Favourite Book in Each Category

Snak999 Challenge

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Favourite Book in Each Category

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1sanddancer
okt 13, 2009, 3:38 pm

As many people have completed the challenge or are nearing the end, I thought I would start a thread about favourites. So which book has been your favourite in category?

I'm currently reading my final book, but it isn't going to top my favourites, so here are my choice:

1. 1001 Books to Read Before You Die
A tough choice as some good things in here, but the one that made the most impact on me was Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates

2. Fiction Authors that are New to Me
The Other Hand by Chris Cleave - I found this really moving and well written and I'll definitely read more from him in the future.

3. Crime and Detectives around the world (each one from a different country)
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith - I was gripped by this thriller set the Soviet Union, more for the depiction of the society than the crime.

4. Theme: Dystopia
I'm going to have to have a tie here between Brave New World by Aldous Huxley which surprised me with its readability and humour, and The Road by Cormas McCarthy which has been one of the most haunting things I've ever read.

5. Retro: Beats, Hippies, 1960s and Counter-Culture (fiction and non-fiction)
Very difficult to pick here as it was such a mixed bunch, but probably 1968 The Year that Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky as I felt I learned a lot from this.

6. Around the World (fiction set outside of the UK and USA - each one from a different country)
This was probably the strongest category but Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe, a collection of loosely connected short stories set in Uganda by Doreen Baingana was the outright winner.

7. Non-Fiction
A surprisinging winner as I only read this book to satisfy my spors obsessed partner The Last Shot by Darcy Frey - I know very little about basketball but this had me hooked.

8. Complete Works of - T C Boyle
My toughest category - I won't be attempting to read everything by one author again in a year as it became a struggle, but there were some good ones in there, particulary Riven Rock

9. Themed Titles - Animals (a different animal in each title)
This category worked out well and threw up a good mix of books. The best one was actually the one with the most to do with animals Giraffe by J M Ledgard.

2LA12Hernandez
okt 13, 2009, 11:46 pm

1. Plays- Favorite was The Merry Wives of Windsor, it was funny.
2. Classic Lit- Cyrano De Bergerac, although I had seen the movie the book made him a more realistic person and I really felt sorry for him.
3. Cozy Mysteries- Black Orchids- Nero Wolfe had to leave his beloved Brownstone. Great story.
4. Sci-Fi/Fantasy-All the Weyrs of Pern- Answers a lot of questions about where the people of Pern came from.
5.Graphic Novels- Jim Henson's- Return to the Labyrinth- Toby is now a teenager and the new Goblin King.
6. From my TBR pile-Count of Monte Cristo- Fabulous I liked the movie the movie just filled in the details.
7. Audio books- A Man of Means- the way he gets into trouble and comes out on top is just plain fun.
8. Did you Read...- The Lightning Thief my niece wanted me to read this and it was good. Well written but not dumbed down. Kept my interest.
9. Just for fun.-Long Day's Journey into night Hit home, it helped.

These are my Favorites from each of my categories.

3socialpages
okt 14, 2009, 5:31 am

1. Authors New to Me: The Slap
2. Foreign Affairs: Waiting
3. Prize Winners: The Known World
4. Another by a favourite author: The Painted Veil
5. 1001 Books: The Things They Carried
6. More 1001 Books: Dangerous Liaisons
7. Dystopian lit: The Things We Didn't See Coming by Stephen Amsterdam
8. Just for Fun: On Writing
9. Aussie Authors: For the Term of His Natural Life tied with The Boat

4AHS-Wolfy
Redigeret: okt 29, 2009, 2:08 am

Still have 4 books to go so this may change a little before the end but here goes...

1. A feast of Feist: Faerie Tale. An easy choice. I really wish he'd write more books away from his usual fare if they would be as good as this one.
2. Why haven’t I read this yet?: Ender's Game. Another fairly easy choice as Only The Forever War came close.
3. And now for something completely different: Kafka on the Shore. A couple of possibilities in this category but Kafka just edged it.
4. Watching the detectives: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Another stand out work that made this an easy selection even though there were other books I liked here.
5. Book watch: High Fidelity. A close call but the humour of this one just edges it.
6. Frying Tonight: The Stars' Tennis Balls. Only The Liar came even remotely close enough to making this a contest.
7. New in Sci-Fi & Fantasy: The Gone-Away World just edges this one which is a good achievement considering that it's a debut novel.
8. Impulse buys and recommends: The Lies of Locke Lamora. A stand out category which could have gone to any of 3 or 4 books
9. Continuations: The Girl Who Played with Fire. A second entry for Stieg Larsson so I guess that made him my author of the year.

Honourable mentions: Catch-22, The Night Watch, The Beach, The Raw Shark Texts, Gardens of the Moon and Quite Ugly One Morning.

5cyderry
okt 14, 2009, 9:06 am

New books in an Old Series - Winter Study
Classics - Inferno by Dante ( The group read may have helped)
Mysteries - Déja Dead (I understand why this is a TV series)
Biographies/History - Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation
Award Winners: Mistress of the Art of Death (This was a toughy because 4 of my Top 10 for the year were in this category.)
Surprise Books: My Sisters Keeper
Harry Potter related : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Favorite Authors: Shadow Queen (Language of Bees) a close 2nd
Found Books: Crocodile on the Sandbank (picked this up by accident)

These were my favorites from my first 999. The second one has 30 left to go.

