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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:
3timeslucky · 05/12/2019 15:15

I loved:
Where the Crawdads sing
Milkman
Educated
Notes to Self

Currently loving:
Invisible Women

RaquelWelch · 05/12/2019 10:37

Thank you for this thread! I love getting recommendations. There is nothing worse than wasting your time with rubbish read

EmmaGrundyForPM · 05/12/2019 02:49

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

The Seal Womans Gift - Sally Magnussen. wasn't expecting great things from it but loved it. Fascinating novel.based on true events.

The Silence of the Girls- Pat Barker. It's the story of the Trojan War told from.the women's perspective.

Educated - Tara Westover

Mothership4two · 05/12/2019 02:33

Fiction: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
(also enjoyed The Passage by Justin Cronin)

Non-fiction: This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay

Croprotationinthe14thcentury · 04/12/2019 21:17

The narrow road to the deep north. I only read this recently as war books aren't usually my thing and was blown away. Also my favourite book ever, desert flower, by waris Dirie, I reread every year.

FoxInABox · 04/12/2019 20:24

Little Siberia.
My sister, the serial killer.
I also reread The Handmaids Tale in anticipation of the sequel that I’m getting for Christmas, So that reminded me what a fantastic book it is, even after all these years since publication.

southeastdweller · 01/12/2019 12:57

The World I Fell Out Of, by Melanie Reid is my favourite book of the year.

In fiction, I loved Started Early, Took My Dog, by Kate Atkinson.

MinnieMountain · 30/11/2019 15:35

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym.

For non-fiction, Venice by Jan Morris.

iklboo · 29/11/2019 23:22

@marmiteloversunite I'm just reading it. It's so good.

Puppylucky · 29/11/2019 23:11

Ooh I read The Last as well and yes it was very good - if very bleak!

bellabelly · 29/11/2019 23:06

These are some that I've read recently and REALLY enjoyed:
Educated
Golden Child
My Absolute Darling
An American Marriage

JeremyIronsBenFolds · 29/11/2019 23:00

The Last by Hannah Jameson - about a group of survivors of a nuclear apocalypse, holed up in a hotel in a remote part of Switzerland. It’s pitched as a kind of murder mystery, but that’s really secondary to the horror of the end of the world - I regularly had to takes breaks from reading as it raised all sorts of horrible questions. The ending doesn’t quite live up to the early promise, but it is a very good read.

marmiteloversunite · 29/11/2019 22:55

@iklboo I love the Laura Purcell books too. Just about to start Bone China by her.

newdeer · 29/11/2019 08:37

@inthekitchensink and @ImportantWater - they both sound really good. Thank you for the tips. Not heard of either of them.

inthekitchensink · 28/11/2019 21:08

@ImportantWater She’s fabulous isn’t she - I’m so happy someone else has heard of her, nobody I know has! She is such a talent, and nightwaking is just extraordinary- should have been a booker winner. Grace McCleen is also wonderful - but only wrote three books if I recall correctly, which she wrote as catharsis after a difficult upbringing (religious cult) and mental ill health resulting in being institutionalised. She swore she would never write another book after those three, all written in her twenties. I hope she changes her mind. I hope you enjoy them

ChipInTheSugar · 28/11/2019 19:41

Can I have a trilogy? The Tick-Tock trilogy by a new Irish author called David B Lyons.

If I can only choose one, it would be "Whatever happened to Betsy Blake" by the above author. Fantastic twist in it!

mamaduckbone · 28/11/2019 19:37

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie was really compelling, as was The Beekeeper of Aleppo - both made me really think about events that are in the news every day in a really different way.

iklboo · 28/11/2019 19:32

Can I have two, please? The Silent Companions and The Corset, both by Laura Purcell.

CrossingTheAlpsInOtley · 28/11/2019 19:29

@Puppylucky: I entirely agree with you-everyone should read, The Five.

CrossingTheAlpsInOtley · 28/11/2019 19:28

Just discovered John Boyne and I'm delighted to discover he has written much!

Really enjoyed The Salt Path by Raynor Wynn, which was a surprise to me, as I was most reluctant to pick it up.

Palegreenstars · 28/11/2019 18:53

I’ve had a good year I think but the stand out was A Place For Us by Fatima Fahreem Mirza. A Muslim family in the decades pre and post 9/11 in the US. Just such beautiful writing.

ImportantWater · 28/11/2019 11:31

I love Sarah Moss, inthekitchensink, so I will look into Grace McCleen, as I have never heard of her.
I read loads of Sarah Moss this year - The TIdal Zone, Bodies of Light, Signs for Lost Children, Names for the Sea and The Ghost Wall - I had already read Night Waking (my favourite) and Cold Earth.

inthekitchensink · 28/11/2019 09:41

Sarah Moss & Grace McCleen - anything by these authors - they are fantastic & I could reread them for eternity

IfWishesWereFishes · 27/11/2019 22:49

To Obama: A People's History.

Filled with letters people wrote to Obama, along with his responses.

I had to stop reading it to cry. So, so moving.

Papergirl1968 · 27/11/2019 22:43

The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain.
And The Help which I wasn’t expecting to like but actually loved.