Welcome back to Nicole’s Year End Book Awards ceremony part 2. Apologies it took me so long to post part 2!
In part 1, I gave out my awards for favourite children’s story, favourite short story, favourite world literature, most cinematic books, favourite supporting characters, best teacher and favourite audiobooks.
The next award is
Favourite Screen Adaptations
We all know turning a story from page to screen is a risky business, just look at what happened to Persuasion. But here are my winners.
The runner-up is the 2018 Amazon Prime version of Picnic at Hanging Rock adapted by Beatrix Christian and Alice Addison featuring Natalie Dormer. Picnic at Hanging Rock is an Australian modern classic. It’s a gothic novel about a group of school girls who went for a picnic at Hanging Rock and some of them never came back. What happened to the missing girls? What will happen next?
It’s largely a faithful adaptation. The biggest shift is the creation of a central point. There’s no fixed narrative point of view in the novel, which gives a mysterious and listless atmosphere. The TV series revolves around a central character, Mrs Appleyard, the headmistress of the school. Natalie Dormer did a fantastic job.
The TV series fleshes out a substantial back story of Mrs Appleyard which is at most only implied in the novel, and amazingly, it feels very natural and convincing and it does not distract but adds to the overall story. The atmosphere is meticulous.
The joint winners are the 2020 BBC TV miniseries of A Suitable Boy and the 2011 film adaptation of Coriolanus.
The 2020 BBC A Suitable Boy is adapted by Andrew Davies whom you might not have heard of, but you’re likely to know the 1995 Pride and Prejudice featuring Colin Firth, the 2005 Bleak House featuring Carrey Mulligan, and the 2016 War and Peace featuring Lily James. They are ALL adapted from page to screen by Davies and he has done many more!
It’s a faithful adaptation. Obviously to fit such a huge novel into six episodes you’ll have to lose something. But Davies did a great job condensing the sprawling storyline, nothing feels amiss. Davies did a great job clarifying the progress of Lata’s three love interests. I didn’t approve of Lata’s husband choice when I read it but the TV adaptation makes her decision in the end natural and convincing. By condensing the storyline, Davies also heightens the tension of the climax significantly.
The casting is fitting to perfection, I love how the face and figures of Mrs Rupa Mehra and Lata look just like mother and daughter, Arun and Varun look like they were born brothers. And I love the actor playing Firoz.
The show was filmed in India. The costumes, the interior of the houses, the cityscape and the landscape are all fantastic. It’s a feast for the eyes.
Coriolanus is a 2011 British film adaption directed, produced and the title role played by Ralph Fiennes aka Lord Voldemort. It was adapted by John Logan. It’s also an extremely faithful adaptation.
Briefly, Coriolanus is a tragic war hero turned into an exile. Roman citizens are at the brink of a riot against the nobilities, claiming Coriolanus ‘chief enemy to the people’. But a successful battle against the Volsces makes him the hero. He is voted to be consul but soon disasters strike. The war hero is exiled. He joins the Volsces his former enemy to revenge on his own countrymen.
This adaptation is a film set in a modern world. Apart from that, the lines are faithful to Shakespeare’s original script. It was an awesome experience hearing Shakespearean English spoken by soldiers with modern weapons and by politicians with black suits and knowing that the lines have not been changed and they fit the scenes like hand in glove! I didn’t know you could do that!
I watched an interview with Ralph Fiennes. He said, “I desperately want the audiences to feel that whatever the language might be doing that the emotions and the actions and the motivations are ones we carry in us today.” And it’s exactly that.
I love some of scenes which are made possible only in a film. Some are cleverly constructed for the lines, e.g. debates on TV and news reports read by a well-known British news presenter. Some scenes are added between and around the lines, e.g. where the soldiers sing and dance in celebration, and shave their heads to copy Coriolanus. It shows Coriolanus’ popularity among his new comrades and paves the way to Aufidius’ jealousy and Coriolanus’ downfall. It’s fabulous!
Most Comforting
This award is for books you’re already very familiar with but read again and again regardless just because how comforting they are, especially when you want to curl up and rest your mind a bit.
The winner is the one and only Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. There have been many joint winners and runners up but the Harry Potter books are the only ones that I re-read and re-watch again and again for comfort. I love seeing love and friendship struggling and prevailing against darkness and evil. Even at the darkest moment, when hope is most fragile, it’s not killed. And fortunately there are whole seven of them, when I get to the Deathly Hallows I can go back to the Philosopher’s Stone again.
Favourite Plays
I read as well as watched these, but because they are plays and are written to be watched, my judgement is based on the story as well as the performances I watched. The joint winners are Much Ado about Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream both by William Shakespeare.
Much Ado about Nothing will always have a special place in my heart. It’s the play that convinced me that theatre is magical and Shakespeare is a magician. It’s my first love. It’s about the naughty matchmaking of one pair of lovers and the tragedy-turned-comedy of the second pair of lovers.
