The best books you read in 2015?

[southeastdweller]

So as another year is coming to an end, I've been thinking about all the books I've read in 2015. I absolutely loved these books:

1. Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig
2. A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson
3. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
4. A Life Like Other People's - Alan Bennett
5. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
6. And When Did You Last See Your Father? - Blake Morrison

What have been your favourite books this year?

Late getting back but I've loved two books by Neil Gaiman aimed at children - The Graveyard Book and The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Genuinely imaginative and v spooky.

Also liked bits of the Goldfinch, Life After Life. Lots, actually.

And a few rattling thrillers - Girl on the Train, I Let You go, the Missing One - though I do get irritated when I can see the film tieins in the author's mind as they were writing.

Place marking for later!

Really got back in to reading this year, love having a Kindleas can read when hubbie is asleep

The goldfinch
The fault in our stars
Elizabeth is missing
Flowers for Algernon
Dead Simple

Just reading a man called ove after seeing it recommended here

Read 60 percent today it's fab!

The Fat of Fed Beasts by Guy Ware. We all turned up at book club not liking it and by the time we left we had all changed our mind.

Slade House - David Mitchell
Also loved the Ocean at the End ...

Great thread op

This year, books that I've absolutely loved, have been a bit thin on the ground but these are the few that I immediately thought of.

The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Atwood
Bird box - Josh Malerman
Only ever yours - Louise O'Neill
Flood & Ark - Stephen Baxter
Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
The Martian - Andy Weir

I'm currently halfway through Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and I'm loving it. I'm especially happy that I have Bring Up the Bodies on my Nook waiting for me.

The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd and the girl under the olive tree by Leah Fleming

A lot of Quogwinkle's are also my favourites (or by authors I love) so I've copied the rest down to check out, thanks!

For me:

H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald
Clay by Melissa Harrison
Us by David Nicholls
By the River by Oliver Laing
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Our Bodies, Our Bikes by Elly Blue (ed)
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor

Okay my reading is, a bit unambitious compared to most of these.
The top three of 2015
I let You Go - Claire MacIntosh
Big Little Lies -Leanne Moriarty
The husband's Secret -Leanne Moriarty

To be honest there was nothing that really stood out for me, lots of safe choices.
SelfRaisingFlour I read all of Edna O'Brien's books thirty years ago when I was in my early 20s. I still have them and they have survived much weeding and pruning of bookshelves.
Lots on here I have read before 2015 but equally I have tried and hated many of the very popular books mentioned here. The Martian - Andy Weir, The Goldfinch, Fingersmith. It must be me I guess.

One that gets a lot of mentions is Life After Life which is on my To Read pile for 2016. Started Early Took My Dog is one of my favourites.

Secret ., I read those three book and enjoyed them too!

My top reads this year:
Never Let Me Go - I read it three times and chose a course to study it. This was my top book and now a personal favourite.
Jane Eyre - studied for another course so grew my appreciation
All The Light We Cannot See
Station Eleven
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
All the Liane Moriarty novels
The novels by Elly Griffith's (I read each in a couple of days then on to next so they closed!)

I had a very enjoyable reading year and took two literature courses which broadened my reading appreciation.

Galaxy what courses did you take? I am very interested in doing a literature course this year, it has been a long time since English A Level!!

GalaxyMum Jane Eyre is one of my all time favourite books. I read it at least once a year!
I currently have All the light and Station Eleven lined up on the kindle. There's just not enough free time in the day to get through all the books I want to
I've imposed a policy of one kindle or nook book and then one actual book to try and clear the massive backlog of books I have in my house.

I loved:
A Month In The Country - JL Carr (a forgotten classic promoted by Waterstones - timeless, gentle, beautiful, moving and packs a lot into a very short read)
The Silent Wife - ASA Harrison (totally unpredictable psychological thriller)
I Let You Go - Claire Macdonald (just a random I got for my kindle when on holiday based on good reviews and really enjoyed it)
A Death In The Family and Boyhood Island - Knausgaard (the first and second books in his epic series. Totally different and so engrossing and addictive. Need a bit of a break before embarking on the next few however!)

Gailforce I took courses with Oxford Continuing Education online. I would definitely recommend them for the extra resources provided. I started reading articles from the British Library which are very addictive. Also the Victorian Web draws together lots of articles. I studied Women Writers in Victorian Fiction and British Contemporary Fiction. The first was historically based and the second on literary analysis. Both were excellent.

The following books got a 5/5 from me on goodreads this year:

Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
Flight Behaviour - Barbara Kingsolver
IQ84 - Haruki Murakami
On Being Mortal - Atul Gawande
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

I found a number of the Booker contenders really excellent reads, but this year has opened up a new vein - that of science fiction - which I am absolutely loving.

Galaxy, thanks for the online course recommendation. I'm off to check it out!

2015 has been a disappointing year for me, bookwise. my fave crime authers have had some new books out but i'm waiting for them to come down in price a bit.
so, i have been trying new, cheaper, kindle authors and have been quite disappointed so far.

but then i decided to try Val Mcdermids 'tony hill' series and have loved them so far. i especially liked wire in the blood, i haven't hated a baddie so much in years and was not at all surprised to read afterwards that the character was based on jimmy saville!

Really enjoyed Time and Time Again by Ben Elton, a very clever idea, well executed.

Quite a lot already mentioned but don't think these are

Chris Beckett - Mother of Eden
Susan Barker - The Incarnations ( the blurb describes it as a China's Midnight's Children, if you hated that book don't let it put you off)

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor

Wonderful book. Have you read Even The Dogs ? It has the same multi view point narrative construction. The subject matter is grim but beautifully written.

Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith
Drowned By Corn - Erika Hayasaki
Longbourn - Jo Baker
Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty
The Burning Air - Erin Kelly
This House of Grief - Helen Garner
Astonish Me - Maggie Shipstead
The House We Grew Up In - Lisa Jewell
So You've Been Publicly Shamed - Jon Ronson

Galaxy thanks for the course details. I have had a quick look and there are several that look very interesting!

My five star goodreads books this year were:
Room by Emma Donoghue
Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain
The Fault in our stars
The book thief
There were some more Diane chamberlain ones too, one of my favourite authors!