Faves of 2011 (The Random)

Nomes over at Ink Crush is hosting a "Faves of 2011" event with five different categories of awards for books we've read in 2011. You can find out more details here. Here are my favourites for "The Random".

1. fave first sentence
"My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die. I counted." (had to include that 2nd sentence) from Jellicoe Road. I'm sure there are other great first sentences, but that one completely sticks out in my mind.

2. fave book title
I think I could end up listing a gazillion, so I'll go with Hold Me Closer, Necromancer for the awesome Elton John pun. Yes, I love me some Elton John!

3. fave reading experience (ie: created a great reading memory)
I'm not sure about a favourite reading memory, but I do really remember reading Wither because I was all "omigosh.. this book is insane... why am I liking a book about polygamy? omigosh... it's so good... what the heck... ahhh, gotta keep reading!" And I read it back in January so it was obviously freezing, and I just remember being wrapped up in a blanket on the futon flipping the pages on my eReader like mad.

4. book with the best food in it (made you so crazy-envious-hungry)
The ones that stand out the most right away are Sixteenth Summer because Anna's family runs the local ice cream parlour (so many amazing flavours mentioned!!), and The Scorpio Races for the November cakes.

5. book with the most sensual weather (made you shiver/sweat)
The dust & dry of Blood Red Road and the wet and cold stormy beaches of The Scorpio Races,

6. most embarrassing book cover (feeling sheepish in public or just plain ugly)
This isn't necessarily embarrassing or ugly, but it made me think of the 10 Things We Did... cover. Am I the only one who thinks it looks like two girls?? I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, except... it's supposed to be a guy and girl. So yah, that's a little awkward. Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks that?

Anyway, the ugliest cover for a book I read is easily Silky. Thankfully that was on an eReader so I didn't have to look at it that much.

Also, see answer below, re: the VA books.

7. can’t believe you waited this long to read the book (!)
Jellicoe Road because I adore it so much and I could have re-read it multiple times by now if I had read it when it came out, and the Vampire Academy series because I completely mocked those books for years (A: I'm not generally a fan of vampires, and, really, how stupid does 'Vampire Academy' sound?! and B: have you seen those covers?! omigosh they're so ugly), yet they are SO GOOD.

8. book you'd give your mum/sister to read
Well, pretty much any book I love I shove at my Mom and go "You HAVE to read this!" and she does so because I am the boss (ha! I know she's reading this right now, shaking her head)... no, really, because I'm assuming she trusts my taste by now, since most of the time when I say something is awesome she tends to agree. The last one I said that about was Cinder, and right now she's reading Last Breath because I recommended the Morganville Vampire books to her earlier in the year.

9. book you'd give your dad/brother to read
I don't have any siblings and my Dad reads finance textbooks for fun. Omigosh, I know, don't even ask. So hmm... let's pretend I have a really cool older brother (I used to ask my Mom for an older brother when I was little. True facts.).... I would recommend the Chaos Walking trilogy & Blood Red Road.

10. book you'd like to give your past-self to read (ie, me, when I was 15)
Hmmm tough question. I'd maybe give Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature and Sean Griswold's Head to me when I was in gr. 9, because I could have related to the characters and situations and felt less alone.

11. book that lived up to (or superseded the hype)
There were a few that did, but I'm going to go with Shatter Me, because I was soooo excited for it, and people had been going on for months about how good it was, and I was super scared since most books with such hype absolutely DON'T live up to it. But Shatter Me did, which was super exciting.

12. book you stayed the latest to finish (confess!!!)
Well, I've stayed up late for a LOT of books this year, so that's a tough one. The most recent one I can think of is Clockwork Prince, and the emotional trauma made me pick up another book and read a chapter or two before I went to sleep because I needed to get my mind off it. I still woke up the next morning with my stomach in knots feeling like I could cry for those characters.

13. book you were *dying* to get your hands on the most
What Happened to Goodbye (Sarah Dessen fangirl here!), Bloodlines (Adrian fangirl here!), Lola and the Boy Next Door (Steph Perkins/Anna&Etienne fangirl here!). Basically, me = fangirl.

14. fattest brick of a book you read (by page count)
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card; 672 pages and still left me hanging. *bangs head against wall*

15. killer cliffhanger award
Well Bloodlines definitely left off on a "omigosh, ahhh!" type of note, and Clockwork Prince is not so much a huge cliffhanger as it is emotional turmoil. I'm not sure how I can survive until CP2. Like, my heart aches whenever I think about it. Cinder! That is pretty much a cliffhanger, and makes me want the next book pronto (and it's not even technically released yet!). Probably others as well, but I try and block out cliffhangers or else they would drive me crazy.