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Original poster

Best book you’ve read this year

133 replies

lastqueenofscotland · 25/11/2019 23:26

Doesn’t need to have been released this year, just one you’ve read in 2019 and why.

I really enjoyed The Dust That Falls From Dreams recently, which was far better than its shitty title implied it would be

Also reread Oryx and Crake. Which is one of my all time favourites.

OP posts:
Moominfan · 18/12/2019 21:52

Easily home going by yaa gyasi two sisters sold into the slave trade. Book spans several generations and shows the long lasting impact of the slave trade.

MistyMinge2 · 18/12/2019 21:09

The tattooist of auschwitz
Becoming, Michelle obama
Conversations with friends

Getting a kindle for Xmas so this is a great thread for me.

ChequerBoard · 18/12/2019 21:03

The testaments by Margaret Atwood as many others have said

Two Brothers by Ben Elton - a brilliant story that so eloquently unfolds the creeping rise of nazism in 1920s and 30s Germany. Think it should be required reading.

PlonkyPlink · 18/12/2019 20:52

Reread The Handmaids Tale before ReadingThe Testaments - amazing

Rebecca, then straight afterwards Frenchmans Creek (which I think I preferred but loved them both) by Daphne Du Maurier

Circe

plipliop · 18/12/2019 20:51

Where the Crawdads sing - beautiful book

BeardedMum · 18/12/2019 20:48

I have had such a disappointing year reading- wise. Favourites must be Celeste No little fires everywhere and everything I never told you. I also really like Japanese fiction.

I hope for a better 2020 reading wise for me.

slipperyeel · 18/12/2019 12:58

I loved The Five, it’s about the women murdered by Jack the Ripper but actually focuses on them rather than rehashing their gory deaths. Really good book.

RightOnTheEdge · 16/12/2019 20:53

I've seen The Nightingale mentioned a few times on here and other thread.
I really enjoyed it and I don't usually pick books that are set in wars but it made me think maybe I should.
I tried it because it had great reviews and I love the author.

Original poster
lastqueenofscotland · 15/12/2019 00:05

So interesting to see the same books crop up again and again! I’ve added too my already bulging TBR list

OP posts:
MrsFogi · 13/12/2019 12:17

Fiction - The Nightingale

Non-Fiction - Invisible Women

hopelessatthinkingupusernames · 11/12/2019 22:38

The Only Plane in the Sky - the story of 9/11 told by people who lived through it. Everyone from people in the towers to the journalists who were with the president, even a bit from the only American astronaut who was in space that day.

Fiction favourite was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

newdawntoday · 11/12/2019 13:58

Where the Crawdads Sing was my favourite and I gave it to lots of people who said it was theirs too.
Also yy to Alice Network, Educated, The Dry, I Am I Am I Am, Station 11 and Tattooist of Auschwitz.

thewalrus · 11/12/2019 13:49

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Daisy Jones and the Six
Circe by Madeleine Millar

A mention for Educated, wouldn't say I enjoyed it, but definitely memorable and an amazing woman.

BaconAndAvocado · 09/12/2019 13:07

The Heart's Invisible Furies, ADORED it!

NoneButOurselves · 07/12/2019 19:14

Another vote for 'Silence of the Girls. I haven't enjoyed Pat Barker's books since the Regeneration trilogy (which is brilliant inmho) but this blew me away.

Also loved Educated.

And I'd watched 'Call the Midwife' but never read the book. It's so interesting and a gripping read

BestIsWest · 07/12/2019 18:52

Not had a great year for reading but it started well with The World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid. Devastating but brilliant.

Will take the recommendation for The Five as a Christmas present for DD thanks.

Taswama · 06/12/2019 22:02

So many:
Fiction
July’s people by Nadine Gordimer -S.A in late 80s
Le roi de fer - French historical novel
Conclave - Robert Harris

Non-fiction
A Place Apart and South of the Limpopo by Dervla Murphy
Invisible women - made me really angry!
60 degrees - another beautiful travel book
Cochonneries - in depth but very readable analysis of the powerful ham and cooked meats industry (in French)

UrsulaPandress · 06/12/2019 21:45

The Testaments

A Spool of Blue Thread

IamAporcupine · 06/12/2019 21:45

Milkman
Americanah

Jenniferturkington · 06/12/2019 21:40

Enjoyed ‘little fires everywhere’ by Celeste Ng , ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Margaret Atwood, and ‘The Long Walk’ and ‘The Shining’ by Stephen King.

happypotamus · 06/12/2019 21:30

The Heart's Invisible Furies
The Testaments
The Grapes of Wrath (not sure how I had got to my late 30s without having read that)

IpanemaGallina · 05/12/2019 21:33

Two by Sonia Purcell;

Clementine - life story of Mrs C Churchill
A Woman of No importance - true story of female WW2 spy Virginia Hall

Sadik · 05/12/2019 21:00

My two top reads are both non-fiction:
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - the story of tech start-up Theranos, reads like a thriller & everyone I've passed it on to has raved about it too.
The Heartland by Nathan Filer - seconding this recommendation by a pp, incredibly insightful book about schizophrenia and mental illness more generally

Tinkhasflown · 05/12/2019 19:38

There were too many really goods books for me this year. My favourites:

The light between oceans
The Bell Jar
The Kite Runner - I absolutely loved all of Khaled Hosseini' books don't know why I put this off for so long..
The Night Olivia Fell

@Croprotationinthe14thcentury I loved Desert Flower too, I read it about 16 years ago but it has stayed with me.

RoyalCorgi · 05/12/2019 15:46

A fantastic book by Kate Clanchy called Some kids that I taught, and what they taught me. It's about her career in teaching, often teaching deprived children and refugee children, and it's absolutely amazing. A really moving, thought-provoking book.