Cheater’s Book Oscars

Last year I awarded “Oscars” to books I had read in 2022. I had fun putting it together, so in 2023 I kept a running list of my favorites in each category.

Why is it the “cheater’s” book Oscars? 1) this post is late because I was busy having a baby, 2) it was written on my phone while holding said baby snoozing snuggly in the other arm, 3) a couple of the categories may be a bit of a stretch. Hopefully, there are still some titles to pique your interest and some fun discussion to be had.

Actor in a Leading Role (Best Male Main Character): Ender Wiggen in Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Ender has grown up a lot since his last appearance in Ender’s Game I was surprised at his insight throughout the book and appreciated his empathy. A beautiful follow up.

Actor in a Supporting Role (Best Male Side Character): Chicken George in Roots by Alex Haley. There isn’t really one main character in Alex Haley’s Roots, which follows multiple generations from Gambia, through slavery, and into the present. Chicken George, however, was a vibrant character who stuck with me for a while after reading this book.

Actress in a Leading Role (Best Female Main Character): Tenar in Tehanu by Ursula K. LeGuin. Like Ender, Tenar has also grown up since her first appearance in The Tombs of Atuan. Although she has lived a simple life that belies her origins, she continues to impress.

Actress in a Supporting Role (Best Female Side Character): Moss in Tehanu. Moss felt so real to me – as though she was someone I actually knew. She may have been frustrating at times, but ultimately was someone I was glad to have around.

Add a Category! – Best Non-Binary Character: Sibling Dex in A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. Dex is still trying to figure out life, and we are too, right alongside them.

Animated Feature Film (Graphic Novel): Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith and Boulet. There was not a lot of competition for this spot – I only read 2 comic books in the last year! But Bea Wolf was charming and clever in just the right way. This book has been nominated for this year’s upcoming Hugo awards.

Cinematography (Setting): Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez. Although my praise of Lopez’s book was mixed, it can’t be denied that the picture he paints of the far North is arrestingly beautiful.

Costume Design (Best Cover Art): A Prayer for the Crown Shy. The cover by Feifei Ruan, design by Christine Foltzer matches the tone of the solar punk book: calm, meditative, and optimistic.

Directing (Favorite Author): Matthew Desmond for Evicted. Desmond actually lived in the communities he researched during the 2007-8 financial crisis, and the experience affected him deeply. I am in awe of his dedication, and also of the masterpiece he wrote, which shows evictions “as a cause, not just a condition, of poverty”.

Documentary Feature Film (Best Nonfiction Book): Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. Immersive, harrowing, and unforgettable; a look at the Troubles in Ireland through the eyes of two different families and an unsolved murder.

Documentary Short Film (Best Essay Collection): “The Journey That Matters” – a series of six short videos from Arwen Curry about the iconic author, Ursula K LeGuin. 1) About her illegal abortion in 1950, 2) on writing fantasy as a young girl, 3) on creating the world of Earthsea, 4) on writing characters of color, 5) on her writing process, 6) on writing and parenting with her husband, Charles

Film Editing (Editor of a Collection or Magazine): Heidi Murkoff for the “What to Expect…” series. I’ve read and reread a lot of What to Expect books over the last couple years and opened the app nearly daily. It’s not my favorite book (That would be Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: A Complete Guide by Penny Simpkin et al) but by sheer page count alone I have ended up spending a lot of time reading the work that Murkoff has curated.

International Feature Film (Book in Translation): The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington. Ok so – the only book in translation I read last year was Elegance of the Hedgehog, which I did not like enough to give an award. The Hearing Trumpet was first published in French, but originally written in English. So really, there was no translation involved in the version I read. This was quite possibly the most surreal book I have ever read in my life.

Makeup and Hairstyling (Best Mystery/Thriller/or Horror Book): Monk’s Hood by Ellis Peters. Last year, I recieved a full set of Cafael Mysteries from my Dad, who was downsizing his collection. Reading one a month, I got through about half the series last year. I enjoyed Monk’s Hood for the glimpse at Brother Cadfael’s pre-Abbey days, and reconciliation with his present life.

Music (Best Book-Related Social Media): I have since deleted my twitter/x account, but when I used to still check it, I enjoyed Owl! at the Library for “fairy-tales, beauty, wholesome whimsy”. Full of cozy vibes and book tweets.

Best Picture (Best “Literary” Fiction Book):  Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I have read two books by Ishiguro so far and have been utterly blown away both times. Honorable Mention: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. This book follows the lineages of two sisters in Ghana, one who remains in Africa and one who is sold into slavery. Each lineage has horrors to deal with, whether in fire and self-destruction or in water and a theft of the self. It has stuck with me for a while since reading and I would love to go back a reread it someday.

Production Design (Best Publisher): Graywolf Press for their Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize. The House of Rust by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber was a mind-opening read this year, which was published via winning the prize. I hope someday to read the other winners, as well.

Short Film (Animated) (Best Children’s Book): Joint winners Rah Rah Radishes: A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre and Good Night Veggies by Diana Murray and Zachariah O’Hora. My green-thumbed sister bought both of these for my oldest daughter. “One for when you need to get her going and one for when you need to lay her down,” she said. (“Oh no!” said Joe, “what if she mixes her upper and downer veggies? That’s how John Belushi died.”)

Short Film (Live Action) (Best Short Story): Rabbit Test by Samantha Mills. A year and a half ago while at World Con I had a premonition about the type of story that would win a Hugo award this year. (I -laughably- set out to write it and got nowhere. Mills was way ahead of me.) “Rabbit Test” won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, although she declined the Hugo due to last year’s controversy in Chengdu.

Sound (Best Poetry): Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith and Boulet. My intake of poetry was very low this year, but Bea Wolf is fun enough to take the cake

Visual Effects (Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel): Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I read this book at just the right time – just before Christmas when the weather was dark and wet to match the setting, and just far enough removed from the pandemic that a time-travel novel centered around the Black Death and a mysterious flu outbreak in London seemed familiar, yet not in such a way that I was already sick of it. I was utterly engrossed, staying up late at night to read it; and impressed at Willis’s knowledge and insight into both the past and the future.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (Best Book Adaptation): “Dungeons &Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” This movie was a surprising delight and incorporated the best parts of D&D: silly hijinks, stupid names that the DM clearly came up with at the last second (Jarnathan?), fight sequences in which the bard successfully uses Vicious Mockery… I felt like I could feel the players behind the characters having fun with their backstory and more. I felt it to be a touching story about found family – which is all the more appropriate because that is what the best D&D campaigns turn into as we sit around the table together each week.

Writing (Original Screenplay) (Best Prose): Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro manages to gradually unfold a story in such a way that by the end, you feel like you knew it all along, and yet are astounded at the same time.