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Reading Challenge: Mind Voyages
I’ve been thinking about doing a reading challenge here on WWEnd for some time but just never got around to it. I was just planning to start one for the New Year when I found Mind Voyages. Mind Voyages is a yearlong reading challenge and blog set up by Robin of My Two Blessings that focuses on the Hugo and Nebula award winners and noms. A perfect fit for me and WWEnd members as well, methinks.
The challenge is divided up into several "voyages" of differing lengths and themes. You choose the books you want to read within the loosely defined parameters of each voyage rather than having to read from a pre-determined list. You can set yourself a modest goal like the Moon Voyage, which is to read 6 Hugo winners, or you can go for a bigger challenge like Jupiter which is all the 1990′s winners. Of course you can go for as many voyages as you like throughout the year if you want a bigger challenge.
The savvy reader will find lots of ways to get max value out of the books they choose. Look for the books that overlap voyages like dual Hugo and Nebula winners (two birds, one stone) or pick 2 Philip K. Dick books for your Moon Voyage and knock out the Venus Voyage at the same time. Someone will eventually figure out the least number of books you would have to read to complete all voyages. I’m going for the Moon and will try for Mars as well. Along the way I’ll knock out Venus, Mercury and the Slingshot Back to Earth by reading 12 books. Here’s my list as it stands:
- Dune by Frank Herbert (1965 Nebula and 1966 Hugo winner)
- The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1975 Nebula and 1976 Hugo winner)
- Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (1992 Nebula and 1993 Hugo winner)
- Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman (1999 Hugo and Nebula winner)
- Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (2004 Hugo and Nebula winner)
- The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1963 Hugo winner)
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968 Nebula nominee)
- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (1962 Hugo winner)
- Have Space Suit – Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein (1959 Hugo nominee)
- Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (2002 Hugo and Nebula nominee)
- Kiln People by David Brin (2003 Hugo nominee)
- River of Gods by Ian McDonald (2005 Hugo nominee)
There are shorter ways to get there I think but many of those books I’ve already read so I had to dance around a bit to get to this list. The best thing about this challenge is that almost all these books were on my list anyway and I’m still trying to read all the Hugo and Nebula winners so this will bring me closer to that goal as well.
So who’s in and what does your list look like?
