Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

The 4th quarter is over, so let's nominate some books for the end of the year!




Here's how it works...

* Using your books from October, November, and December, choose a winner for each category. You can choose from any of the books you read during those months including your side reads and books for other challenges.

* Use only the books from October, November, and December. If you missed the previous quarter awards you can go back and do them now. First Quarter Awards (January, February, March) are here. Second Quarter Awards (April, May, June) are here. Third Quarter Awards (July, August, September) are here.

* If you don't have a book for each category, just do the ones you can/want to. It's all for fun!

NOTE: The categories are intentionally open to interpretation. Best Laugh, Best Love, Best Scare, etc. are not limited to only Humor, Romance, Horror, etc. You can choose any book from any genre that made you feel those feels.

And the categories are...

Breakout Read: A book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations.
Biggest Let Down: A book you thought would be brilliant but was a total disappointment.
Best Dressed: The book with the most attractive cover.
Best Characters: A book with characters you couldn't get enough of.
Best Laugh: A book that made you laugh out loud (does not have to be a comedy/humor book).
Best Cry: A book that made you ache with sadness (does not have to be a drama/tragedy book).
Best Scare: A book that gave you the creeps (does not have to be a horror book).
Best Love: A book with a romance worth swooning for (does not have to be a romance book).
Best Shock: A book that made your jaw drop in surprise.
Best Author: An author whose writing you really clicked with.
Best Series: A book from a series you either can't get enough of or can't wait to indulge in more.
Best Read: The book you read in October, November or December, that topped all the others.

Breakout Read: Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. You'd think that I'd have souring expectations for a Kurt Vonnegut book, but I was less than blown away by Player Piano and had begun to suspect that the early books were weaker overall. This might have been early in his career but it is still one of the best.

Biggest Let Down: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. I didn't have huge expectations before reading but they were absolutely vertiginous after the first couple chapters. So much wasted potential.

Best Dressed: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

You did say: 'attractive cover'.

Best Characters: The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. Kind of a cheat since the same characters won this award in Quarter 2, but there is a reason I keep reading more books in this series. This book added even more strong, memorable characters from the first.

Best Laugh: The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse by P.G. Wodehouse. Though, it had a lot of competition in Thank You, Jeeves, Right Ho, Jeeves, Very Good, Jeeves!, and Uncle Fred in the Springtime all also by P.G. Wodehouse.

Best Cry: I was looking at my list, absolutely certain that I hadn't read a tear jerker and then I remembered A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I was impressed that a story that I know so well still absolutely triggered the waterworks.

Best Scare: 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. No contest - though I'll admit that I didn't read much in the way of frightening this quarter.

Best Love クレイモア 27 Kureimoa 27 by Norihiro Yagi for Claire and Teresa (though this is more of a maternal/daughter love).

Best Shock: Mother Night had some very cool twists.

Best Author: Kurt Vonnegut

Best Series: Blandings Castle (P.G. Wodehouse series)

Best Read: Mother Night

Breakout Read: A book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations.
Okay for Now. I expected nothing, I'd no idea why it was on my TBR, but it had a yellow cover so I used it for the read-a-thon. Loved it.

Biggest Let Down: A book you thought would be brilliant but was a total disappointment.
It's between The 5th Wave (I expected more as it was popular enough to become a movie) and Truly Madly Guilty (Moriarty is becoming repetitive).

Best Dressed: The book with the most attractive cover.
The pretty one *_*


Best Characters: A book with characters you couldn't get enough of.
Hard to decide on a book here, I've several on my list. I'll go with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, I really liked all the cast.

Best Laugh: A book that made you laugh out loud (does not have to be a comedy/humor book).
Redshirts

Best Cry: A book that made you ache with sadness (does not have to be a drama/tragedy book).
Monsters of Men

Best Scare: A book that gave you the creeps (does not have to be a horror book).
Several for various reasons, but We Are the Ants had very creepy characters.

Best Love: A book with a romance worth swooning for (does not have to be a romance book).
The Sun Is Also a Star. Instalove, but well crafted, with interesting characters and a good story.

Best Shock: A book that made your jaw drop in surprise.
Bone Gap

Best Author: An author whose writing you really clicked with.
I could use again Patrick Ness, but for a change, I'll pick Enid Blyton, I really enjoyed how she wrote the 1st Famous Five.

