Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

The first quarter of the year is behind us. Hopefully you're all doing well with your challenge and remembering, of course, the golden rule. Have fun! In the vein of movie, music, and television award shows, I thought we could have a little more fun. Here are some categories to consider for this very auspicious occasion. Using your reads from January, February, and March, choose a winner for each category. If you don't have a book for every category, just do the ones you can/want to. It's all for fun.

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

And the categories are...



And for mobile users (or those needing more clarification)...

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 January, February, or March that topped all the others.

Do feel free to use any books from any challenge or side read that you read in the months of January, February, and March.

Breakout Read - What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
This dark and twisted noir-style read really surprised me. I wasn't expecting something so layered.

Biggest Let Down - Strings Attached by Judy Blundell
Having enjoyed Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied so much, I expected to find Strings Attached equally enjoyable. It was a drag. I wasn't over the moon about the characters and all the build up to the climax was so dull that I nearly lost interest in the ending.

Best Dressed - Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
Well, obviously.



Best Characters - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
As if I didn't already love so many of the characters in this series, this is the book that introduces Remus Lupin and Sirius Black who are two of my favorite Harry Potter characters. To be fair, I favor a lot of characters in this series and even narrowing my favorites down to a handful would seem like a daunting task.

Best Laugh - Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon
Malcolm Reynolds. His biting banter and perfect one-liners get me every time.

Best Cry - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
That ending! Ugh. Excruciatingly sad.

Best Scare - Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind
There are some very cruel, very malicious, very creepy characters in this book. There were times I was unsettled by the violence.

Best Love - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Although this book didn't deliver in quite the way I was hoping, there was something really authentic about the relationship that develops between Ari and Dante.

Best Shock - The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor by Mark Schatzker
I found a lot of the information in this book shocking. I have read a lot of books about nutrition science, but nothing quite like this.

Best Author - J.K. Rowling
I didn't want to do this because it seems like such an obvious choice but there was no one else on the list for January, February, or March whose writing I feel immanently connected to ... like I'd go out and buy anything they wrote. Honorable mentions for Ernest Cline for speaking fluent nerd and Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan for writing the Prince William/Kate Middleton fan-fic my Anglophilic heart has been waiting for, but neither of the books I read by these authors knocked it out of the park for me.

Best Series - Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
I'm going to cheat here a little bit since I was only about 70% done with this at the end of March. But it is a mostly enjoyable fantasy read and I'm eager to read on. The world building was not flawless, but the world is fantastic.

Best Read - The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
Okay, it isn't literary gold or anything but, aside from the Harry Potter books (which I didn't want to count for this category because they're re-reads), it was the book I enjoyed reading most so far. Despite my romance intolerance, I was eating it up.

Nice idea Emm :D

Breakout Read: The Night Circus
I thought I wouldn't really enjoy this but I found the story good and the writing lovely.

Biggest Let Down: Heartless
I didn't think it would be "brillant" but I expected entertainment and pleasure to come back to the characters I liked before. It was neither.

Best Dressed: The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly

(The Night Circus is best 2nd)

Best Characters: Cinder
The cast was good, with some nice and varied personalities.

Best Laugh: Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
I chose a picture book for this category and this one made me laugh every other page. I really digged the humor :)

Best Cry: Orange (series)
I don't really cry with books, but I'm a waterfall with some manga. Orange was one of them, with its topic focused on depression and how all the characters were really doing their best.

Best Scare: Pump Six and Other Stories (particularly The Fluted Girl).
All the societies were dystopian but I never want to set a foot in the fluted girl's one.

Best Love: The Night Circus
I really liked the not "angst" romance and how some scenes made me shiver. It was a desperate love story but it had all the necessary magic.

Best Shock: More Than This
Not at all what I expected. It was more, plenty of more. And I still don't know what to make of the story!

Best Author: Patrick Ness
I can't have enough of him, all his stories are peculiar, interesting, blend in several genres and rise difficult topics. His characters are also multi-dimensional, likable and they seem real. The smooth writing on top of that is a great bonus.

Best Series: The Last Policeman
I'm looking forward to the 2nd, I really liked the 1st, it was well written and interesting!

Best Read: More Than This

What a fun idea!

