Books Worth Sharing's Annual Book Awards
A year in reading
Hi there and welcome to Books Worth Sharing’s first ever Annual Book Awards where I create made-up awards and give them to my favorite books of the year - an alternative to the usual Top Books of the Year lists. I’m your host, judge, panel, and everything else - Jam Canezal!
(just imagine a bigger fanfare as you read this)
I know it’s too early to create a best list but I don’t get a lot of reading in December so by November I am basically done with my reading year. Without further adieu, here’s my best of best list!
Note: I will not include book descriptions and reviews here but I will link them wherever I mentioned the book in my newsletter. I will, instead, discuss why I choose that book for that award.
BWS Awardees
Best Audiobook - The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and narrated by Elisabeth Moss
I have read the physical book twice now but never really got its impact until I listened to it on audio with Elisabeth Moss’ narration. I know that her narration influenced the way I interpreted this book but I’m glad I listened to it. Her narration has an angry undertone to it but I think it helped me understood this book more.
I’ve listened to books narrated by Julia Whelan this year and I know she’s the queen of audiobooks but I loved the characterization Elizabeth Moss gave to Offred more.
Other nominees: Pride and Prejudice narrated by Rosamund Pike, Watching You narrated by Rosie Ackerman, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue narrated by Julia Whelan
Best Non-Fiction Book - Quiet by Susan Cain
In the 50-ish books I read every year, only 7% of them are non-fiction and the best one that I read was Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. It taught me that there’s power in being an introvert, in listening attentively, thinking deeply, and feeling emotions strongly. Although the reason for choosing this book is deeply personal (I am an introvert), I love it because it is heavily researched but is written in a simple, understandable way.
Other nominees: Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
Best Memoir - Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Technically, this can also be classified under Non-Fiction but I wanted to separate this category mostly because I’ve read a lot of memoirs this year. Although I loved all the memoirs I’ve read this year, this stuck out the most because of how incredibly nuanced the description of mental illness in this book is. It’s an incredibly powerful book that reminds us that a person is more than just their illness.
Other nominees: Tethered by Tracy Ong and Idiots by Laura Clery
Best Cozy Read - The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai and translated by Jesse Kirkwood
A cozy read is subjective. To me, a cozy read is where the plot is light and straightforward. The characters and relatable and familiar. It’s a happy ever after book that gives off a generally happy vibe. The Kamogawa Food Detectives wins this category because food in fiction and Japanese lit is what cozy means to me.
Other Nominees: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park
Best Big Book of the Year - Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
A big book to me is over 350 pages. I used to dread them because I wanted to finish a book sooner but this year I opened myself up to bigger books. Anna Karenina was the longest book I’ve read this year but also the best. I’ve read it for three months in between other books and every time I came back to it is like meeting an old friend.
Other Nominees: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Best New-to-Me Author - Leo Tolstoy
Although Tolstoy has been around (and dead) for years now, he is a new to me author. The way he writes about life is just so relatable and I feel like I’ve lived through his characters. He writes about daily life that I’ve never seen other authors write about. I am excited to read more of his books.
Other Nominees: Leo Tolstoy, Michael Chabon, and Megha Majumdar
Surprise Book of the Year - Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
A surprise book to me is something that I had no great expectations when I started it but left me loving it by the end of the book. I do not go usually go in a book blind but I did with this one. I loved Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas so when I saw this book, I immediately grabbed it. I initially though this was a usual rise and fall of a band story but it was not. In fact, it’s about the creative life and it just so happens that our main characters are in a band.
No other nominees. This was the biggest surprise.
Best Mind-blowing Book - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
This is a pretty vague award but feel free to interpret it based on my explanation. This book has beautiful writing. Every sentence is full of rhythm. However, I have to constantly remind myself that I am reading an unreliable narrator. Lolita is an incredible book that lets you get into the mind of a madman and messes with your head. So good but so twisted, hiding behind lines and lines of beautiful writing.
Other nominees: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton and Watching You by Lisa Jewell
My Top 5 Best Fiction
Finally the last and the biggest award! I couldn’t choose just one out of the wonderful books I read this year so I chose 5. And even five books was a hard choice to make. And I am still unsure if these really are my top 5 as I am making final edits to this post. To see all the books I’ve read this year, you can check my Fable profile. Here are my top 5 books of 2024 listed according to the date I read them.
A Burning by Megha Majumdar - A story about "trial by media" and of the moral decisions we have to make to rise above our station. Plus, lots of wonderful descriptions of Indian food.
The Giver by Lois Lowry - The Giver is my favorite dystopian novel to date. Although I don’t read this genre that much, this book reminds us the importance of human connection. To me, The Giver is the essence of what a dystopian novel should be even though so many already came before it.
Anxious People by Frederik Backman - A popular book for a reason. It’s really good! Anxious People is a story of a bank robbery gone wrong, turned hostage drama. It’s a book about being an adult in this demanding world, of being a parent, how different generations course through life, and a commentary on social media. It’s a book I can recommend to anyone no matter what their reading habits are. Just the right amount of plot, just the right amount of character development.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - Where do I even begin with this book. Generally speaking, Anna Karenina is a book about finding happiness and contentment in life. It’s about the choices we make and its effect. This book mirrors contemporary life even though it’s set in aristocratic Russia. So many things happen in Anna Karenina that it’s so hard to describe it. You just have to read it yourself.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon - As I write this I am smiling because this is truly one of the best books I read this year. It’s a great story. An epic plot. Well thought of characters. A book of pure adventure. All 600+ pages of it.
Runner up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - This is a reread and although nobody cares it seems unfair to put this in my top 5 again when I know this was also my top 5 in 2022.
My 2024 Reading Stats
Here’s a bunch of pretty pictures from the Fable app.
My 2024 reading goal was to read 50 books and I was able to read 55. But I think I will be able to finish one more book before the year ends. I got married first week of May and was super busy that I didn’t have much time to read. As evidenced by my April stats. After the wedding I was still so busy with government stuff and changes in the house that I fully haven’t got back my groove yet. But by June, I just went full on recovery mode.
Nothing surprises me with this stat. My preferred reads are literary fiction but I still grab fantasy books and I am always catching up on classics.
As I am looking back through my reading year, I realized this is my year of reading Russian literature. I’ve read 4 books by Russian authors and I am already planning to read more.
Questions for You
If you have any suggestions on how to improve this idea for next year, feel free to comment because I would love to do this again next year and make it better.
What’s your best book this year? If you find it hard choosing just one, list them all in the comments section?
Did you like this award thing or too pretentious? lol
Everything in this newsletter is free for now. And so, every open, like, comment, or restack means a lot to me and I thank you all for your support. If you’d like to further support me, buy me a coffee so that I can continue this work.
I so enjoyed reading this post! 😊
I have a copy of Anna Karenina which I am planning on reading next year, though it does seem daunting as it is such a big book! 😯😅
Those are pretty stats. I may have to look into this Fable.