For a few years now, I've been trying to read all of the Hugo award winners. It was an easy way to read great books and experience a wide variety. I like how it removed choice from the matter. Thought folks might appreciate my random awards/observations:

Favorite book(s): Dune, Ender's Game, Way Station, The Three-Body Problem, The Graveyard Book, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, The Fountains of Paradise, and Dreamsnake.

Least-favorite book(s): The Yiddish Policemen's Union and Neuromancer

Most sexist book: (sci-fi books going back to the 30s have a lot of sexism): Conjure Wife - The premise is that all women are witches who use their powers to help their husbands' careers.

Most unique aliens: Giving this to author Vernor Vinge. Both A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky both had really unique and strange aliens that the author really made you feel that strangeness.

Best series: Remembrance of Earth's Past - the series which The Three-Body Problem is in.

Finally, some general thoughts on sci-fi the genre. I've realized it's a silly genre. Sci-Fi spans a huge gamut of types of books. The only reason they're connected is because they're in space. For example, A Memory Called Empire easily could've been set in 15th century Europe without too much change. It's pretty much just a book about palace politics. I never would've read it if it were set in Earth's past. But, now that it's in space, I like it! I don't know why this matters to me and if it means I should give more genres a chance.

Overall, I really enjoyed working through this list and would recommend this approach to all sci-fi lovers. You're going to read some garbage books and you're going to read some amazing ones.