Breakout Read: Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I've never been that deeply affected by a classic before.
Biggest Let Down: Redwall by Brian Jacques. Absolutely woeful.
Best Dressed: I read a lot of books on my Kindle, and none of the physical books that I read had particularly outstanding covers.
Best Characters: Cinder and Scarlet - I'm loving this series & after reading the first, I rejigged my challenges to fit the rest of the series in.
Best Laugh: My first quarter books were mostly pretty heavy, actually! You're Never Weird on the Internet made me smile though.
Best Cry: Without a doubt, Charlotte's Web. I read it to my little spider, and I cried quite a few nights after I finished reading a chapter, just knowing what was coming.
Best Scare: The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories - so insidiously creepy.
Best Love: Definitely the love between Charlotte & Wilbur in Charlotte's Web.
Best Shock: Jude the Obscure again - there's a certain pivotal & devastating moment that literally had my jaw drop. Holy crap.
Best Author: I would have to say Marissa Meyer - her Lunar Chronicles series is a lot of fun, and I'm really enjoying them a lot.
Best Series: Definitely Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles (Cinder et. al.) - a real surprise.
Best Read: It's a re-read, and a children's book to boot, but it has to be Charlotte's Web. I truly believe it's one of the best books ever written. It's evocative, timeless and incredibly moving.

What fun! Great idea! I'll try my best.

Breakout Read: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I liked a lot of books but this was the only non fiction. It made me learn about science and also had a great human story, and I keep thinking about the ethical questions it raised.
Biggest Let Down: I did not have a big letdown. The Man in the High Castle was a bit disappointing - a great premise that was not developed.
Best Dressed: The Lunar Chronicles all had pretty covers


Best Characters: Tiffany Aching and the McNagFeegle are priceless in The Wee Free Men
Best Laugh: Carry On was a lot of fun.
Best Cry: Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Best Scare: Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History is unfortunately true and horrific.
Best Love: Although there was romance in several books I read, the most touching one was the true bond between the father and mother in Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II : And Here My Troubles Began. Amazing what they had gone through with their love intact.
Best Shock: Hmm. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks had some stories that shocked me - such as the wide-spread experimentation on people in the fifties without their consent. The Saga series (Saga, Volume 1, etc) had the best plot twists.
Best Author: Many good choices but I devored The Lunar Chronicles so I guess Marissa Meyer.
Best Series: The Lunar Chronicles (Cinder, etc)
Best Read: Tough choice! Really loved The Lunar Chronicles. For single book, I am going with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Breakout Read: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) Great characters, a good mystery--I didn't expect to like it as much as I did
Biggest Let Down: I didn't like the main character, Brooklyn in A Cookbook Conspiracy by Kate Carlisle even though I'd liked her in other books of the series.
Best Dressed:
Best Characters: Everyone in Anna Karenina
Best Laugh: The Importance of Being Earnest
Best Cry: The Nightingale
Best Scare: Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances has some creepy stories.
Best Love: Anna and Vronsky in Anna Karenina of course
Best Shock: The many twists of The Thirteenth Tale
Best Author: Kristin Hannah author of The Nightingale
Best Series: Any Hercule Poirot mysteries by Agatha Christie
Best Read: Anna Karenina

Breakout Read
Where They Found Her. I'd read Reconstructing Amelia last year, and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to this one. What made it really a "breakout" for me was how just when I thought the book was becoming predictable, there was quite an important and unexpected twist!

Biggest Let Down
I'm not sure if we're limited to books only for ATY, or if I can include other challenges. For now, I'm going to go with one from my PopSugar challenge and pick The Five Times I Met Myself. I loved the concept of this book, but I got put off because I hadn't realized before I started that it was a Christian Fiction book, which is not really my thing.

If I had to pick from the ATY side, I'd say Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I liked the book, but it wasn't anywhere near what I expected either.

Best Dressed
. Easy choice for this one, since it was my "book with a beautiful cover" anyway.

Best Characters
Rebecca. I really strongly related to the main character (especially her social awkwardness), and I loved how much power Rebecca, even though she was not physically present.

Best Laugh
The Rosie Project. I absolutely loved this book, and some of the main character's choices and his way of thinking were so funny. He reminded me a lot of Sheldon Cooper, but also of some of the young adults with autism that I work with.