6HannahJo
okt 21, 2009, 2:10 pm

1.Biography/Memoir- In the Land of Invisible Women by Qanta Ahmed. The author annoyed me, but she had such a unique story to tell.
2. Notablebooks - What is the What by Dave Eggers. A new favorite author. So many good books in this category.
3. Musical Reads- The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. Simple, elegant, life-affirming.
4. Ocean Adventures- Treasure Island by RL Stevenson. Can't believe I never read this before. This was a very fun category.
5. Mystery- The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers. Another new favorite author (even better than Agatha Christie!)
6. Nonfiction- The Secret Lives of Saints by Daphne Bramham. About the polygamous community in Bountiful, BC. Read with Escape by Carolyn Jessop.
7. Sci-Fi/Dystopia- Farenheit 451. I don't usually do this genre, so I had the pleasure of reading a lot of amazing classics.
8. 1001 Books- Animal's People by Indra Sinha- although there were other 1001 books that fit in other categories.
9. Historical Fiction- Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Thank you librarythingers for recommending it!

7Nickelini
okt 21, 2009, 4:12 pm

Well, I'm a few books away from finishing my 999, but here's what I have to date:

1. Oldest Book in My Closet: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy
2. Books for University: Return of the Soldier, by Rebecca West
3. More Books from My Closet: Green Grass, Running Water, by Thomas King -- will probably be my #1 or #2 book for the year.
4. CanLit: The Robber Bride, by Margaret Atwood
5. Women Authors: To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
6. Prize Winners: The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence
7. 1001 Books: after the quake, by Haruki Murakami
8. Books for My Trip to England and Italy: Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
9. Non-fiction: The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women, by Jessica Valenti

8cmbohn
Redigeret: okt 23, 2009, 2:01 pm

Nickelini - thanks for the recommendation of Green Grass, Running Water. I'd never heard of the book or the author, and it looks interesting.

A very belated attempt to sort out my best/worst from challenge #1.

Best of LT Recommended: A 3 way tie! The Graveyard Book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Best of Biography: The Hiding Place

Best of New Authors: A Doll's House

Best of Teen Reads: The Warrior Heir

Best of LDS Books: No Doubt About It

Best of Short Stories: Murder and Other Acts of Literature

Best of Audiobooks: tie between These is My Words and Wee Free Men

Best of Just for Fun: Men at Arms

Best of Cooking and Food: New Recipes from the Moosewood Restaurant

Here's a list of my best/worst from my 2nd set:

Best of Historical Fiction/Non-fiction: Persuasion
Worst: Don Quixote (no surprise there)

Best of plays: Waiting for Godot
Worst: All's Well that Ends Well

Best of New Mysteries: Ashes to Ashes - Emma Lathen
Worst: The Black Shrike, which was really more of a thriller than a mystery anyway, but still no good.

Best of Global Reading: Cry, the Beloved Country
Worst: The God of Small Things

Best of Non-fiction: American Gospel
Worst: tie between The Irregulars and Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs

Best of LDS books: Because He First Loved Us
Worst: You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Need - not because it was bad, really, but the style just put me off so much I couldn't finish the book

Best of Fantasy/Myth: The Last Olympian!
Worst: The Lost Queen

Best of Books I Haven't Read in 10 Years: Watership Down
Worst: Under Western Eyes

Best of Library Books: Death of a Fat God
Worst: Death and the Visiting Fireman
both by the same author!

9soffitta1
okt 28, 2009, 8:37 pm

1. Oceania and Islands
Best: The Book Thief

2. Portugal
Best: Night Train to Lisbon

3. 1001 Books
Best: Possessing the Secret of Joy

4. Children's Books
Best: Goodbye, Mr. Chips

5. British Writers
Best: The Thirteenth Tale

6. Controversial
Best: Petals of Blood
Worst: Beloved

7. Travel
Best: The Old Patagonian Express
Worst: Wall to Wall

8. Canongate
Best: The Penelopiad

9. Historical
Best The City of Fallen Angels

10hailelib
nov 14, 2009, 3:01 pm

1. YA Two books stand out - Stardust by Gaiman and The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

2. Mystery/Suspense - Rio Grande Fall by Rudolfo Anaya

3. Romance/Paranormal - Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

4. Favorite authors - The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

5. Anything goes - Promise of the Wolves by Dorothy Hearst

6. Selections from Dewey 001-099 - All the News Unfit to Print by Eric Burns - subject to change as I finish this category

7. Philosophy/ Myth/Religion - Oriental Mythology by Joseph Campbell - also subject to change

8. Science -Lost Discoveries by Dick Teresi

9. History/Language - The House of Wisdom by Jonathan Lyons

Honorable mention: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency; Cold Comfort Farm; The Measure of All Things; and Empires of the Word. Also from my extra fiction there was Eon: Dragoneye Reborn and Bone Crossed.