Favourite reads so far this year?

[Posey]

And worst?

4 months into the year, just wondering what are the best books people have read so far, and the worst.
Always looking for inspiration, and things to avoid.

For me, the stand out book of the year so far has been "The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals" by Wendy Jones.
Also loved "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes

Worst was probably "Stone Junction" by Jim Dodge. Not awful but really not my cup of tea (read it for book club)

I've only read about 8 books so far this year but my best is definitely The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. I read it in January and have just reread it as my book group choice. I really loved it.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes was also very good.

I've not really got a worst but Eleven by Mark Watson wasn't that good.

Thanks for your recommendations.

I thought Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson what fantastic, I found Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver to be very underwhelming.

The best - When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman and My Dear I Wanted To Tell You by Louisa Young.

The worst - Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson - I hated it :) I had really been looking forward to reading it - what a disappointment.

Best recent reads:
The line of beauty (Alan Hollinghurst).
Freedom (Jonothan Franzen)
How to be a woman (Caitlin Moran).
Middlemarch (not for the first time) (George Eliot).
Everything good will come (Sefi Atta)

A bit underwhelming:
A visit from the goon squad (Jennifer Egan). I didn't quite get it.

No really bad reads this year yet.

Good so far this year - Dark Matter, the second one by Elizabeth Haynes, Hunger Games, The House of Silence, Emotional Geology, The Misremembered Man,The Knitting Circle, Before I go to Sleep, The Help.

Bad - 50 Shades of Grey ( only go halfway through the sample on my kindle!)
When God was a Rabbit - sooooo boring apart from the nativity bit - sorry nora!

I didn't like When God Was. A Rabbit. I mean I liked it enough to finish it but wouldn't recommend it or re-read it.

I'm with Nora, liked rabbit didn't like sleep one.

Loved oryx and crake

Finished The Sisters Brothers last night, absolutely magnificent. Learned about it from the Channel 4 Book Club. Most of their picks sounded interesting although I was a little underwhelmed by Before I Go To Sleep.

I also loved A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Not a book I would've chosen but it is so often mentioned as a favourite on forums such as this, now I know why.

Just started When God Was a Rabbit - seems to be a love it or hate it book so we shall see.

Found it easy to read My Dear I Wanted to Tell you but it was not a patch on other WW1 books like Birdsong or All Quiet on the Western front.

Oh how could I forget The Sisters Brothers?! LOVED it, dh hated it - weirdo!

I enjoyed the first half of When God Was A Rabbit, but not the second half.

Of the 14 books I've read so far this year, I've loved Starter for Ten and Call the Midwife. I absolutely adored Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom - just one left in the series now. I also found Iris & Ruby by Rosie Thomas to be a little gem (Iris is exactly how I imagine my MIL to have been).

I found The Slap memorable for the awkward sex scenes and weird premise.

I didn't enjoy Michael Connelly's 9 Dragons but found Blood Work very good.

No question, unequivocally, the best read this year (and a hard one to beat any year) Hope a Tragedy by Shalom Auslander.
Worst that horrible Essie Fox thing - The Somnambulist - frightful.

The books I've enjoyed most this year have been mainly classics:

Madame Bovary - Flaubert
Germinal - Zola
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Hemingway
Jean de Florette - Marcel Pagnol

Also Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Paris Wife by Paula MacLain and Gillespie and I by Jane Harris.

Death at Pemberley by PD James really wasn't worth reading .. avoid!

I also loved the Sisters Brothers great book, as well as The Damned United. Before I go to Sleep, The Moonstone and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

I've been mostly reading History books/non-fiction books, as I'm sick to death of crap fiction. I read (and was very, very bored by) 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry (sp?), quite enjoyed 'The Hunger Games' (but have only read the first one) and other than that I actually can't remeber what fiction I've read so far this year as it's been so unexciting on the whole.

Loved:

The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock
Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
Charles Palliser's The Quincunx (on my third reading of this now)
Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (second reading)

Was impressed by and almost loved:

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Enjoyed very much:

Capital by John Lanchester
Purge by Sofi Oksanen
I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

Loved - 'This Thing of Darkness' by Harry Thompson and 'Affinity' - Sarah Waters

Hated - The Finkler Question - Howard Jacobson

'This Thing of Darkness' is indeed fabbo.

What's it about?

I need a new book!

It's about Darwin's first journey and his relationship with his captain and the 'collection' of natives in Tierra del Fuego: tis brilliant - and sad.

Yes it's a great book, valium - and a big fat read if you want something to get your teeth into. Loads of fascinating historical detail, but told as a story of the relationship between Fitzroy, Captain of the Beagle and Darwin. It's really Fitzroy's story and it is as Remus says a very sad one. But lots of food for thought, and a real feeling of excitement about the world changing advances in knowledge and thought of that era.

Loved Pure by Andrew Miller.

LOATHED Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami.

This Thing of Darkness is great.

Am waiting impatiently for Ishiguro's new one and the Wolf Hall sequel.

My favourite book so far this yr is undoubtedly Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo.

DD (9) fancied the look of it one day, but struggled to get into it. So I started the first page to see if it was beyond her ability, and was immediately hooked, from start to end. I would say it is definitely not just a childrens book. It's the first time I have read one of his books and look forward to reading more.

I like reading DD's book so we can chat about them, and also enjoyed Gangster Granny by David Walliams.

Currently reading Salmon fishing in the Yemen and not 'getting it' at all. Can't understand how it can be made into a film that deserves all the hype/advertising it is getting. Will almost have to watch it to find out rather than wanting to see it IYKIM.

This year so far,have loved:

• The Rules of Civility - Amor Towles
• Nothing to Envy - Barbara Demick
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachle Joyce
• Rivers of London - Ben Abramovitz
• Aloft - William Langewiesche

Am reading Lacuna which is ok but looking forward to Company of the Dead