Best Cry
The Nightingale. It's not often that a book literally brings me to tears, but this one definitely did, especially toward the end.

Best Scare
Probably Rebecca. It didn't really scare me the way a few books I read last year did, but some parts were quite creepy.

Best Love
I think a lot of people may disagree with me on this one, but my first thought was All the Bright Places. The love story between the two main characters was very sweet, and I thought it was very realistic.

Best Shock
Probably the twist in Where They Found Her, out of everything I read this quarter.

Best Author
Jennifer Niven and Kristin Hannah

Best Series
I have a hard time counting two books as a series, but I guess there may be more in the future. So I'll go with The Rosie Project. To be fair, I'd only read two other books that were part of a series -- The House at Pooh Corner, which I really liked, and Four: A Divergent Story Collection, which was mediocre.

Best Read
I'm having a hard time choosing between three of my books, but I guess as a whole, I'd have to go with The Rosie Project. It was the first book I read of the year, and one that I was really looking forward to. I was glad that it lived up to my expectations. (For anyone curious, the other two I was considering were Rebecca and All the Bright Places).

Breakout Read: Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas
Biggest Let Down: It wasn't a bad book but I thought What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler would be better
Best Dressed:

Best Characters: Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham
Best Laugh: Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham
Best Cry: I haven't read very many sad ones so far but I guess November 9
Best Scare: Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Best Love: November 9 by Colleen Hoover
Best Shock: Afraid by Jack Kilborn
Best Author: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Best Series: None yet...
Best Read: Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter (Bird Box was a close second)

Very interesting topic! I actually went back to my PopSugar challenge from last year, and compiled my awards for that one as well.

I love reading these! Keep 'em coming, guys!

Rachel, I used books that I did not read for ATY for my awards. But I read them in January, February, and March so they were first quarter reads. :)

Emm wrote: "I love reading these! Keep 'em coming, guys!

Rachel, I used books that I did not read for ATY for my awards. But I read them in January, February, and March so they were first quarter reads. :)"

Fair enough. I just looked over my list again, and none of the PopSugar books would have made the categories anyway other than the one I already picked. I didn't read too many for PopSugar by the end of March.

Breakout Read:

Biggest Let Down: How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics I'd heard an interview with the author on NPR, and it gave me high hopes for the book, but (sigh) the book came off much better in the interview. It's a pity because I really wanted to like it.

Best Dressed: Circus pony!

Best Characters: The Wee Free Men The Nac Mac Feegle were so much fun, but nothing beats a Granny Weatherwax sighting!

Best Laugh: Uncle Fred in the Springtime Wodehouse books are just crazy in the best possible way

Best Cry:

Best Scare: I don't know about scare but the basement bathroom in The Water Room creeped me out.

Best Love:

Best Shock:

Best Author: For sheer wordplay, P.G. Wodehouse. For plots, Rex Stout.

Best Series: Murder Must Advertise Peter Wimsey, 'nuff said

Best Read:

What a great idea!

Breakout Read: Frankenstein, I never thought for a second this book would be so beautiful

Biggest Let Down: Of Mice and Men, it was just meh for me

Best Dressed:

Best Characters: I really liked Strike & Robin from The Cuckoo's Calling and I'm very curious to read the rest of the series next year to see them evolve

Best Laugh: You're Never Weird on the Internet, I laughed out loud multiple times in my car listening to Felicia, that's a change, because I normally grumble ;)

Best Cry: The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly aaah Sprout... <3

Best Scare: 1984, a terrifying book

Best Love: The Time Traveler's Wife, Henry and Clare do have a beautiful love story, even if the book has flaws

Best Shock: the end of The Cuckoo's Calling definitely surprised me (even if I was a bit dissatisfied with the way that led there)

Best Author: Neil Gaiman (I do have a massive author crush on him ;) )

Best Series: The Way of Kings, I only read the first one but it has some crazy potential

Best Read: I think I'll go with Ready Player One, because I loved it (and Wil Wheaton isn't innocent in this ;) )

Breakout Read: Who Censored Roger Rabbit?
Biggest Let Down: Perdido Street Station
Best Dressed: Also Perdido Street Station
Best Characters: A Storm of Swords, namely Tyrion, Jaime, and Daenerys.
Best Laugh: Who Censored Roger Rabbit?
Best Cry: The Complete Maus
Best Scare: Actually, Lord of the Flies. While both Perdido Street Station and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are supposedly horror novels, LotF actually made me concerned for the characters.
Best Love: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
Best Shock: Black Boy
Best Author: Richard Wright
Best Series: Discworld
Best Read: Black Boy

Breakout Read: Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories by Truman Capote I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did!

