Bookish Academy Awards Tag

I was tagged by Carrie at The Book Goddess to play Bookish Academy Awards Tag. To make it more difficult on myself, I only picked books that I’ve read or reread this year. I’ve read a lot of Stephen King, so we should just call these The Stephen King Academy Awards. If you’re interested in doing this tag, consider yourself tagged and leave a link to your answers in the comments. I’d love to see them.

My Bookish Academy Awards

Best Actor (Best Male Protagonist): Crake

 Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. 

Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey—with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake—through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.

If you didn’t know that I was going to pick Crake, you obviously haven’t clicked on this blog very often. He’s one of my favorite fictional characters ever.

Best Actress (Best Female Protagonist): Cath Avery

Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. 

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . . 

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. 

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. 

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. 

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. 

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? 

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? 

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Cath is so funny and awkward and relatable. I love her.

Best Cinematography (Best Plot Twist): Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. 

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. 

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them. 

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig. 

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle. 

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

This book has so many twists. My favorite one is when Wade meets Aech in real life. I didn’t see that coming.

Best Costume Design (Best Book Cover): Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

This cover has so much detail. It’s impossible to see it all on a computer screen. Also, blue is my favorite color, and this book is very blue.

Best Supporting Actress and Actor (Best Male and Female Sidekick): Cuthbert Allgood and Susan Delgado

Wizard and Glass – Stephen King

Roland and his band of followers have narrowly escaped one world and slipped into the next. There Roland tells them a tale of long-ago love and adventure involving a beautiful and quixotic woman named Susan Delgado. And there they will be drawn into an ancient mystery of spellbinding magic and supreme menace. 

This is my favorite Dark Tower book. (I know that’s an unpopular opinion. Everyone seems to hate this one), but I think Cuthbert and Susan are much more interesting than Eddie and Susannah.

Best Original Screenplay (Most Unique Plot/World): The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Gunslinger – Stephen King

In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

The Dark Tower universe is one of the best fictional universes ever. It’s so detailed.

Best Adapted Screenplay (Best Book-to-Movie Adaptation): The Green Mile by Stephen King

The Green Mile – Stephen King

At Cold Mountain Penitentiary, along the lonely stretch of cells known as the Green Mile, killers such as the psychopathic "Billy the Kid" Wharton and the possessed Eduard Delacroix await death strapped in "Old Sparky." Here guards as decent as Paul Edgecombe and as sadistic as Percy Wetmore watch over them. But good or evil, innocent or guilty, none have ever seen the brutal likes of the new prisoner, John Coffey, sentenced to death for raping and murdering two young girls. Is Coffey a devil in human form? Or is he a far, far different kind of being?

I didn’t read this book this year, but I did re-watch the movie. Unlike most book-to-movie adaptations, it doesn’t suck. Both the book and movie are amazing.

Best Animated Feature (A book that would work well in animated format): Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Coraline – Neil Gaiman

Coraline's often wondered what's behind the locked door in the drawing room. It reveals only a brick wall when she finally opens it, but when she tries again later, a passageway mysteriously appears. Coraline is surprised to find a flat decorated exactly like her own, but strangely different. And when she finds her "other" parents in this alternate world, they are much more interesting despite their creepy black button eyes. When they make it clear, however, that they want to make her theirs forever, Coraline begins a nightmarish game to rescue her real parents and three children imprisoned in a mirror. With only a bored-through stone and an aloof cat to help, Coraline confronts this harrowing task of escaping these monstrous creatures. 

Gaiman has delivered a wonderfully chilling novel, subtle yet intense on many levels. The line between pleasant and horrible is often blurred until what's what becomes suddenly clear, and like Coraline, we resist leaving this strange world until we're hooked. Unnerving drawings also cast a dark shadow over the book's eerie atmosphere, which is only heightened by simple, hair-raising text. Coraline is otherworldly storytelling at its best.

It’s probably cheating to pick a book that’s already an animated movie. This is a fun book that would make a creepy cartoon. I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve heard it’s good.

Best Director (A writer you discovered for the first time): V.E. Schwab

I read A Darker Shade of Magic and then immediately bought Vicious. I can’t wait for the ADSOM sequel.

Best Visual Effects (Best Action in a Book): A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab

Kell is one of the last Travelers—rare magicians who choose a parallel universe to visit. 

Grey London is dirty, boring, lacks magic, ruled by mad King George. Red London is where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London is ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. People fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. Once there was Black London—but no one speaks of that now. 

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see. This dangerous hobby sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to another world for her 'proper adventure.' 

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive—trickier than they hoped.

That ending is crazy. I need the next book now.

Best Short Film (Best Novella or Short Book): The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

The Tales of Beedle the Bard – J.K. Rowling

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Wizarding classic, first came to Muggle readers’ attention in the book known as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now, thanks to Hermione Granger’s new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore. Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,” “The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart,” “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump,” and of course, “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” But not only are they the equal of fairytales we now know and love, reading them gives new insight into the world of Harry Potter.

