Top 5 Saturday is hosted by Amanda at Devouring Books. You list five books with a common theme that you have or have not read. This week’s prompt is Award Winning Books & I chose to include books that I have read.
Here are the upcoming prompts:
September 19th, 2020 — Award Winning Books
September 26th, 2020 — Guilty Pleasure Reads
October 3rd, 2020 — Intimidating Books
Since I had to read five award winning books for a class & had to do a ton of research on award winning books, I thought this would be fun! Although not all of these I read for class. You can see the ones I read for class in a Reading Challenge post I did a few months ago. I’m dumb and ended up having to read them all in a week that was fun. Be careful when you procrastinate friends!
Also, just because a book does or does not win an award does not necessarily mean it is better or worse than other books. This is very important to me too!
*Also sorry that there are not book covers in this post! I have yet to figure out how to size images consistently with the new WordPress editor lol*
BOOK: Dig by A.S. King
AWARD: Michael Printz Award
This book. I honestly did not get it and only read 60% before it was due back to the library & someone had a hold on it so I had to return it. I then read the remaining 40% of the novel about a month later. I did not really enjoy my time reading this novel, most of it went over my head and the surrealism elements were just weird. But, damn. The last bit of the book when everything came together? Fabulous. A.S. King is extraodinary gifted and just WOW.
This novel tells the story of characters who are seemingly unrelated and how white privilege impacts their lives. Some are aware of it and some are not. It’s raw and gorgeously written and honestly confusing. I want to buy a copy so I can reread it and explore it again.
This is one of my favorite quotes from the book.
“MAKE SMARTER MISTAKES!
STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP!
CONTROL YOUR VARIABLES!
BLEND AND STRAIN!
CHANGE YOUR MIND!
The Freak knows this sounds corny because you’re so used to looking at hateful shit, right? News shows and conspiracy theories. Rape jokes and dank memes. You’re so used to the humor of the put-down that you didn’t see that you slid down a hole and into a tunnel.
DIG YOUR WAY OUT!”
-A.S. King, Dig
BOOK: Long Way Down by Jason Reynold
AWARD: Many, like so many
I adore Jason Reynolds. Everything he writes is amazing and poetic and just s t u n n i n g. Long Way Down is no exception. I started listening to this on audio and honestly it was too much to deal with the emotions and Reynold’s voice so I switched to the ebook. I do recommend at least looking at a physical copy of this book because many of the poems are in clever shapes.
This novel tells the story of a Will who has to decide if he is going to take revenge and kill his brothers murderer. This book takes place over the course of one minute of Will’s life where he is confronted by different people in his past who all have different ideas on what Will should do.
It is raw, powerful, and heartbreaking. I highly recommend this novel and Reynolds deserves all the awards. Honestly, just read everything this man writes.
BOOK: The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater
AWARD: Stonewall Book Award for Children & Young Adult Literature & more
I wrote a full review for this book here, but this is a book that blew me away. I keep saying that and I will keep recommending it because it is so well done. It is a nonfiction book that follows a chance encounter between two teens that leaves one with severe burns and the other being charged for the crime as an adult.
This novel looks at white privilege, the LGBTQ+ community and the dangers that can impact non cisgender presenting people, the unfairness of the legal system & the education system, and how people can live geographically close to each other, but have entirely different realities. It’s phenomenal and is told in an engaging and easy to follow tone.
BOOK: Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
AWARD: Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction 2019
Look the Goodreads Choice Awards are a mess (bc only books that have been read by a ton of people can win) BUT I will ignore that for the sake of this post because it allows me to talk about my fave, Daisy Jones. You can read my full review here, but since then I have read the book via audio three times and as recent as last week (oops).
I’m sure you’ve heard of this book before, but if not it is an oral history of a fictitious rock band from the 1970’s. It is a character driven novel and if you like characters that feel extremely real and flawed messy people who are talented, then give it a try. I adore this one and keep coming back to it. I can’t wait for the TV show because then I can get the SONGS and a band t-shirt lol.
BOOK: Know My Name by Chanel Miller
AWARD: Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir & Autobiography 2019 & nominated for more
This book is so important & relevant. When I found out Chanel was “revealing herself” to the world (for lack of a better word) I was in shock. I was always surprised that the general public did not find out who she was before this. Hearing her story hurt and I’m heartbroken that she had to go through this. But, she is a gifted writer and I’m thankful she decided to come forward and share her story. This book has serious triggers for rape and the trauma that comes after so please read with care.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo, Tree
Words About Words 