Most acclaimed f&sf of 2009

As per usual, I kept watch of all the best-of-2009 lists of f&sf books, and the following are the books which made the most lists. Last year, the top 2 books were Neal Stephenson’s Anathem and Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, which were both nominated for the Hugo Award, but lost to Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, which came in a distant 4th on the list.

What does the fact that China Mieville’s The City & The City ran away with this year’s crown as the most acclaimed f&sf novel of the year mean for that book’s fate on the award ballots? The top three vote-getters below have already made the Nebula best Novel ballot. Stay tuned...

Title / Author / # of lists
The City & The City / China Mieville / 25
Boneshaker / Cherie Priest / 12
The Windup Girl / Paolo Bacigalupi / 10
The Devil's Alphabet / Daryl Gregory / 9
Chronic City / Jonathan Lethem / 8
Ark / Stephen Baxter / 7
Under the Dome / Stephen King / 7
Galileo’s Dream / Kim Stanley Robinson / 7
Finch / Jeff VanderMeer / 7
The Magicians / Lev Grossman / 6
Gardens of the Sun / Paul McAuley / 6
Julian Comstock / Robert Charles Wilson / 6
Yellow Blue Tibia / Adam Roberts / 5
Drood / Dan Simmons / 5
Palimpsest / Catherynne Valente / 5
The Angel's Game / Carlos Ruiz Zafon / 5