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BCF Book Awards 2018


Onion Budgie

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I enjoy this thread every time it comes around, so I might as well be the one to kick things off for the 2018 vote! 

 

Favourite read?

Favourite author?

Most read author?

Favourite book cover?

Book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)?

Book that most disappointed you?


Funniest book?


Favourite literary character?


Favourite children's book?


Favourite classic?


Favourite non-fiction book?


Favourite biography?


Favourite collection of short stories?


Favourite poetry collection?


Favourite illustrated book?


Favourite publisher?


Favourite audiobook?

Favourite re-read?

 

I'll return in a day or two with my picks.  Let's hear yours!

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Favourite read?

Stoner by John Williams - I only finished it this morning but this is one of those books that will never leave me. I just can't stop thinking about it.

 

Favourite author?

Henning Mankell. I read 6 of his books in the Wallander series this year to finish it off, I will miss the character a lot. An honourable mention should also go to Joseph Kanon who I read for the first time this year and he really impressed me.

 

Most read author?

Henning Mankell.

 

Favourite book cover?

XPD by Len Deighton. I love the book covers from this print run of his books so some reason. It must be because it reminds me of my youth a bit.

880282.jpg

 

Book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)?

I abandoned a few to come back to at another time but the only one that springs to mind is Moskva by Jack Grimwood. It just wasn't working for me at the time although I suspect I was a bit tired of reading so many spy thrillers.

 

Book that most disappointed you?


The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. I wanted to read this for so many years and in the end I was left feeling let down by both the book and the author. The book was too dogmatic and the author has since been discredited due to his actions towards people in his trust.

 

Funniest book?


One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Quite a dark story but with loads of humour along the way.

 

Favourite literary character?

Can I say Wallander again?

 


Favourite children's book?


N/A.

 

Favourite classic?


Dracula by Bram Stoker. This one really surprised me how much I enjoyed it. I expected it to be hard to read and full of dense language and while it needed some work I definitely wouldn't describe it as hard.

 

Favourite non-fiction book?


The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman. It reads like a spy thriller but is a true story and would make a fantastic movie in the right hands.

 

Favourite biography?


Hitman by Bret Hart. Another surprisingly well written book that really opened my eyes as to what went on during the professional wrestling that I used to watch as a kid.

 

Favourite collection of short stories?

I haven't really read any apart from a collection of Dickens' Christmas stories which I quite liked.

 


Favourite poetry collection?


N/A

 

Favourite illustrated book?


N/A

 

Favourite publisher?


Can I say the Folio Society? I only really discovered them this year and I already have a small collection of their editions. If I had to go for a 'normal' publisher I would say Vintage as I always impressed by  their line of classics.

 

Favourite audiobook?

I only listened to one audiobook, Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor. The subject matter is very dense so I don't know if I would go so far as saying I enjoyed it but it was definitely a worthwhile listen.

 

Favourite re-read?

No re-reads for me this year.

 

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Favourite read?

Orlando by Virginia Woolf.  What a trip!  The language was glorious.  It was my first Woolf, and she has since become one of my favourite writers.

 

Favourite author?

Virginia Woolf.  I'll be reading more of her work in 2019 for sure.

 

Most read author?

Agatha Christie.  I read six of her mysteries this year.

 

Favourite book cover?

The Disappearance Boy by Neil Bartlett.  Loved the book, too.  The story of an illusionist's assistant, in a 1950s English seaside town.

DB.jpg.e36f063f80b19fb0ff7956f0dfb851d8.jpg

 

Book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)?

N/A

 

Book that most disappointed you?


The Dead by James Joyce.  Stifling, tedious drivel.

 

Funniest book?


Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins by Rupert Everett.  Made me cackle aloud numerous times.  What a talented writer he is!

 

Favourite literary character?

Hercule Poirot.  (I'm looking forward to seeing how John Malkovich portrays him in the upcoming TV thingie on Boxing Day.)

 


Favourite children's book?


