Superlatives

[Shelly]

I started making a list of 2024 book superlatives. Trying to look at the books I have read this year beyond "My Top 10."
Here are the categories I have so far. Anybody want to suggest some others? (I have not yet posted the books I chose for each)

Best F2F Bookclub book
Best non-fiction
Best Steeplechase book
Most outside my comfort zone
Most disappointing book
Most provocative book
Best Fat Book (>500 pages)
Best DNF Decision
Oldest book
Most Interesting Characters
Most Deserving of the Hype
Biggest Disappointment

[Jason]

Best reread (I'm not a re-reader but some are)

[Jgrace]

I like that one, Jason. I've done a lot of rereading this year.

I also like:

Most likely to be reread

also, as this seems to be my year of short stories:

Best short story
Best story collection

also:

Best audiobook

and

Best illustrations

[Jason]

Jgrace wrote: "I like that one, Jason. I've done a lot of rereading this year.

I also like:

Most likely to be reread

also, as this seems to be my year of short stories:

Best short story
Best story collection
..."

Since you have been reading short stories, I have a question for you I have been pondering lately.

Do think short stories are better, more enjoyable, deeper (not sure how to explain what I'm thinking) read individually (just reading that one story) or reading a book as a collection of short stories?

[Jgrace]

It's a good question. If I have a collection of stories, I like to take long breaks between each one. They tend to blend together in a confused jumble if I read an anthology too quickly. The exception is a book made of connected short stories like People of the Book or The Tsar of Love and Techno.

[Jgrace]

And now, I think I've hijacked Shelly's thread.
Sorry, Shelly.

[Theresa]

I've been trying to think out of the box ideas, creative ones:

Best rainy day reads - also snowy day or even A/C day (instead of beach - I hide from hot weather and dislike beaches except for walks at sunset in winter)

best books to read while traveling by plane or train

Best books that made you hungry

Coziest blanket fort reads

Best Christmas romances, cozy mysteries, crime fiction

Best classic Golden Age Detective Fiction

Maybe these are too silly - but every time BookBub or Crime Reads posts a recommendations list with titles like that, I'm pulled in.

[NancyJ]

It could get long, but how about your favorite for each monthly tag? I would be interested in seeing those answers. Or some of them anyway.

I really like most likely to reread too.

You have two variations of disappointed/disappointing.

[Robin P]

Maybe most surprising
And something that is the opposite of disappointing, you thought it would be meh but you loved it. Not sure what that's called.

[Shelly]

Robin P wrote: "Maybe most surprising
And something that is the opposite of disappointing, you thought it would be meh but you loved it. Not sure what that's called."

Most surprisingly great book
I just finished reading The End of Drum-Time and that is how I would describe it!

[Jason]

When I compile my top 10, I will compile this list also.

[Jason]

Best non-fiction - Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America - Michael Harriot
Most outside my comfort zone - Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Most disappointing book - My Father's Wives - Mike Greenberg
Most provocative book - A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara For its time though Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe
Best Fat Book (>500 pages) I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes
Best DNF Decision - I hate not finishing books. I didn't have any this year.
Oldest book - Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe
Most Interesting Characters - No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
Most Deserving of the Hype - The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
Best Short Story - The Monkey's Paw - W.W. Jacobs

[Shelly]

Best F2F Bookclub book Horse
Best non-fiction The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
Best Steeplechase book The Nix
Most outside my comfort zone Upstream: Selected Essays
Most disappointing book This Is How You Lose the Time War
Most provocative book The Overstory
Best Fat Book The Covenant of Water
Best DNF Decision Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma
Oldest book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
Most Interesting Characters The Nix
Most Deserving of the Hype James
Most likely to reread James
Most surprisingly great book The End of Drum-Time

[Joy D]

Favorite Book of the Year: My Friends by Hisham Matar
Favorite non-fiction: Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll
Best Steeplechase book: Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Most outside my comfort zone: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Most disappointing book: The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
Best Long Book (>500 pages): The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War by Richard Rubin
Best DNF Decision: The Exchange by John Grisham
Oldest book: Praise of Folly by Erasmus (published 1508)
Most Interesting Characters: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Un-Charles and The Wonk are priceless)
Most Deserving of the Hype: James by Percival Everett
Most Surprising: Nicked by M.T. Anderson
Book I didn’t expect to like but ended up loving: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
Best Re-read: Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
Most likely to be reread: Playground by Richard Powers
Best audiobook: Skios by Michael Frayn (read by Robin Sachs)
Best to read while traveling: Q & A by Vikas Swarup (aka Slumdog Millionaire)
Best read for the holiday season: Time of the Child by Niall Williams
Best Fantasy: Embassytown by China Mieville
Best Science Fiction: Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Best Historical Fiction: Morality Play by Barry Unsworth

I read so many books this year - 488 - here's a link where I've posted all my 2024 favorites:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And a link to My Year in Review: 2024
https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_i...

[Robin P]

Favorite Book of the Year: North Woods
Most Deserving of the Hype: James
Most Surprising: Letters of a Woman Homesteader
Most Outside My Comfort Zone: Lives of the Monster Dogs
Best Audiobook: Whale Fall
Book I didn't expect to like and ended up loving: Lucy by the Sea
Best DNF Decision: The Echo of Old Books
Oldest Book - The Epic of Gilgamesh
Most Disappointing - Orbital]
Best Romance Authors Discovered - Annabeth Albert and Erica Ridley
Best Mystery Authors Discovered - Ngaio Marsh and Lindsey Davis
Best Fat Book: To Serve Them All My Days