Best book you read this year?

This thread is 3 years old. I haven't read any good books this year yet, but just enjoyed Killing Time by Alan Bennet. It is very short but fun.

Meant to say- don’t want to put down!!

I’ve read lots of Kristen Hannah's books this year. Some have made me cry ! Books you don’t wangg TV to put down- based on real life but fictional. The situations, emotions & sometimes hardships in the story are described so well . She’s done a lot of research into her topics/ many are written about strong women. I’d recommend.

I've read a few really good books in the last twelve months but having to choose one, it's probably White Teeth by Zadie Smith. However, Is Just A Movie by Earl Lovelace is just as good.

The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer. I felt as if I could hear Bob's voice throughout. I've just started the sequel, The Hotel Avocado.

dragonfly46

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Richard Duerr. It’s the best book I have read in a long time.

Yes really enjoyed this. Loved All the Light We Cannot See as well.

Anniel

I have just finished The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. I listen to Audible books and I just could not stop listening. I am generally a fan of mysteries or memoirs. But this book was so unusual that I was hooked. Now I am listening to Wes Streeter’s autobiography One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up. Really liking it.

I loved the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I then went to see the film which wasn't as good as the book!

You can choose 5 Sparklefizz 😀

Am I allowed to choose 4?

Heat Wave by Penelope Lively

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

The Silence by Susan Allott

The Fell by Sarah Moss

‘A rip through time’ by Kelley Armstrong. Fabulous series set initially in modern times then moves swiftly into Victorian Edinburgh. I am a slow reader but this series has changed everything and I find any excuse to sit and read these books.

Currently re-reading Past Caring by Robert Goddard. Been on my shelf (read) for over 30 years. Knew I would read and enjoy it again and how right I was.

I've read a few really good books this year. It seems the current one is usually my favourite!

A few of the outstanding ones:

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue - follows a nurse in maternity ward of a hospital during the Spanish Flu epidemic.

West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge relives the voyage in the 30's of two giraffes that travel by road from New York harbour to a zoo in California, and the young driver and zoo-keeper that organize the journey.

Finding Flora by Elinor Florence - a tale of grit and survival of a single woman homesteader in 1910's Canadian prairies. What a tough row to plough, pun intended.

I don't seem to have read much new this year but, as I have sadly finished all Elly Griffith's Ruth Galloway books, I read and
enjoyed her "The Postscript Murders", partly because one of the characters is even older than me!

Another vote for Demon Copperhead.Actually made me cry at the end.I must read more of her books.Always seeing The Poosonwood Bible recommended.

Started early took my dog. And all the other Jackson Brodie series by Kate Atkinson. (I’ll look for Shrines on your recommendation Clawdy)

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller is a very pertinent story in today’s world.
It’s set in an American town in a southern state, each chapter stands on its own while also being entwined with the others.
Humour, sadness and all human conditions are within the tale.

Death on a Gravestone by John F Wake and M K Jones

PS In brief, she found a few people willing to help her, but they mostly wanted something in return.

I mostly read non-fiction, as I have an ongoing project based on a diary I discovered (on Ebay's Ephemera Section) written by a young German woman living in Hamburg in the 1930s. It covers the Nazi years.

For the wider context, I have read 'Gone to Ground' by Marie Jalowicz Simon, a Jewish woman who lost both parents by the age of 19, but managed to survive by hiding in Berlin. It is harrowing, exciting, and very percipient. She leaves out nothing about the darker side of human nature, but also about the side that (just about) makes life worth living. She is very intelligent and judgmental, though her memoir, written in later years, mellows somewhat her memory of her earlier judgmentalism. She survived to become a university lecturer in Classics. It is a book I plan to re-read, as she was aware of many complexities, compromises and nuances even at age 19.

I listened to Salman Rushdie narrate his book Knife last week. This is about the attempt on his life in 2022, and his recovery. I enjoyed it very much, and I am so glad that he survived.

I am listening to The Skripal Files; the life and near death of a Russian spy by Mark Urban. Fascinating account. both of these audiobooks are from my local library

'Should we stay or should we go?' by Lionel Shriver. She is not everybody's cup of tea and all her books are quite a hard read but worth it. This particular book resonates with me particularly as Im getting on in years.

Just read Precipice by Robert Harris. Fascinating mix of fact and fiction. Read lots this year but so far believe this to be the best.

I've read Kate Atkinson's short stories books, "Not the end of the world" and "Normal rules don't apply". Both were excellent and I love to read a short story before going to sleep.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara was a tough read and probably a bit longer than needed but I really wanted to know what happened and "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin also kept me reading.

My choices are not highbrow, so the Demon Copperhead (meh) and Hamnett (horrible) lovers should look away now...

Billy Summers by Stephen King - he is such a wonderful writer, marvellous use of language and deep appreciation of other writers (he is on record as saying the best opening line of all time is "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again", how could I not love him). You wouldn't think a hired assassin could be heroic, but Billy is.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio - totally off the wall, but I loved it.

Oh, and my bit of highbrow is my yearly re-read of The Forsyte Saga, my absolute favourite.

Satsuma Complex. Bob Mortimer. Honestly one of my favourite reads...I was sad when I came to the last page