Biggest Let Down: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It was not as good as I thought it would be.

Best Dressed:

Best Characters: Jess, Stella and Dan from Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey. I wanted to know more about each of them!

Best Laugh:The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman. I remember laughing at parts in this book for sure. Might have been because I was picturing the movie in my head the whole time.

Best Cry:All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. This one definitely made me tear up at times.

Best Scare: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. The thought that this could happen terrified me.

Best Love:

Best Shock: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard. The way it ends.

Best Author: I am going to have to say Agatha Christie I am loving her Miss Marple books this year!

Best Series: 4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie I am making my way through her Miss Marple books this year and loving them!

Best Read: Strong Looks Better Naked by Khloé Kardashian but I would say that The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde came in a close second for me

Breakout Read: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Biggest Let Down: Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz to be clear, this was a good book..just not what I was expecting (because I didn't read the back cover..)
Best Dressed:
Best Characters: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Best Laugh: Hopper's Destiny by Lisa Fiedler (it's just such a cute series!)
Best Cry: The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Best Scare:
Best Love: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (again)
Best Shock: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Best Author: J.K. Rowling
Best Series: Harry Potter of course!
Best Read: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Breakout Read: The Hunger Games. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did.

Biggest Let Down: Attachments. I really thought I might enjoy this one and it was my first Rainbow Rowell book but I ended up hating it.

Best Dressed: . Currently still reading this one but I'm obsessed with this cover. I don't really know why because it's actually very plain apart from the smudge of blood but I just love it.

Best Characters: Sons of Anarchy, Volume 1. I love my Samcro members!

Best Laugh: Modern Romance. It wasn't consistently funny because it's not intended to be but the parts that were funny made me laugh a lot.

Best Cry: The Hunger Games. You all know which bit!

Best Scare: The Hunger Games (yet, again). The dogs really scared me.

Best Love: Yes Please. My love for Amy trumps everything else, also her love for all her friends and family which comes glowing through the book is wonderful to hear.

Best Shock: Rats Saw God. Ok, so the surprise was actually spoiled for me but even though I knew about it, I still found myself surprised and I know that if it hadn't been spoiled for me then I would've been shocked.

Best Author: Mary Shelley. While I wasn't as swept away with the book as I hoped to be, there's no denying how beautiful and incredible her writing is.

Best Series: Sons of Anarchy, Volume 1. RIDIN' THROUGH THIS WORLD!

Best Read: Sons of Anarchy, Volume 1. It's my only 5 star read so far this year and I loved it.

Breakout Read: Dracula, had been scared of this book for a while but it was a lot better than expected
Biggest Let Down: De rode canapé, I'm glad I got this one for free
Best Dressed:
Best Characters: A Game of Thrones
Best Laugh: Universele Reisgids voor Moeilijke Landen funny book about traveling in difficult countries
Best Cry: Harry Potter och Halvblodsprinsen, that end..... even when rereading
Best Scare: -
Best Love: The Trouble With Valentine's Day
Best Shock: Harry Potter och Halvblodsprinsen same reason as the cry
Best Author: J.K. Rowling
Best Series: Harry Potter, I reread three of the books
Best Read: Harry Potter och Halvblodsprinsen one of my two 5 star reads (the other was also a Harry Potter book)

Rachel wrote: "Breakout Read
Where They Found Her. I'd read Reconstructing Amelia last year, and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to this one. What made it really a "breakout" for me was..."

Yay...I'm so glad you loved The Rosie Project - I always recommend this book to people, and I've never had anyone love it as much as I did! I think it's the sweetest story.

Also Rebecca - one of my all time favourites - and it stands up to multiple re-reads ;) - I've been meaning to watch the Hitchcock movie adaptation...but am worried it would spoil my love of this book!