N/A

 

Favourite classic?


Orlando by Virginia Woolf.

 

Favourite non-fiction book?


Testimony of Light by Helen Greaves.  A fascinating book about the afterlife.  A game-changer, if you're inclined towards that sort of thing.

 

Favourite biography?


Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins by Rupert Everett.  I also enjoyed his follow-up autobiography, Vanished Years.

 

Favourite collection of short stories?

N/A

 


Favourite poetry collection?


N/A

 

Favourite illustrated book?


The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry & P.J. Lynch.

 

Favourite publisher?


N/A

 

Favourite audiobook?

N/A

 

Favourite re-read?

N/A

Edited by Onion Budgie
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A good way to round off the year.  Thanks for kickstarting it all @Onion Budgie

 

Favourite read?

East-West Street by Philippe Sands.  So much in this book: family history, genealogical detective work, legal history, the Holocaust, the Nuremburg Trials, ethical issues, all brilliantly put together.

 

Favourite author?

Willa Cather.  Read my first book of hers (My Antonia) as the Nebraska stopover in my Tour of the United States, quickly followed up by O Pioneers, which, if anything, I enjoyed even more.  A real discovery for me of someone  who I had only heard about before in a marginal way.

 

Most read author?

As it has been every year for the past five or so: Georges Simenon, with six of his Maigret books read this year - my go to for a mental break.

 

Favourite book cover?

Wilding by Isabella Tree - also on my short list of favourite reads this year. (Picture attached below)

 

Book you abandoned ?

When I abandon a book, I tend to skim quickly through the rest, so I rarely give up entirely, especially when they are being read for a book group.  Two went into early skim mode at roughly equal points, both were about as bad as it was possible to get:

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

Pendulum by Adam Hamdy

 

Book that most disappointed you?


I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.  I gave this three stars, so it wasn't a bad read at all, but given its acclamation, I was so suprised at how ordinary it was, a real let down.  Seemed to have remarkable memory of very early ages, but left out half her teen years too.

 

Funniest book?


A toss up between two, but as the other gets another award, this goes to Bookworm by Lucy Mangan, with some wonderfully wry recollections of her childhood, which brought so many of mine as a similarly addicted bookworm coming flooding back. Not laugh out loud, but gently smile inducing.

 

Favourite literary character?

Alexandra Borgen, the heroine of O Pioneers. Strong minded, barrier breaking, very human.

 


Favourite children's book?


Paddington Helps Out by Michael Bond, also a contender for funniest book of the year.  Never ceases to make me smile, even laugh, Paddington has been there all my reading life (I was born the same month the first book came out), and remains a complete joy.

 

Favourite classic?


Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.  A real surprise, as previous Waughs have left me somewhat cold, but this was brilliant, 6 stars all the way.

 

Favourite non-fiction book?


My favourite read was a non-fiction book, so that is also my favourite non-fiction.  As a result, I'm going to nominate my favourite Fiction book instead, which was A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor - Under Milk Wood in prose!

 

Favourite biography?


The Pursuit of Victory by Roger Knight, an outstanding biography of Horatio Nelson.

 

Favourite collection of short stories?

None read this year

 


Favourite poetry collection?


Several dipped into this year, the best probably being The Complete Works of Robert Frost.

 

Favourite illustrated book?


The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian.  I read the Folio Society edition, part of their publication of the whole series.  Very cleverly, for each volume, they have collated a series of contemporary pictures illustrating specific quotes from the text, making the books feel even more real.  Their picture choices are uncannily apposite.

 

Favourite publisher?


I really discovered Library of America this year - just love the books and the concept. Wish we had something similar in the UK.

 

Favourite audiobook?

None listened to.

 

Favourite re-read?

Unusually few this year, but the best of a good bunch was Coot Club by Arthur Ransome (preferred to The Big Six).  We had fun finding the locations on holiday too, which added to the enjoyment.

 

My favourite cover of the year!

wilding.jpg

Edited by willoyd
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