Categorically Speaking

Who knows exactly what makes a book a 5 out of 5 star book?
And a 5 out of 5 book for me may not even make your radar.
It is also true that there isn't a gold standard
even in a personal evaluation,
no confirmed paradigm that makes a book awesome for me.

Among my 5 out of 5 books:
A Secret Garden,
Heart of Darkness,
The Hobbit,
Pride and Prejudice,
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,
Megan Whalen Turner's The King's Thief series,
Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy,
Hamlet,
Anne of Green Gables,
David Weber's Honor Harrington series,
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,
The Sound and the Fury.

What a strange conglomeration.
And I could continue with others 
that fit no pattern other than that they made me laugh,
or cry or think or all of these.
They are classic, fantasy, YA, juvenile, science fiction, mystery,
funny, or serious.

Yesterday, I added another one to my favorites.
The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain.
Thanks to  Meryl Zegarek P.R. and Gallic Books
for sending me this one!

I received this in the mail the other day,
and left it on the snack bar because I have so many books to read.
Yesterday, I picked it up and finished in a whirlwind of smiles.
I LOVED IT!
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Sometimes it is fun to slip some books into different categories. 

 I've finished all of the following, but some posts are scheduled 

and some are in draft form.

Featuring Paris or France:

The Bones of Paris by Kathy Reichs (scheduled)

The Three Lives of Tomomi Ishakawa  by Benjamin Constable 

Mission to Paris by Alan Furst

Death in the Vines by M.L. Longworth  
The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain

Featuring cults:

Gated by Amy Christine Parker (draft)

Always Watching by Chevy Stevens  

Dystopian/Post-apocalyptic:

Gated (draft)

The Scourge 

Gameboard of the Gods 

Viral Nation  

Perception  

There Comes a Prophet  

Featuring Magicians:

The Ambitious Card (scheduled)

Now You See It (scheduled)

Imaginary Animals:

The Three Lives of Tomomi Ishakawa 

Foreign Affairs 

Automata:

Circle of Shadows 

The Red Queen Dies (draft)

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I've had 2 books lately use the word anomie.  I rarely run across a word that is entirely new to me, and to have it in two books within a couple of days was interesting.

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What is going on in your world of books?
Any recent reads that go beyond good or really good
and make it into your awesome category?

Or books that you had high hopes for but disappointed?