***this was fun mods - thanks!!

Breakout Read : Looks like I gave 5 stars a few times...this gives me this shortlist...Red Rising by Pierce Brown, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, March by Geraldine Brooks, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, and The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman.
My winner has to be The Old Man and the Sea...it was my first Hemingway, it made me cry, and I shared the book with my dad, who also loved it.

Biggest Let Down : I have a single one-star read - A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. However, I knew I wasn't going to like it! So my biggest let down goes to The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco ... I wanted to love it, but too much waffling philosophy for me.

Best Dressed : My edition of The End of the Affair by Graham Greene - simply sums up the novel.

Best Characters : It's a tie between the characters in The Shipping News by Annie Proulx- so quirky and eccentric and just cute, and the amazing women in The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman.

Best Laugh : The Nose by Nikolai Gogol...made me giggle.

Best Cry : I was feeling "the feels" in a few books...The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve, The Marriage of Opposites, The Shipping News...all got me a little weepy. But hands down Me Before You by Jojo Moyes for properly breaking my heart.

Best Scare : The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was genuinely eerie.

Best Love : Emily St Aubert and Valancourt in Ann Radcliffe's dramatic gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho. So. Much. Drama.

Best Shock : the twist in the The Pilot's Wife

Best Author : Geraldine Brooks

Best Series : I'll be back for more of Pierce Brown's Red Rising series

Best Read : The Marriage of Opposites just wins!

Breakout Read: Amber Frost I guess I didn't expect much from this one since it is only available in ebook format, but I really enjoyed it.

Biggest Let Down: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

Best Dressed: Never Never

Best Characters: Never Never I think I just really enjoyed seeing these characters in a different way

Best Laugh: Attachments

Best Cry: Gone with the Wind I don't remember if I actually cried, but this book was definitely an emotional rollercoaster

Best Scare: Library of Souls Not exactly a scary book, but those hollows are creepy

Best Love: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry Yes there is a romance story in this book, and that's sweet, but the true love is between A.J. and his "mysterious package" as the blurb puts it.

Best Shock: Night I am always shocked with these types of stories. It amazes me that these types of events can and did happen

Best Author: Cassandra Clare

Best Series: City of Heavenly Fire from The Mortal Instrument series

Best Read: Amber Frost

Breakout Read: The Kite Runner (I had NO idea I would even like this book, never mind LOVE it!)

Biggest Let Down: First Love, First Lie (How could I hate a 4-star book so much???)

Best Dressed: The Handmaid's Tale (STill love the simplicity of this cover)

Best Characters: Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography (Still reading stories by and about this family over 30 years after meeting them)

Best Laugh: The Dead Repent: A Zombie's Story (To be fair, I didn't really lol, but I seem to be on a long streak of really sad, depressing books recently. Hm)

Best Cry: The Death of Ivan Ilych

Best Scare: The Dead Repent: A Zombie's Story

Best Love: The Girl Who Came Home

Best Shock: The Handmaid's Tale

Best Author: Season's Reapings, Angela Roquet is one of my favorite indie authors

Best Series: Cress (Currently reading)

Best Read: The Virgin Suicides (This one has stuck with me the most out of all of them)

This is dangerous! I keep adding books others have listed to my to-read list

Breakout Read: So many, but I'm going to say Secrets of a Charmed Life as I had the lowest expectations for that and it was really powerful

Biggest Let Down: The Beast- was so bad I stopped after 50 pages and picked a different book for that week. The year is too short to waste a week on a bad book! And I loved that series so much!

Best Dressed: It's my book for that week: The Luminaries

Best Characters: The Cuckoo's Calling

Best Laugh: A Prayer for Owen Meany

Best Cry: Secrets of a Charmed Life and The Nightingale (I'm a crier so I've cried at every book so far) Oh also A Man Called Ove

Best Scare: Rebecca That book was insane! I read it 20 years ago but it was still not what I expected at all, so scary

Best Love: Secrets of a Charmed Life both sister love and the description of falling in love for the first time

Best Shock: Secrets of a Charmed Life and The Nightingale

Best Author: Geraldine Brooks

Best Series: The Cuckoo's Calling Thank you all for voting it for Book of the Month, I would not have looked at it otherwise! And now I have two books from the series in my schedule!

