Best Reads

The Emmy’s were last night. I did not watch – I detest awards shows – but the wife did, alternating between them and Casino Royale. So I decided to appeal to the nerdish book worm inside me (never far from the surface) and list the Best Reads Awards for the past couple of years.

Here goes:

Best Read, 2009:

Kim, by Rudyard Kipling

Runner Up:

A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin


Best Read, 2008:

Sandkings, by George R. R. Martin

Runner Up:

Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson


Best Read, 2007:

Eifelheim, by Michael Flynn

Runner Up:

Midworld, by Alan Dean Foster


Best Read, 2006:

Quo Vadis, by Henryk Sienkewicz

Runner Up:

(tie) Red Planet, by Robert Heinlein
(tie) Conquerors from the Darkness, by Robert Silverberg


Best Read, 2005:

Shardik, by Richard Adams

Runner Up:

Who Can Replace a Man? by Brian Aldiss


Best Read, 2004:

Way of a Pilgrim, by Anonymous

Runner Up:

Zen and the Art of Writing, by Ray Bradbury


Best Read, 2003:

The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell

Runner Up:

Burr, by Gore Vidal


Best Read, 2002:

Hyperion, by Dan Simmons

Runner Up:

The Warrior at World’s End, by Lin Carter


Best Read, 2001:

The Spinner, by Doris Piserchia

Runner Up:

A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter Miller


Best Read, 2000:

The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

Runner Up:

Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny


Honorable Mentions of the 90s:

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
Hocus Pocus, by Kurt Vonnegut
The Puppet Masters, by Robert Heinlein
Mars, by Ben Bova
Rendezvous With Rama and Rama II, by Arthur C. Clarke
Sphere, The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, by Michael Crichton
Debt of Honor, Without Remorse, Executive Orders, and Sum of All Fears, by Tom Clancy


Now this would be an awards show I could get behind …