I’ve already given y’all a rundown of my favorite and least favorite reads from 2017, but I figured I’d dish out a few other awards.
I just came up with some random categories (like a tag, I guess) and figured I’d nominate some books or characters. The challenge is to mention ones that weren’t on my top or bottom list (I can’t promise I won’t repeat though).
+ Funniest book
Hyperbole & a Half by Allie Brosh (almost forgot I read this – it’s great). Runner-up might be Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher.
+ Scariest book
Strange Weather by Joe Hill – not only is rain made of crystal nails scary as hell, but so was his story about gun use, Loaded.
+ Book that made me cry the most tears
Ok, I know it’s on my top list, and it wasn’t the only book this year that made me cry, but it’s the one that made me cry for the longest amount of time and that’s The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.
+ Book that blew away my expectations
Burntown by Jennifer McMahon – I was way wrong about the plot (was thinking like post-apoc wasteland and it’s so, so not that) and when the character POVs kept switching at first I was like, wtf. But then I realized I loved all the characters and this was a fantastic story!
+ Most underwhelming read
Overall I’d say the Chronicles of Narnia. I listened to all but the last book over the past few months. I really thought I’d love the series, because my nostalgic love for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is strong. But it wasn’t strong enough to propel me through the series and I quit before it was over. Just not for me!
+ Most lovable character
This is a reread, but I love Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle (both the movie and book versions!) I also really love Brittle from Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill, but I’m not sure she’s meant to be loveable. Oh and also Lady Trent from In The Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan.
+ Most annoying character
Danny from The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card – he’s so conceited and cocky, yet will tell himself he needs to be humble and generous and then after he is for about .01 seconds, he goes back to being a total dink. He’s an idiot too.
+ Feel good read of the year
I really want to pick The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, but of course that was on my top list. Austenland by Shannon Hale is a reread (and I watch the movie constantly), but I love it so much; it’s so cute! I read The Hobbit every December too, because I love it so much. Oh well, guess I’m not coming up with anything original for this one!
+ The book I seriously thought I’d get to and totally didn’t
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie – confession time: I’ve never read anything by Christie! I really want to and when I saw the trailer for the movie (which I won’t be seeing because I hate stupid Johnny Depp) I got really excited about reading the book. I got a copy off Paperback Swap and then promptly let it gather dust in my “priority” pile, where it currently still resides. I’m a dink.
+ The book I’d most like to chuck off my balcony
Surprising no one, I’m picking the Dark Tower series by Mr. King. I’d chuck the box set off a cliff if I hadn’t already donated it. I even wasted my money buying nice copies of half the series because ours were beat-up hand-me-downs. Grrr.
+ Most bizarre book
Hmm…I think I’ll go with the short story, Help Me Follow My Sister Into the Land of the Dead by Carmen Maria Machado. A girl creates a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to follow her sister into the underworld. It was strange, yet modern, and pretty moving too. Runner-up is The Wednesday Witch by Ruth Chew. The witch rides a vacuum cleaner and spends a good portion of the book shrunk and living in a dollhouse. Then later she flies roller skates. What even?
+ Most likely to reread
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff – it’s a lot of fun!
+ Prettiest book
The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo – not only is it gorgeously illustrated, but the fairytales inside were excellent.
+ Ugliest book
Nothing I picked up was particularly hideous looking so I’m going to go with The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. I don’t understand why there’s a basket of strawberries on the cover. It’s boring and has nothing to do with the book (that I can recall.)
+ Most meh read
Tree Girl by T.A. Barron – The plot interested me somewhat and the characters were okay, but there was nothing particularly magical about the book, nor was it very moving or even memorable. Not bad really, just…meh!
~
Feel free to answer these questions yourself – if you do, let me know so I can see your picks!
Milliebot Reads 
The sparrow is on me list to read this year but I didn’t realize there was the possibility of tears. I am assuming they were not tears of joy. I actually am glad for the warning because I will factor that into me mood when picking it up to read. Lovely post.
x The Captain
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Haha no, not tears of joy. The friend I read it with didn’t cry, but it’s not a happy book
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This is pretty cool. Murder on the Orient Express is the only Christie I’ve read and I read it either last year or the year before that. It was okay. Haven’t seen the movie though.
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I’m not a fan of Johnny Depp, so Idk if I’ll see it
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I do wonder if I’d love The Chronicles of Narnia so much if I didn’t love them as a child. The stories are simply written and leave a good deal to the imagination. I think that, as a child, I may have been more adept at filling those gaps!
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Yeah I had a lot of issues. Sometimes I don’t mind simple, but I didn’t like the characters either and sometimes it was overtly religious. I wanted to like them, but I’ll stick with that old animated film
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Haha, yes. Lewis is not subtle with the allegory. 😉 And there are some characters I’m not overly fond of–Eustace (well, who is fond of him at first?) and Puddleglum, for instance.
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Eustace went from frustrating to bland. PG was fuckin weird. Now and then he was funny but I think that was mostly due to the audio on that book.
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Exactly! Even once Eustace isn’t annoying, he’s boring! And I kind of find Puddleglum annoying. I think he’s meant to be funny, though.
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Yeah PG talked too much. I’m not sure if he’s supposed to be a poor man’s Tumnus? The companions really go downhill. I did like learning about the white witch in the magicians nephew…But I wanted to know about her past. I need someone to write a modern retelling of her evil origins!
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Hm. Maybe. I guess all I got from Puddleglum is that he’s supposed to show the heroism of the ordinary person, maybe? Except you also have the children for that.
Yeah, you get the sense that Jadis was way cooler in her own world. I don’t remember much of what she does in England. Tries to seduce Uncle Andrew and pulls up a street lamp? Isn’t she supposed to be a little scarier? Seeing what lead her to destroy her home would be an interesting tale, though.
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Yeah she told a tale about destroying the world overt a fight with her sister? Sounds brutal. I want to know more of that side. She did tear up a streetlamp…I feel like she hit someone with it? I wanna say she nearly or did kill someone in London. But she lost her fight pretty quickly. Idk. That series was sorta all over the place.
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When you go from destroying a world over a squabble with your sister to hitting people with street lamps…I don’t know. It seems like you’ve gone down in the world. 😀
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Well yes, she’s much less scary in London. But they don’t really do a lot of killing in the books so I feel like that was a lot. But yeah I wanna know about the world destroying! Lol
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