It’s very short, and it makes me miss Harry Potter.

Best Documentary (Best Historical Fiction or Non-Fiction): The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Richard Flanagan

Richard Flanagan's story of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian doctor haunted by a love affair with his uncle's wife, journeys from the caves of Tasmanian trappers in the early twentieth century to a crumbling pre-war beachside hotel, from a Thai jungle prison to a Japanese snow festival, from the Changi gallows to a chance meeting of lovers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

Taking its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho's travel journal, The Narrow Road To The Deep North is about the impossibility of love. At its heart is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds.

I don’t read much historical fiction, so this was my only choice for the award. It is a very good book, though.

Top Ten Tuesday: Recent Acquisitions

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is ten books that have recently come into my possession. Four of the books are in a boxed set, and three of them are in a bound trilogy. Let me know if you’ve read any of these.

Recent Acquisitions

The Complete Unwind Dystology – Neal Shusterman

After the Second Civil War, the Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen. However, a loophole allows parents to retroactively get rid of a teenager through a process called "unwinding." 

Three teens defy the system and run away from their unwinding: Connor, a rebel whose parents have ordered his unwinding; Risa, a ward of the state who is to be unwound due to cost-cutting; and Lev, his parents; tenth child whose unwinding has been planned since birth as a religious tithing.  

As their paths intersect and lives hang in the balance, Connor, Risa, and Lev must work together to survive and to change the fate of America in the process. This complete boxed set includes Unwind, UnWholly, UnSouled, and UnDivided.

A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.  

But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming . . .  

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.  

It wants the truth.

More Happy Than Not – Adam Silvera

The Leteo Institute's revolutionary memory-relief procedure seems too good to be true to Aaron Soto—miracle cure-alls don't tend to pop up in the Bronx projects. But Aaron can't forget how he's grown up poor or how his friends aren't always there for him. Like after his father committed suicide in their one-bedroom apartment. Aaron has the support of his patient girlfriend, if not necessarily his distant brother and overworked mother, but it's not enough. 

Then Thomas shows up. He has a sweet movie-watching setup on his roof, and he doesn't mind Aaron's obsession with a popular fantasy series. There are nicknames, inside jokes. Most importantly, Thomas doesn't mind talking about Aaron's past. But Aaron's newfound happiness isn't welcome on his block. Since he can't stay away from Thomas or suddenly stop being gay, Aaron must turn to Leteo to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he is. 

Adam Silvera's extraordinary debut novel offers a unique confrontation of race, class and sexuality during one charged near-future summer in the Bronx.

The Shock of the Fall – Nathan Filer

There are books you can’t stop reading, which keep you up all night. 

There are books which let us into the hidden parts of life and make them vividly real.  

There are books which, because of the sheer skill with which every word is chosen, linger in your mind for days.  

The Shock of the Fall is all of these books.  

The Shock of the Fall is an extraordinary portrait of one man’s descent into mental illness. It is a brave and groundbreaking novel from one of the most exciting new voices in fiction.

A Wrinkle in Time Trilogy – Madeleine L’Engle

Fifty years ago, Madeleine L’Engle introduced the world to A Wrinkle in Time and the wonderful and unforgettable characters Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe. Now their first three adventures are together in one volume. In the Newbery Award winner A Wrinkle in Time, the children learn that Mr. Murry has been captured by the Dark Thing, and they must time travel to Camazotz to save him. In A Wind in the Door, Meg, Calvin and Mr. Jenkins (their grade school principal) must travel inside C.W. and battle to save Charles’s life—as well as the balance of the universe. And in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Meg’s brother Charles Wallace has twenty-four hours to stop the tragedy of nuclear war from occurring. Read the iconic novels that continue to inspire millions of fans around the world.

Review: Notable American Women – Ben Marcus

Notable American Women – Ben Marcus

On a farm in Ohio, American women led by Jane Dark practice all means of behavior modification in an attempt to attain complete stillness and silence. Witnessing (and subjected to) their cultish actions is one Ben Marcus, whose father, Michael Marcus, may be buried in the backyard, and whose mother, Jane Marcus, enthusiastically condones the use of her son for (generally unsuccessful) breeding purposes, among other things. Inventing his own uses for language, the author Ben Marcus has written a harrowing, hilarious, strangely moving, altogether engrossing work of fiction that will be read and argued over for years to come.

Review: I saw this book on a list of experimental novels, and the premise immediately got my attention: The main character (also named Ben Marcus) is living on a farm that has been taken over by a group of women who are trying to stay completely still and silent. The women imprison Ben’s meddling father in an underground cell and use Ben and his sister for strange behavior-altering experiments. The women speak in an all-vowel language, ride around on sleds to avoid walking, faint voluntarily, and brew water.

