Hi guys, happy Boxing Day 🙂 I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day. I had a lovely quiet day with my family. Today I thought I would do the Bookish Academy Awards – I know the Academy Awards are normally done in February but I figured this would be a great way to round up the past year of reading. I tried to use different books for each answer and tried not to repeat answers, but for some questions it didn’t work out that way :). Onto the questions.
Best Actor: Best Male Protagonist
It has to go to Fitz from the Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb. He is such a fantastic protagonist – he’s complex, flawed and well written. In my opinion, Fitz is one of the best male protagonist in the bookish world. I have loved both the Farseer trilogy and the Tawny Man trilogy, but I have yet to read The Fitz and the Fool trilogy – I am very excited for it. I did also really enjoy Nigel from An Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F Hamilton.
Best Actress: Best Female Protagonist
This is actually a really tricky one as I have quite a few name favourite female characters, but the best female protagonist is probably Lirael from the Old Kingdom’s series by Garth Nix. You guys know my love of this series so it was wonderful to be back with Lirael in Goldenhand. Honourable mention to Maniye from The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky and Kagaya-hime from Fudoki by Kij Johnson.
Best cinematography: Best plot twist
The first book that comes to mind when I see plot twist is Morning Star by Pierce Brown, which is the third and final book in the Red Rising trilogy. This was such a great conclusion and there were so many shocking moments – it is full of plot twists. I highly recommend this trilogy.
Best costume design: Best book cover
I am going to have to show five for this one because there are so many amazing book covers. These are definitely some of my favourites from the books I’ve read this year.
Best supporting actor/actress: Best side character
There are so many… I don’t know if I can choose just one. OK my main choice is going to be Pole from the Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan – I would love a book from her perspective. Honourable mentions to Inej from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Risana from the Dandelion Dynasty trilogy by Ken Liu and Eliza from the Bone Season series.
Best original screenplay: Best unique world or setting
I have to give this one to The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky, book 1 in the Echoes of the Fallen series. I know I have already mentioned this book but it has such a unique world with a diverse range of people and cultures. One of the best things about this book was the world – I highly recommend it.
Best adapted screenplay: Best book to film adaptation
Well I can’t really answer this as I don’t think I’ve seen any, but I did see the Maze Runner film and liked it – I haven’t read the book though. Other than that, I don’t have an answer for you. However I do have a book to TV adaptation I enjoyed and that would definitely be the BBC adaptation of War and Peace. It made me want to read the book and I think it was a pretty good adaptation
Best animated feature: Book you want to see animated
I actually had a bit of trouble with this one but in the end I am going with Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden. I think it would make a great animated TV show (or film) that could be enjoyed by a wide range of ages. It was a great middle grade book.
Best director: Best new to you author
Again there are so many to choose one. One of my main choices is Anthony Ryan. I read The Waking Fire by him and really enjoyed it – I also have the first book in his other series on my shelf waiting to be read. Other amazing new to me authors include Kij Johnson, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Lian Hearn, although so far I’ve only read one thing by Hearn – I want to start the Tales of the Otori series soon.
Best short film: Best short story collection
To be honest I haven’t read a lot of short story collections. I think the only one I’ve read is At the Mouth of the River of Bees by Kij Johnson, which I really enjoyed. There were definitely a couple of stories I didn’t love but overall it was a great short story collection.
Best visual effects: Best action in a book
Sorry for the repeat answer but the first book that comes to mind is The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I thought the action was done very well in this book and I really enjoyed it. The action in The Hunted Assassin by Paul B. Kohler was also done well.
Best documentary: Best historical fiction or non fiction
For historical fiction I’ve chosen Eagles at War by Ben Kane, which is set in 9 CE. This was my first book by this author and I ended up really enjoying it. For non fiction I’ve gone with Another Day in the Death of America by Gary Younge, which is just a very important read – I highly recommend it. I have also read some great books on North Korea this year, which I have to quickly mention – In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park, Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick and The Girl with the seven names by Hyeonseo Lee.
Best picture: Best book of the year
Ahhh you can’t make me choose just one! I read over 100 books this year, so I’m sharing 16 books that I loved – in no particular order :). Fudoki by Kij Johnson, Goldenhand by Garth Nix, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb, The Emperor of the Eight Island by Lian Hearn, Dune by Frank Herbert, Daughters of the Dragon by William Andrews and The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Bear and the Nightingale by Katharine Arden, The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon, Middlemarch by George Eliot, Morning Star by Pierce Brown, The Bone Queen by Alison Croggon, To the Sky Kingdom by Tang Qi, The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.
I would love to know what your favourite books of the past year have been. There are so many good books I still want to read and some books I want to reread as well. Overall I had a great reading year, although there were some small disappointments as well. I found quite a few books to add to my favourites list, which I am very happy about. Once again I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day. Let me know your favourite reads :). I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.
thelittlebookowl 