We watched the wonderful 2022 production at the Globe Theatre in London. I loved its thoughtful adaptation, the actors’ performances, and the interaction between the actors and the audience. It was extremely funny and the atmosphere was festive and electrifying.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is my favourite theatre production this year. We watched the National Theatre 2019 production on their online streaming service. The whole theatre space was turned into a dreamland and the atmosphere was that of a carnival. The audience participation was on a whole new level and I really wished I was there!
It was ridiculous and cringy a lot of the time, but I couldn’t help joining in the silliness because it was so much fun! Again it just impresses on me that good theatre is magical and romping does much good to one’s heart. I watched it twice within a month. I’m sure we’ll find time to watch it again soon. This might become my new comforting show in addition to the Harry Potter films!
Favourite Non-Fiction
The winner is Mad about Shakespeare by Jonathan Bate. It was my favourite book of the year when I made a video all about it in June and it remains one of my favourites in December. It has received two awards in part 1 already, the Best Teacher and the Best Audiobook.
Mad about Shakespeare is partly Jonathan Bate’s memoir, partly his musings on literature and literary figures throughout history, with an underlining theme of mental health issue.
The author makes literature, and especially Shakespeare come alive in this book. He talks about his encounter with various Shakespeare plays in classrooms, in theatres and in his study. He introduces many other authors – John Donne, Edward and Helen Thomas, Dr Samuel Johnson, Virginia Woolf, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Charles and Mary Lamb.
Extraordinary things have come out of seemingly ordinary stories. The book overflows with passion and knowledge. His is a life saturated with literature.
Favourite Protagonist
The winner is Coriolanus from Coriolanus by William Shakespeare.
It’s a bit of an unusual choice I know, I’m a bit surprised by it as well. It’s not my favourite story. but having looked through all my books, I can’t think of another protagonist that I know and feel for more than Coriolanus.
Coriolanus hasn’t got a good reputation among the readers and theatre goers. He’s a brute, an overgrown child, no brain, no tactics, a terrible politician. But I see plainly the bright side of his personality and I believe his character is a lot more complex than that.
Favourite Novels
The two runners-up are the Napoleon of Notting Hill by G. K. Chesterton and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
The Napoleon of Notting Hill is one of the most wacky whimsical books this year. The novel reads like a giant multi-layered allegory and it’s thought-provoking. But before you dig into all that, it’s just Chesterton’s imagination running free and wild.
The novel was written in 1904 and is set in 80 years’ time, England is ruled by kings that are selected randomly. All seems to have gone well until a man who cares for nothing but jokes is selected to be the next King of England. Now he’s King, he can humour himself on a national level and make a fool of everybody.
He orders city gates and city walls to be built and ancient ceremonies restored, in order to revive old English customs and patriotism. No one takes him seriously except a young man called Adam Wayne. And together they cause mayhem and turn London upside down.
I read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in January and it was my first five-star book of the year. The story is set straight after the Second World War and it starts with Juliet, a writer who lives in London. One day out of the blue she receives a letter from a stranger from Guernsey Island. Through letters Juliet makes a host of friends from Guernsey, telling her how the Society came into being and their extraordinary life under German Occupation during the War.
I thought the epistolary structure was going to be cumbersome and gimmicky but it’s perfect for the story. I love the post-war setting where small signs of life pop up like mushrooms all over London and England. I love the retellings of the wartime stories, the heartbreak over the evacuation of the children from Guernsey to England, the isolation and imprisonment of the islanders as well as the German soldiers, the starvation on both sides, the friendship between enemies, and the joy even in the darkest days through the power of literature. Even when worldwide warfare is going on, men and women bond over something that’s bigger than hatred.
The winner is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
Despite the ending being spoiled years ago, I was completely blown away by the story. It makes me laugh and cry, makes me think and feel. Dickens is a master of storytelling. He gets the balance between hardship and happiness, between society on a large scale and individual life, between tragedy and humour, between shocking violence and tender love, between the force of the revolution and the power of sacrifice JUST right. It’s extremely gripping and moving. Dickens also gets his point across forcefully – violence and hatred are not the way forward.
Favourite Author
The winner is G. K. Chesterton.
Chesterton is a new author to me this year. I read a novel, a short story and a few essays by him—three different styles and I have loved all of them. I mentioned the short story the Awful Reason of the Vicar’s Visit (in Year End Book Awards part one), it’s one of my favourite short stories. It has a Conan Doyle vibe to it.
The few essays from the collection the Defendant remind me strongly of C. S. Lewis; they both see wonder in ordinary things from unusual points of view. And his debut novel the Napoleon of Notting Hill is one of my favourite novels this year. It’s such a shame few read or talk about it.
Books of the Year!
Finally, taking everything into consideration, my favourite books of 2022 are Mad about Shakespeare by Jonathan Bate and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
A Tale of Two Cities has all the genius of Dickens I expected, and much more that I didn’t expect. It’s one of the most powerful stories in literature. I genuinely believe the world would be a better place if everyone read it with an open mind.
Mad about Shakespeare speaks to my heart, that literature is worth one’s lifelong dedication and commitment, for the courage and joy it offers.
A Day of Small Things 