Best Series: A book from a series you either can't get enough of or can't wait to indulge in more.
The Girl with Ghost Eyes. Give me the sequel, pleaaaase :(

Best Read: The Girl with Ghost Eyes

Breakout Read: Red Rising (breakout book of the YEAR!)
Biggest Let Down: NAPI - The Trixster: A Blackfoot Graphic Novel (2 stars)
Best Dressed: Morning Star
Best Characters: Red Rising
Best Laugh: Vader's Little Princess
Best Cry: Golden Son
Best Scare: Demon's Well
Best Love: Never Never
Best Shock: Golden Son
Best Author: Red Rising
Best Series: Red Rising trilogy (read the entire thing and am DEVASTATED that it ended!)
Best Read: Red Rising

Breakout Read: A book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations
The Thirteenth Tale. I was pretty sure that I would like this book, but I was blown away by how much I enjoyed it.

Biggest Let Down: A book you thought would be brilliant but was a total disappointment
Inkheart. Maybe I would have enjoyed this more when I read it when I was in the target age group, but I just couldn't get into this at all.

I have to say I was also quite disappointed with We Were Liars. I enjoyed the book and still gave it a 4 star rating, but after all of the hype I'd read about it, I was expecting a lot more.

Best Dressed: The book with the most attractive cover


Best Characters: A book with characters you couldn't get enough of
The Madman’s Daughter. I went into this book not expecting very much, but I was very impressed especially by Juliet! I immediately added the rest of the series to my TBR the second I finished reading.

Best Laugh: A book that made you laugh out loud (does not have to be a comedy/humor book)
Emmy & Oliver. There wasn't anything really laugh out loud funny this quarter, but I really loved the banter between these two characters.

Best Cry: A book that made you ache with sadness (does not have to be a drama/tragedy book)
Blue Is the Warmest Color

Best Scare: A book that gave you the creeps (does not have to be a horror book)
And Then There Were None had it's creepy moments.

Best Love: A book with a romance worth swooning for (does not have to be a romance book)
None of them were that groundbreaking, but I'd probably go with Everything, Everything.

Best Shock: A book that made your jaw drop in surprise
And Then There Were None, because I had no idea at all who the murderer was. In a close second was Everything, Everything. I didn't predict the twist at all.

Best Author: An author whose writing you really clicked with
Megan Shepherd and Diane Setterfield

Best Series: A book from a series you either can't get enough of or can't wait to indulge in more
The Madman’s Daughter

Best Read: The book you read in October, November or December, that topped all the others
A three-way tie between The Madman’s Daughter, The Thirteenth Tale and And Then There Were None

Breakout Read:
O Pioneers!, because I thought I had read it years ago, but realized I didn't remember anything about it and was surprised by the turn of events.

Biggest Let Down:
Hallowe'en Party. I love Agatha Christie but this one went on and on. I liked the movie better.

Best Dressed:
. Good story too.

Best Characters:
Americanah

Best Laugh:
None this time.

Best Cry:
Good Morning, Midnight. The interactions between characters in this post-apocalyptic story were tender and human.

Best Scare:
No really scary books this quarter.

Best Love:
Americanah with Ifemelu and Obinze.

Best Shock:
Dracula, only because I liked it so much and didn't expect to.

Best Author:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Americanah. I'll probably read the rest of her books.

Best Series:The Great Plains Trilogy by Willa Cather I've read O Pioneers! and My Antonia and will read The Song of the Lark

Best Read: Americanah

So because I tend not to read enough books in each quarter to fill out enough of these awards (only made it to 30 over the year), I decided to wait until the end and do the fourth quarter awards covering all of my books.

Breakout Read: Blood Song

Biggest Let Down: The Aeronaut's Windlass. It sounded really interesting, with the promise of naval combat with aerial ships....and it was just such a let down.

Best Dressed: . I just really like the cover of this book!

Best Characters: This was a tie between The Republic of Thieves and Morning Star. They both have such an incredible and unforgettable cast of characters.

Best Laugh: You're Never Weird on the Internet

Best Cry: A House in the Sky

Best Scare: Thirteen Years Later

Best Love: 11/22/63

Best Shock: The Republic of Thieves

Best Author: Pierce Brown

Best Series: Red Rising Trilogy. I read both Golden Son and Morning Star and finished off the series this year.

Best Read: Morning Star was by far the best book I read all year.

Breakout Read: The Birds
Biggest Let Down: Replica
Best Dressed:
Best Characters: The Mistress
Best Laugh: Wallbanger
Best Cry: Where She Went
Best Scare: The Bone Garden
Best Love: The Notebook
Best Shock: The Bone Garden
Best Author: Tiffany Reisz
Best Series: Body Double (Rizzoli & Isles)
Best Read: The Notebook

Breakout Read: East of Eden
I've hated everything else I read by Steinbeck, so I was surprised how much I loved this one.

