Writer Revealed Book Awards 2011

Writer Revealed Book Awards returns for another year. This is a completely biased list, based on the books I read in 2011, and based only on my opinion. 

Best Classic

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Action/Adventure

The Six Sacred Stones - Matthew Reilly

Best Children's

Matilda - Roald Dahl

Best Comic

Nemi - Lisa Myhre

Best Crime

Fantasy in Death - J. D. Robb

Best Fantasy (Epic) 

This was the hardest category this time, because I read Patrick Rothfuss, G. R. R. Martin and more of G. G. Kay. But in the end, The Wise Man's Fear did surpass them all. 


The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss


Best Fantasy (Romantic) 

The Laurentine Spy - Emily Gee

Best Fantasy (Novella/Story Collection)

Twilight's Dawn - Anne Bishop

Best Fantasy (Urban)

Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris

Best Fantasy (YA)

Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex - Eoin Colfer

Best Inspirational Fiction

The Devil and Miss Prym - Paulo Coelho

Best Literary Essays

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader - Anne Fadiman

Best Memoire

Howards End is On the Landing - Susan Hill

Best Science Fiction

Next Logical Step - Ben Bova

Best Science Fiction (YA)

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Best Writing Craft
How to Read Like a Writer - Francine Prose

Best YA
Princess Diaries: Ten Out of Ten - Meg Cabot

Writer Revealed Book Awards 2010

This is a completely biased list, based on the books I read in 2010, and based on only my opinion. And I am lumping various sub-genres together under their main category (i.e. all kinds of Fantasy go under Fantasy)


Best Classic
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Best Crime
Execution Dock - Anne Perry

Best Fantasy
Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

Best Mainstream
Love Story - Erich Segal

Best Memoir
The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

Best Science/Psychology
Proust was a Neuroscientist - Jonah Lehrer

Best Science Fiction - It's a TIE
Journey Into Space - Toby Litt
Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke

Book Abandoned
I don't make a habit of abandoning half-read books, and I don't list them on my book list, because if it is not finished, it doesn't count as read. But I wanted to keep track of the ones I abandoned, and why.


Next - Michael Crichton (at about page 150).
This had a good premise. I really would have liked to read this story, and if it was a movie, I would have enjoyed it. But the writing was just a torture. I get it that we need more than usual amount of exposition for science-heavy subjects, but this goes beyond torture, and a lot of it quite frankly was unnecessary. A thriller is supposed to be...well...thrilling. You shouldn't be able to put it down. It should be fast paced read, not something that makes you feel like you are sitting in a science class with a droning teacher. So I finally gave up.