Now I’d like to move on to a new feature here at The Overstuffed Bookcase: the Bonus Points Awards!  Let me explain.  In my reviews I sometimes give bonus points to authors if their books include things like Harry Potter references or bath tubs that are big enough for someone to swim in–the most important stuff, obvs.  And I got the idea to tally up all those points and give away awards for the authors with the most points.  Thus, the Bonus Points Awards were born.

Before I give the awards, I do have to clarify that previously I have stated that the bonus points in my reviews were a lot like the show Whose Line Is It Anyway.  In other words, “Where everything is made up and the points don’t matter.”  But for the purpose of these awards, I went ahead and fixed my points system.  It’s MY system–it still probably doesn’t make sense to anyone but me, but I did fix it.  For instance, in one review I may have given an author 50 million bonus points for a Harry Potter reference, but in another review I gave 50,000 bonus points for a Harry Potter reference.  So I went ahead and changed those so that they would get the same amount of points for that reference.  I didn’t go back and change the points on the reviews, however, so the errors will still be there.  Also, with some authors, I gave them things like “ALL THE POINTS” or “Infinity points”.  I went ahead and equaled these out as well.  And now I have a list (yes, Courtney, I have a list to go by now), so all the bonus points in the future will be correct.

So, without further ado, I give you the first annual Bonus Points Awards!

With multiple pop culture references, a character who recreated his childhood home hundreds of time in a virtual world, and by putting an Easter egg in his book about Easter eggs, among other things, Ernest Cline racked up a whopping 1,001,100,000 bonus points.  And, somehow, I think he’d like the fact that his total is a bunch of ones and zeros…

With things like Willy Wonka references, Star Wars references, and Doctor Who references, Rainbow Rowell gained tons of bonus points.  But the thing that allowed her to win the Bonus Point Queen Award was that ending in Eleanor & Park!  Her grand total: 1,000,295,000 bonus points.

Elizabeth Norris scored points with things like Harry Potter and Firefly references, the fact that one character’s favorite movie was Donnie Darko, and, most of all, the line “Harry Potter is a classic” in Unraveling.  Her grand total: 1,000,150,000 bonus points.

Laini Taylor garnered some of my bonus points with things like Monty Python references, but her high score is mostly due to the character of Zuzana, who is one of my favorite characters of all time.  I mean, she’s up there with Sirius Black.  Laini’s grand total:  1,000,060,000 bonus points.

Eve Marie Mont also gained some points for pop culture references (like Harry Potter), and for a super fantastic twist that I was hoping would happen. But the majority of her points are due to the fact that Emma’s grandmother makes fun of Crocs in A Breath of Eyre.  We see eye to eye, Grandma.  Eve’s grand total: 1,000,060,000 bonus points.

Congratulations to all the winners!  I’ll have to make sure to give away lots of bonus points this year, so I can hold the second annual Bonus Points Awards at my next blogoversary!