Biggest Let Down: The Underground Railroad
Okay, hopefully I don't catch flack for this one. I did rate it 4 stars. I enjoyed it. But with all the hype about this one and with it being the National Book Award winner, I thought it was going to be amazing. I think it had great elements, but it wasn't as impactful as I expected it to be. I read another book this quarter that I think better portrayed the slave experience.

Best Dressed:
I think I read this one because of the cover.

Best Characters: Homegoing
This book was about generations of a family. Each chapter had a new character. Even with just a short section about each character, it was so impactful. The author was able to really focus on what made the character who they were. So good.

Best Laugh: I didn't have anything for this category.

Best Cry: Of Mice and Men
This may be the saddest thing I've ever read.

Best Scare: Before I Go to Sleep
Very creepy. Partly because it had to do with creepiness in your home.

Best Love: I read 4 YA romances by Kasie West this morning. I was really just enjoying her style & her "meet cutes". My favorite may have been P.S. I Like You.

Best Shock: The Hundred-Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey
So this book didn't really have a big surprise or twist. I picked it because I was surprised that in all my 30 years of life, I never learned about the Armenian genocide. The surprise was in what happened to these people and how I have never heard a word about it.

Best Author: Yaa Gyasi
The author of Homegoing, her writing was exquisite.

Best Series: The Winner's Trilogy: The Winner's Curse, The Winner's Crime, The Winner's Kiss
I really enjoyed this trilogy a lot more than I expected to. Good characters who were true to their personalities, a good romance, epic battles.

Best Read: Homegoing
This may be my favorite book of the year. So, so good.

This was my slowest quarter of the year but here goes:

Breakout Read: Come Closer by Sara Gran
Biggest Let Down: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Best Dressed:
by Ruth Ware
Best Characters: The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines
Best Laugh: The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines
Best Cry: The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry
Best Scare: Come Closer by Sara Gran
Best Love: The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines
Best Shock: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Best Author: The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry
Best Series: N/A
Best Read: The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines

Breakout Read: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. If you've read this and read the blurb, you'll know why this made my breakout easily. The blurb had me thinking angst, depression, etc. But it is so much more than that. Though it did have me tearing up at points.

Biggest Let Down: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I really thought this would be a lot better than it was. It actually felt rather bloodless.

Best Dressed: . And there are some great illustrations in the interior as well.

Best Characters: Horse of a Different Killer/Take the Monkey and Run by Laura Morrigan. This cozy mystery series has one of the best supporting casts (animal & human) out there!

Best Laugh: My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. I really pity people that don't find Wodehouse hilarious!

Best Cry: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I really didn't think this one would make me cry.

Best Scare: Not this quarter.

Best Love: No swooning this quarter.

Best Shock: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Best Author: Laura Morrigan

Best Series: Horse of a Different Killer/Take the Monkey and Run from the Call of the Wilde by Laura Morrigan. I love this series!

Best Read: Take the Monkey and Run by Laura Morrigan

Breakout Read: Congo Requiem, I really liked its prequel, but didn't think I would love it that much! And the audiobook narrator was amazing!

Biggest Let Down: Definitely Oryx and Crake, I couldn't even finish it!

Best Dressed:

Best Characters: Eleanor & Park, I found them very cute.

Best Laugh: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, this book is amazing, but also very funny, it helped me to arrive at work in the morning with a smile on my face (I listened to the audiobook in my car).

Best Cry: A Monster Calls

Best Scare: The Screaming Staircase, the red room bbrrr

Best Love: Eleanor & Park

Best Shock: Sons of Anarchy Vol. 5, I was very surprise that someone could be that stupid.

Best Author: Patrick Rothfuss, I re-read The Wise Man's Fear and can't wait for the next one!

Best Series: See above ;)

Best Read: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Breakout Read: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
Biggest Let Down: Still Missing
Best Dressed: I love coconut cake
Best Characters: The Lies of Locke Lamora
Best Laugh: The Flood Girls
Best Cry: The Flood Girls
Best Scare: Perfect Days
Best Love: The Coincidence of Coconut Cake
Best Shock: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
Author: Bryn Greenwood
Best Series: Detective D.D. Warren serries by Lisa Gardner
Best Read: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things