Best Read: People of the Book and The Visitors

Breakout Read: A book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations. The People in the Trees- I knew nothing about this going into it except that the author also wrote A Little Life, which I hadn't read yet at this point. I LOVED this book!

Biggest Let Down: A book you thought would be brilliant but was a total disappointment. Girl Through Glass- it wasn't bad, but I had higher expectations, if only because I love ballet.

Best Dressed: The book with the most attractive cover. The Library at Mount Char- this is the one I chose for most beautiful cover too.

Best Characters: A book with characters you couldn't get enough of. American Housewife: Stories- the dark, sometimes murderous housewives in these stories. So good!

Best Laugh: A book that made you laugh out loud (does not have to be a comedy/humor book). American Housewife: Stories I thought some of these stories were pretty funny, in a twisted kind of way.

Best Cry: A book that made you ache with sadness (does not have to be a drama/tragedy book). A Little Life- make sure you have lots of tissues handy if you read this! Also, take breaks with a funny book or TV show.

Best Scare: A book that gave you the creeps (does not have to be a horror book). Maybe Zombie

Best Love: A book with a romance worth swooning for (does not have to be a romance book). Tough. Most of the relationships in the books I read were dysfunctional. Maybe A Little Life

Best Shock: A book that made your jaw drop in surprise. The Grownup

Best Author: An author whose writing you really clicked with. Hanya Yanagihara

Best Series: A book from a series you either can't get enough of or can't wait to indulge in more. The Three-Body Problem I read the 2nd book, The Dark Forest, last month, but now I have to wait till SEPTEMBER for the conclusion of the trilogy to come out in English (translated from Chinese).

Best Read: The book you read in January, February, or March that topped all the others. By far, A Little Life, even though it destroyed me.

Just curious, but are we going to have another round of these awards for the end of the second quarter? I found it very interesting to look back on everything I read and try to find books that fit each award.

I was actually thinking of posting something like this myself, but I didn't want to step on anyone's toes if they were already intending to/copy Emm's idea without asking/

Yes! We definitely are, Rachel. I've got family here for the holiday weekend but I will be posting some goodies tomorrow. Stay tuned! :D

Emm wrote: "Yes! We definitely are, Rachel. I've got family here for the holiday weekend but I will be posting some goodies tomorrow. Stay tuned! :D"

Awesome, thanks Emm!

Actually, I just went ahead and posted it here.

Breakout Read: The Virgin Suicides - This book really hit me and has stuck with me ever since reading it. I went into it expecting it to be hokey and horrible but it wasn't at all, for me anyway.

Biggest Let Down: Mechanica. Oh this book made me so darn mad! It had so much promise and yet was SO boring. A lot of people compared it to Cinder but I found that it was much different actually; it just wasn't well developed enough to showcase the differences.

Best Dressed: Mechanica - Probably the reason I was expecting so much more was this beautiful cover. Don't judge a book by it's cover goes both ways!

Best Characters: Season's Reapings - This is one of my all time favorite series. The characters are well developed and just plain fun. And one of them is a rather likable Beelzebub so really how can you not enjoy that?

Best Laugh: Season's Reapings - See above! Love this series. Always a nice break from the fairly serious reads that I usually gravitate towards. And Reapers....love me some Reapers!

Best Cry: The Virgin Suicides - Do I really need to explain? If this book didn't upset you, then you have no soul! My heart still aches. I think somewhere along the lines I connected this to one of the polygamist cults where they wed off the young sisters. I can easily see how a group of girls in an environment like that might consider group suicide the only option. Actually my twisted brain can see too many scenarios where something similar might happen, especially in a family with a genetic disposition toward depression or other mental illness.

Best Scare: Slaughterhouse-Five - I'm not even sure what I found so scary about this book but it was a fairly constant, "oh my god, what's going to happen? Is he going to die? Is he crazy? What is happening???" I may have had too much caffeine while reading this.

Best Love: A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea I am not a big fan of fictionalized romances. To sicky sweet, too convenient, too love-triangly....for crying out loud why is every woman/girl in fiction torn between two men/boys? Women/girls are NOT all indecisive airheads thank you very much! Ugh. So this story was a true life story and I really liked the relationship between the Captain and his wife. Loads of respect and caring and nice relationship-y stuff.

