as we get to the end of the challenge.

I finished my own challenge not too long ago. I chose the 2008 Hugo Award and would rank the nominees as follows for how I would have voted (not necessarily indicative of my thoughts on the quality of the book):

1. Brasyl
2. The Last Colony
3. The Yiddish Poliecemen's Union
4. Halting State
5. Rollback

The actual winner was The Yiddish Policemen's Union, but it just didn't hit a sweet spot for me. Brasyl hit that sweet spot. It was vibrant and captured my imagination.

Next year I'm going doing very few or no challenges because I would like to focus on short fiction and reading authors that I've been meaning to circle back to, so I don't know if I'll be posting this one again. If anyone else is interested in hosting the challenge (which is pretty much zero effort) either once this one expires or at the beginning of next year feel free to do so.
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DrNefario
Posted 2015-05-20 5:27 AM (#10583 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: UK		I've sort of saved my last one for the end, I should be starting it in a book and a half. (I did also quietly drop my second unofficial challenge.)
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pizzakarin
Posted 2015-05-20 9:45 AM (#10585 - in reply to #10571)
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Location: Austin, Tx		I seem to be the weirdo who liked Authority the best in the Southern Reach Trilogy. I hope Annihilation (or the trilogy) win something this year, though I'm not holding my breath.
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DrNefario
Posted 2015-06-03 3:06 AM (#10697 - in reply to #8335)
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Location: UK		I finished Heir of Night, the original winner of the 2012 Morningstar, to complete my challenge. I liked it, but it wasn't the best of the five.

My final order would be:

1. Prince of Thorns - Mark Lawrence
2. The Heir of Night - Helen Lowe
3. Songs of the Earth - Elspeth Cooper
4. Among Thieves - Douglas Hulick
5. The Unremembered - Peter Orullian

Their wasn't much between the middle three. I think I gave them all the same rating.
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francesashton
Posted 2015-06-03 1:35 PM (#10704 - in reply to #10697)
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Location: Cheshire, England		Dropping in to say that I won't be finishing this challenge. Other priorities have got in the way, I'm afraid.
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