Since I found this book on a list of experimental literature, I knew that it would be avant-garde. And, it certainly is. It doesn’t read like a traditional novel. There is no plot. The “chapters” are a series of loosely connected scenes, letters, contracts, names, fictional history lessons, and other oddities. Nothing is explained. The reader just has to go along with the surreal weirdness.

The writing and world-building are the best parts of the book. Like the synopsis says, the author truly does invent new uses for words. The writing is refreshing and unlike anything I’ve read in a long time. It’s engrossing. The reader can easily picture the bizarre, frightening, and hilarious practices of the silent women. The book has a few literal laugh-out-loud moments. It catches you off-guard at times.

Even though Notable American Women intrigued me enough that I read the whole thing, I didn’t actually enjoy it. Getting through it required a lot of effort on my part. I had to force myself to pick it up and keep reading. Some of the chapters are too long, and I got bored with them. I was also confused a lot in the beginning. Actually, I’m still confused. I can’t claim that I fully understand this book. I have the feeling that I’m just not smart enough for it. Maybe the author is laughing at my stupidity right now . . .  

The Book Haul To End All Book Hauls (Part 2)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. I get to show off all the books I’ve gotten recently.

I ordered so many books that they had to be shipped in 7 different boxes. Here are the contents of box #2.

White Dog Fell from the Sky – Eleanor Morse

Eleanor Morse’s rich and intimate portrait of Botswana, and of three people whose intertwined lives are at once tragic and remarkable, is an absorbing and deeply moving story. 

In apartheid South Africa in 1976, medical student Isaac Muthethe is forced to flee his country after witnessing a friend murdered by white members of the South African Defense Force. He is smuggled into Botswana, where he is hired as a gardener by a young American woman, Alice Mendelssohn, who has abandoned her Ph.D. studies to follow her husband to Africa. When Isaac goes missing and Alice goes searching for him, what she finds will change her life and inextricably bind her to this sunburned, beautiful land. 

Like the African terrain that Alice loves, Morse’s novel is alternately austere and lush, spare and lyrical. She is a writer of great and wide-ranging gifts.

If You Find Me – Emily Murdoch

A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen-year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys. 

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go . . . a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

Places I Never Meant To Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers – Judy Blume (Editor)

“What effect does [the climate of censorship] have on a writer? . . . It's chilling.

It's easy to become discouraged, to second-guess everything you write. There seemed to be no one to stand up to the censors . . . . so I began to speak out about my experiences. And once I did, I found that I wasn't as alone as I'd thought.”

—from Judy Blume's introduction to Places I Never Meant to Be 

Judy Blume is not alone: Many of today's most distinguished authors of books for young people have found their work censored or challenged. Eleven of them have contributed original stories to this collection. Along with a story written by the late Norma Klein when she was a student at Barnard College, they comprise a stunning literary achievement as well as a battle cry against censorship.

Reality Boy – A.S. King

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he’s still haunted by his rage-filled youth—which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school. 

Nothing is ever going to change. No one cares that he’s tried to learn to control himself, and the girl he likes has no idea who he really is. Everyone’s just waiting for him to snap . . . and he’s starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that. 

In this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child “star” who finally breaks free of his anger by creating possibilities he never knew he deserved.

Tilt – Ellen Hopkins

Three teens, three stories—all interconnected through their parents’ family relationships. As the adults pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the lives of the teens begin to tilt . . . . 

Mikayla, almost eighteen, is over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back jealously. But what happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their senior year—and decides to keep the baby? 

Shane turns sixteen that same summer and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex, who happens to be HIV positive. Shane has lived for four years with his little sister’s impending death. Can he accept Alex’s love, knowing that his life, too, will be shortened? 

Harley is fourteen—a good girl searching for new experiences, especially love from an older boy. She never expects to hurdle toward self-destructive extremes in order to define who she is and who she wants to be. 

Love, in all its forms, has crucial consequences in this standalone novel.

The Enchanted – Rene Denfeld

A wondrous and redemptive debut novel, set in a stark world where evil and magic coincide, The Enchanted combines the empathy and lyricism of Alice Sebold with the dark, imaginative power of Stephen King. 

"This is an enchanted place. Others don't see it, but I do." 

The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison, viewed through the eyes of a death row inmate who finds escape in his books and in re-imagining life around him, weaving a fantastical story of the people he observes and the world he inhabits. Fearful and reclusive, he senses what others cannot. Though bars confine him every minute of every day, he marries magical visions of golden horses running beneath the prison, heat flowing like molten metal from their backs, with the devastating violence of prison life. 

Two outsiders venture here: a fallen priest, and the Lady, an investigator who searches for buried information from prisoners' pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, honor and corruption—ultimately revealing shocking secrets of her own. 

Beautiful and transcendent, The Enchanted reminds us of how our humanity connects us all, and how beauty and love exist even amidst the most nightmarish reality.

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own. 

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family. 

Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, The Graveyard Book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.

The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner

The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.

The Silent Boy – Lois Lowry

Precocious Katy Thatcher comes to realize what a gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn’t turn out that way.