Christmas 2014

So the much anticipated results of the 2014 boOkSCARS are finally here. It has taken 2 months for me to collate, count, recount, double check, triple check and post these results (and it didn't help that I lost the sheet with the results written down on for a month!), but here they are:

Booker of the Year (Best Book) - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Blooper of the Year (Worst Book) - Memories of my Melancholy Whores

Best Discussion - Gate of Angels

Most Disappointing Book of Promise - Westwood & Memories of my Melancholy Whores

Biggest Improver - Shantaram

Most Apt Venue of the Year - Lowndes Bar & Kitchen at the Jumeirah Lowndes (Westwood)

Best Venue of the Year (Food) - Shantaram (Roti Chai)

Best Moment (Yay!) - Northern Lights (Polar bears in armour and witch romances!)

Best Moment (Eek!) - The Ocean at the End of the Lane (A witch burrowing into foot!)

Best Nice Character (Male) - Iorek Byrnison (Northern Lights)

Best Nice Character (Female) - The Hempstock Women (The Ocean at the End of the Lane)

Best Bad Character (Male) - Gerard Challis (Westwood)

Best Bad Character (Female) - Mrs. Coulter (Northern Lights)

Worst Food - B Bar (The Ocean at the End of the Lane)

Dishonourable Mention (Blooper of Bloopers) - Spring Snow (Still)

Honourable Mention (Booker of Bookers) - To be decided

2013, The Year of Ties

Decmber 12, 2013

We were so busy chatting and laughing, we almost forgot to vote.  So, here, as decided by Jen, Jane, Gill, Shubha and Nic just before we left, are a few highlights and low lights of 2013.

Book of the Year: Sense of an Ending and Bring Up the Bodies.  I see from the notes, I voted for both.  Shuba also voted twice but her other choice was Therese Raquin, where she was on her own!

Blooper of the Year: MR James Collected Ghost Stories

Most Disappointing Book: MR James Collected Ghost Stories and Tender is the Night

Best debate and Jane's Surprise Like: How to be a Woman

Best Sommelier: Code of the Woosters (Sartoria)

Worst Hangover: Code of the Woosters (Sartoria)

Most Apt Venue: Bring up The Bodies (The Perkin Reveller at the Tower of London) and MR James Collected Ghost Stories (The Grenadier)

Least Apt Venue: City of Thieves (Yauatcha to discuss the siege of Leningrad)

Favourite Character: Jeeves (nicest); Van Helsing (sexiest)

Least Favourite Character: Dick, Laurent and Nicole (a popular category this year)

Christmas 2012 - Tuesday December 11th

Venue: Cay Tre, Soho
Present: Jen, Nic, Carl, Jane, Gill, Mark

A good turn-out, which would have been better if Shubha didn't still have post-pregnancy brain and hadn't been at home in her jimjams at the appointed time!  We shared a selection of delicious, fresh and full flavoured Vietnamese starters and mains between us and demolished a round of cocktails and 5, possibly 6, bottles of white wine and a carafe of red while we decided the following:

1. General attendance this year has been dismal; we need to pull our socks up next year.
2. Some of us had barely read the book group books this year; more socks needing to be pulled in an upwards direction - you know who you are.  I wouldn't shame you here, Mark.  Oops.
3. Votes on the night (so far as I can decipher) were as follows:

Book of the Year:
Great Expectations took it by a nose but it was a hard fought contest with votes for Giovanni's Room, Revolutionary Road, The Sheltering Sky and The Tortoise and the Hare too.  So many contenders makes 2012 a better book year than 2011!

Blooper of the Year:
Naked took it but there were votes for The Sheltering Sky and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.

Best (nicest) Character:
Joe, Great Expectations

Best (worst) Character:
Ignatious, A Confederacy of Dunces, with votes for Magwitch and for someone (could be practically anyone) from Sheltering Sky!

Most Shocking Moment:
Magwitch in the graveyard with Pip, Great Expectations.

Most Disappointing Book of Promise:
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

Best Improver:
Giovanni's Room

Best (most apt) Venue:
The Clarence, Suspicions of Mr Whicher

Best Venue (other)
Aldwych, Great Expectations (for unlimited Prosecco)

Best Members:
Gill and Nic - the "turning up" award

Most Apathetic Member:
Shubha - the "declaring you are back then forgetting to come" award.  (Oops and we said we wouldn't shame anyone.)

Honourable Mention:
"Proud to have finished" - Great Expectations and Titus Groan (not a lot of people can say that).

Dishonourable Mention:
"Still the worst book of all time" - Spring Snow.

Christmas 2011 - Saturday 10th December

Sadly, no cameras to record the food and the fun but we had a great turnout, despite some sorely missed compadres as Jane, Mark, Jennie, Doris and Gill were unable to join us.

Eamonn "3-dos in one night" managed to stay with us longer than expected for champagne and the annual Secret Santa book exchange but Shubha (with guest chauffeur and chef-extrordinaire Sanj, the pork-king), Alex (chef du salad accompanied by pastry chef Davis), Carl (the evening's veritable Mr Kipling), Nathalie (contributor of the cheese (edibles, not conversational)), Jen (hors d'hoevre queen and sous chef) and guest Brian (honourable chess-loser) were in it for the long haul through: tasty pastries; smoked chicken, pomegranate and pecan salad; roast pork, sausages, glazed ham, dauphinoise potatoes, buttered shredded sprouts, roasted butternut squash with pecans and blue cheese; Brazilian Pudim and Bakewell Tart; and, finally, cheese (or depending on the guest preference, cheese and, finally, Brazilian Pudim and Bakewell Tart) all of which was washed down with Champagne, Reisling, Pinot Noir, Port, Whisky and sparkling lime and mint refresher (the latter Nathalie's by choice and Shubha's less happily!).

As is traditional, only after all of the food and most of the alcohol had been consumed did we turn our attention to the book of the year awards so, with no further delay, the BoOkSCARS (and, boy, were we scarred by some of this years books!) go to:

Book of the Year:
City and the City, a narrow winner up against: Travels with My Aunt, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Messiah, although we failed to record the official runner up.

Blooper of the Year:
The Thirteen and a Half Lives of Captain Blue Bear, a popular, by which we mean unpopular, winner in the most fiercely fought category this year with strong showings from: Empire of the Ants and Kiss of the Spider Woman and an honourable mention for Boxer Beetle, although the latter was never really a contender (boxing joke alert!).

Best (Good) Character:
(Female) The Aunt, Travels With My Aunt (the only unanimous decision of the night)
(Male) Lt. Mamiya, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Best (Bad) Character:
Mr Stoll, Don't Look Now and Other Stories

Best Venue of the Year:
Brindisa, Kiss of the Spider Woman

Most Apt Venue:
The Criterion, The City and The City (not to be taken as a recommendation but awarded for the staff who unsaw us and the unseen 8 people for whom we were charged)

Most Shocking Moment:
The skinning alive, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Most Gripping / Haunting Moment:
The death of John at the hands of the dwarf, Don't Look Now

Most Disappointing Book of Promise:
Kiss of the Spider Woman

2011 could be a contender for worst book-year to date.  Let's raise a glass to 2012, we do, after all have Great Expectations for it.