I haven’t really read anything worth reviewing in a week or two, and I’m at that point of a weekend where I’m Sad-Bored, soI thought it might be fun to do a tag! And what better tag than… The Superlatives Book Tag!
Most Likely To Be in the Movies: The Book That Would Make The Best Movie
I’ve read a couple of books recently that would make a really great film, but the one that springs to mind first is The Call by Peadar O’Guilin.
Essentially, every teenager gets ‘Called’ to the Grey Land once. All they have to do is survive for one whole day… except it’s dark, twisted and gruesome. This was the most action-packed and thrilling book I read in 2017 and watching all the different characters take their eventual turns in the Grey Land would be fascinating.
The Sidhe would have to be a CGI-ed cross between the blue people in Avatar and the mermaids in Harry Potter, I think.
Biggest Drama Queen/King: The Most (Overly) Dramatic Book or Character
I did a sort of half-hearted skim through my Library Thing profile when I was looking for an 
answer to this, but I already knew who I was going to opt for. Actually, I guess, I have two answers for this question, depending on how you tone the question.
The most lovably overly-dramatic character is Harry Potter, particularly in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. “OH MY GOD, WHY AM I NOW A PREFECT!? MY LIFE IS SO TERRIBLE, NOW MADE WORSE BY THE FACT THAT I AM NOT A PREFECT!” Bless him. No hard feelings.
On the other hand, if the question is asked with an eye roll and a slight glare, it would have to be All Day: A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island by Liza Jessie Peterson. I’ve never read a more unnecessarily dramatic book (and woman) in my entire life.
Please don’t take anything from the fact that I have used both Harry Potter and All Day. I in no way intend to suggest they are in any way similar.
Best Dressed: The Book With The Best Cover
It was the beauty of The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty that attracted me to it in the first place.
The thumbnail to the right doesn’t really do it justice, because in person it’s a huge hardback with shiny gold highlights. It’s just beautiful. Luckily, the story inside is just as wonderful as the outside.
I was getting quite skeptical that the cover shown on Amazon for the next book, The Kingdom of Copper (release date of 21 February 2019) showed a completely different style. However, I’ve just gone to check and the new, matching cover has been updated. Thank God.
Most Creative: The Book With The Most Unique Plot, Characters and Structure
I was torn between two books for this one: The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, or The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. I can’t choose, so let’s say both!
The former is a huge, complex narrative about a commercially organised time travel. It uses interviews, company memos, diaries, letters, etc… to tell a tense and wonderful story. I loved this book so much. It’s fun and happy, whilst also having some tense twists and a pervading feeling of anxiety. I’ve never read anything like it, and I read anything that even remotely hints at time travel. This is the book I first thought of for this question, but then
Seven Deaths wouldn’t leave me in peace either.
That is a dark and twist mind-fuck of a book that I still haven’t quite managed to get it out of my head, despite reading it in February. It’s set in a sort of 1920s house party (a la Agatha Christie), only the main character is sent to solve a murder by inhabiting the mind of a different guest every day. I can only imagine the level of detail and planning required to pull off something like that, which is probably why there aren’t many books of its ilk… and also why I couldn’t let this question go without mentioning it.
Most Popular: The Book With The Most Ratings on Goodreads
As follows:
1) Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
2) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3) Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
4) To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Most Likely To Succeed: The Book That Is Going To Be Appreciated For Many Years To Come
I didn’t have an immediate answer in mind for this question, but then I remembered You Don’t
Know Me by Imran Mahmood.
It hasn’t had a whole load of hype but I still think it’s an important book. A young black man is on trial for a murder he didn’t commit, only his (white) barrister isn’t being particularly helpful. The protagonist sacks his Counsel and proceeds to represent himself. This novel is his closing speech.
He explains all the details that his legal defence wouldn’t tell the Jury; the bits they ‘wouldn’t understand’ about being underprivileged, black and from a lower class neighbourhood. It’s very powerful and I really recommend picking it up.
Class Clown: The Book That Made You Laugh Out Loud
Squirrel Girl! YES! I am so excited that I get to include The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 1: Squirrel Power in a real-ass tag post.
She’s an honest-to-God real Marvel superhero and I love her. It made me laugh on literally the first page, when she was sat in a tree stealing Spider-Man’s theme tune. There is an over-arching plot, and several other Marvel characters pop-up (Iron Man, Thor, Dr Doom, Galactus, Kraven the Hunter, etc), but it’s worth reading this just for the humour.
I laughed out loud on a train. *shudders*
Most Improved: The Book That Started Off Slow But Picked Up
The only book I could possibly use for this is Nevernight. I hated that book when I first started
reading it. It was confusing, unnecessarily obtuse and I didn’t have the faintest idea what was going on. It made me so angry, I swear. I’d have DNF-ed it if Ellie hadn’t warned me that it was slow to start.
Luckily, I listened, and ploughed on. It ends up being such an amazing book that I’m so glad I didn’t put it down. I read the sequel, Godsgrave, immediately afterwards and I’m now reduced to impatiently waiting for the next book.
This book is definitely, definitely worth wading through the rubbish beginning.
Cutest Couple: Cutest Couple in a Book
Did that category really require the succeeding explanation…?
Umm. I always struggle with this question because I don’t read romance, and I tend to ignore it if it’s snuck into a different genre of book. Alright, I guess I’ll go with Billy and Arsinoe from One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake. It wasn’t InstaLovey, and I hope they stick together. I also liked that it didn’t go all love-triangley when Mirabella was introduced. It’s also not a huge, all-encompassing part of the plot, which I appreciated.
Biggest Heartbreaker: The Book That Broke Your Heart
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but I can’t quite put my finger on why.
On the face of it, it’s a relatively happy book but I look back on it with a quiet twinge of sadness. I couldn’t have cared less about Monique and the griefs in her life, but I really felt for Evelyn. The way she was treated, the attitudes towards the person she loved most, and the way the book ended. It wasn’t a dramatic sobbing type of moment, but parts of it definitely made my heart hurt.
Have you read any of these books? Do you agree with my choices?
What a fun tag, and I definitely agree with you about the 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for being one of the most creative mindfucks ever written!
Definitely. Neverworld Wake is sort of like an Evelyn Hardcastle for teenagers. Different plot but with a similar degree of mindfuckery.
Hm, odd, I really really enjoyed All Day – didn’t feel it was dramatic at all! It is a very sad and painful issue for the author and her community.
I really want to read The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O though. Neal Stephenson rocks.
I found out about it from your blog! You have all the most interesting non-fiction!
But that’s just it. I didn’t feel like it WAS a sad issue for her, at all. I felt that she was more preoccupied with herself and how she appeared than anything else.