Best Shock: West About: A Novel of Magellan's World Voyage - I didn't have many (any) books that really shocked me in the first quarter of reading but the ending of this fictional account of Magellan's Journey around the world left me page flipping and there was a lot of "What? What? Wait, WHAT????" going on in my head.

Best Author: Victoria Aveyard, Red Queen - I really enjoyed this series more than I thought I would and I appreciate Aveyards world building and character development.

Best Series: Red Queen - see above

Best Read: The Virgin Suicides - I chose this book just because several months later, it's one of the few books that I very clearly remember and still have an emotional reaction to. I think that is a sure sign of a wonderful book.

lets try this again, my inter net is acting up:
Breakout Read:The Tiger Warrior by David Gibbins

Biggest Let Down:The City Centre by Simone Pond

Best Dressed:Love Me Anyway by J.L. Redington

Best Characters Mr. Mercedes: by Stephen King

Best Laugh:Dying For Danish by Leighann Dobbs

Best Cry:Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

Best Scare:They Came Out After Dark by Chris Ward

Best Love:Midnight Marked by Chloe Neill

Best Shock:Blood Forest by Jonathan Taylor

Best Author:Pacific Vortex! by Clive Cussler

Best Series: in Death by J.D. Robb

Best Read;81 Days Below Zero: The Incredible Survival Story of a World War II Pilot in Alaska's Frozen Wilderness by Brian Murphy

Breakout Read:
The Bell Jar - I'm not sure what I was expecting but I definitely didn't think it would be so good!

Biggest Let Down:
A Brief History of Time - I thought it would be really interesting because I love learning about the universe, but it was just so dry and hard to get through.

Best Dressed:


Best Characters:
Heidi - After all the heavy books I've read this year, and so much seriousness on TV shows, it was nice to just read about kindness and positivity. Not the most realistic characters, but still nice.

Best Laugh: None, unfortunately

Best Cry:
The Nightingale

Best Scare:
Kindred -Because of its historically accurate treatment of slaves

Best Love:
I didn't read any books that really portrayed romance, but I did find the main character in Kindred and her husband to have the most realistic relationship, and I was definitely rooting for the two of them.

Best Shock:
The Shadow of the Wind

Best Author:
Agatha Christie


Best Series:
The Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie


Best Read:
The Thirteenth Tale - this is now one of my favorites!

Love this!


Breakout Read: Modern Romance
Biggest Let Down: November 9
Best Dressed: Modern Romance
Best Characters: China Rich Girlfriend
Best Laugh: n/a
Best Cry: If I Stay
Best Scare: The Grownup
Best Love: The Light Between Oceans
Best Shock: The Light Between Oceans
Best Author: Albert Camus (The Stranger)
Best Series: China Rich Girlfriend
Best Read: The Light Between Oceans

Breakout Read: A book that was surprisingly good or exceeded expectations.

The Sound of Glass by Karen White

Biggest Let Down: A book you thought would be brilliant but was a total disappointment.

Citadel by Kate Mosse -- I love Kate Mosse's books but this wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be.

Best Dressed: The book with the most attractive cover.



Best Characters: A book with characters you couldn't get enough of.

Brotherhood in Death by J.D. Robb

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

Royal Blood by Rhys Bowen

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

The Sound of Glass by Karen White

Best Scare: A book that gave you the creeps (does not have to be a horror book).

none

Best Love: A book with a romance worth swooning for (does not have to be a romance book).

no swoons

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

no surprises

Best Author: An author whose writing you really clicked with.

Geraldine Brooks

Best Series: A book from a series you either can't get enough of or can't wait to indulge in more.

Brotherhood in Death by J.D. Robb

Best Read: The book you read in January, February, or March that topped all the others.

The Sound of Glass by Karen White

Breakout Read: Amazonia
Biggest Let Down: Garden Spells
Best Dressed:
Best Characters: The One
Best Laugh: The Martian
Best Cry: Black Beauty
Best Scare: Amazonia
Best Love: The One
Best Shock: Amazonia
Best Author: Kiera Cass
Best Series: The One
Best Read: Amazonia