Best and worse reads of 2013

[CandyLoo]

I've been waiting for this thread to no avail so here we go...
Best: A Casual Vacancy - those characters will stay with me for a long time
Worse: The half - life of Hannah by Nick Alexander - badly written, no story, utter drivel...

And yours?

Worse - Gone Girl (I only read a few pages and gave up in disgust)
Best - 'No Name' and 'Man and Wife' by Wilkie Collins and 'Into the Silence' which is a brilliant book about Mallory and Everest.

Worst not worse - oops

Gone girl got better although I wasn't overly impressed. That diary style is terrible, but it's worth persevering until you are past it. Can't say too much more as it will spoil it.

I'm enjoying the unlikely pilgrimage of Harold fry.

Spoil away - I will never read it!

Best was The Universe versus Alex Woods or Alex Woods Versus the Universe, can't remember which way round it goes, but loved it!

Worst was Patsty Kensits autobiography or Victoria Hislops The Thread, couldn' t finish either of them and it's rare I don't finish a book.

Second Casual Vacancy but also loved Gone Girl (I'm such a rebel!)

Worst: had to read Narrow Boat to Carcassone for my book group, very very meh.

Ok. The diary is a set up. Written to incriminate the husband in her disappearance. So it deliberately written badly. Won't say anymore!

:) I quite enjoyed Alex Woods, although it did get rather silly in the end.

Hard to choose but for the power and simplicity of his writing, the best would probably be The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. For sheer enjoyment, I'd also include The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Penman and Under the Dome by Stephen King. The last two were MN recommendations which I'd never have tried otherwise so thanks for that

Worst would be a toss-up between The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (so tired) and The Soldier's Wife by Joanna Trollope (I won it by asking JT a question on MN Book Club so felt I had to read it) I do like JT as a person but her characterisation is very samey.

My personal favourites were The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt), Where'd you go, Bernadette (Maria Semple) and Longbourn (Jo Baker).

Disappointing: The Pure Gold Baby (Margaret Drabble) and Straight White Male (John Niven).

Best - Tale of Time Bring, 100 year old man

Worst - a few free Kindle ones I struggled to finish and am a bit stuck in AM Holmes - have just lost interest about halfway through but may return to it.

Best:
Where'd you go Bernadette
Casual Vacancy
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

Worst
Harold Fry - so dull
The Carrier by Sophie Hannah - utter drivel

I've just finished a book I got on the rcecommendation of a newspaper "best read of the year". It was The Poet's Daughters: Dora Wordsworth and Sara Coleridge, by Katie Waldegrave. I really enjoyed it as an account of women's lives in the early nineteenth century. Lots of proto-anorexia and the difficulty of trying to live up to irreconcilable parental demands.

There were a few others I really liked, but I'll have to check the titles.

My least favourite was Daisy Dooley Does Divorce, by Anna Pasternak. Ugh.

The best:
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, had never read it and I loved it
Them by Jon Ronson, bit old but very funny
Harvest by Jim Crace, beautiful!
The fingertips of Duncan Dorfman by Meg Wolitzer, YA but very lovely story about scrabble of all things. Am going to read more of her.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, well, she did not disappoint. Some parts were brilliant, overall it was great.

The worst
The Lowland by Jumpha Lahiri.. could not finish, oh my.
May we be forgiven AM Homes... aaaargh!
The Child's Child Barbara Vine. Ugh.
The Kills by Richard House was pretty bad too.

Another yes for Where Did You Go Bernadette. Funny, original and with an utterly fab main character.

Ooh, OneHolyCow, I recommend The 10-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer. Proper mn territory!

Thanks bibliomania, I've got it on my kindle!

Loved the ten year nap! My favourite this year was The Age of Miracles by Karen Walker Thompson. Least favourite was The House at sea's end by Elly Griffiths. I had it out the library most of the year and struggled to finish it. Loved the first two.

Best - Life after Life - Kate Atkinson.
Worst - The Winter House - Nicci Gerrard.

I really enjoyed Dark Matter - read it in a day, loved the atmosphere she built up.

Worst - Death comes to Pemberley. I only started reading it as a friend recommended it - it was awful! (Well, the 50 or so pages I read anyway)

Best - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Loved it.
Worst - Fifty Shades of Grey. Yawn.

I will persevere with Where'd you go Bernadette, just couldn't seem to get into it.

Loved -

Flight Behaviour / Pigs In Heaven/ The Bean Trees / High Tide In Tuscon / The Prodigal Summer / Last Stand / Homeland/ Small Wonders

All by Barbara Kingsolver as I have been rereading her back catalogue

She Flew The Coop - By Michael Lee West

But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria- By Julia Reed. I adore her memoir/OpEds and food writing. She can be a bit Marie Antoinette but still great.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. A magnificent chewy read.

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg. Light, fun and saturated with Alabama-Americana. I got sent an advance copy of this and loved it. It will be published soon so look out for it although it is available from US Amazon.

Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites by Kate Christensen which was sent to me by a friend in the USA. This is a a culinary tinged memoir.

Doctor Sleep by Steven King. Felt like visiting old friends to see how they are doing. And in some cases, they haven't been doing too well.

Girl In A Green Gown by Carola Hicks. An in depth look at the famous Arnolfini portrait in an attempt to decode its mystery through the culture, history and politics of its time. Not a newly published book but one i bought a couple of years ago and only recently gave it the time it deserves.

Birds And People by Mark Cocker. I bought this as a family book and have been engrossed by it ever since. The most amazing feat of research and writing showing the relationship between us and things with feathers. It is a beautiful book to own.

Best: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox; 100 Year Old Man; and The Guersney Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Worst: Death Comes to Pemberley.

Oh, how could I have forgotten the 100 year old man and Life After Life? Loved both of them. Both very clever and inventive and engaging.

I couldn't choose a single book of the year on that basis. Too many good ones.

The Best of 2013
Born To Run - Christopher McDougall
Umbrella - Will Self
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
Operation Mincemeat - Ben Macintyre
Measuring The World - Daniel Kehlmann
The Strangest Man: The Hidden World Of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius - Graham Formal

The Worst of 2013
The Power Of Now - Eckhart Tolle (Absolute rubbish, nonsensical howler from beginning to end. I feel depressed when I think about the myriad women people who have read and believed this crap, making it a bestseller.)
Inferno - Dan Brown (I had actually enjoyed Da Vinci Code but this was moronic)
Delirium - Lauren Oliver
The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce (Even the one chick-lit lover in our book club hated this book)