SF Signal: 1975 Do-Over Reading Project

1975 Do-Over Reading Project - John's Take

Having read all the books in our 1975 Do-Over Reading Project, I now feel qualified to determine if anyone got robbed. Here's how I rated the nominees for the Hugo and Nebula Awards, from best to worst:

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
The Inverted World by Christopher Priest
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
334 by Thomas M. Disch
The Godwhale by T.J. Bass
Fire Time by Poul Anderson

Given that The Dispossessed won both the Hugo and the Nebula, I can honestly say that Philip K. Dick was robbed. So there.

A note about the project itself: Fun! A had already owned four of the seven books, so the selection appealed to me from the start. Interestingly, two of the books which I did not already own (The Godwhale and Fire Time) scored the lowest. The third, The Inverted World, was a really good book.

Given my so-so track record with liking award-winning (and nominated) books it was no surprise that the ratings were all over the map. 334, though, was a disappointment since I had read Disch before and like it. On the other hand, The Dispossessed was a pleasant surprise since I usually dislike politics in my sf.