Can I ask for the best book you've read in 2016?

[EverySongbirdSays]

It doesn't matter what genre, whether it's YA or adult or what year it was originally written in or whether it's fiction or non-fiction. Tell me what made it "best"

I used to read a lot and I just burned out of it, I realise I really miss it and want to get back into it so I'm building an Amazon wishlist to work through

All Suggestions Welcome

Just finished The Light Between Oceans. Brilliant but quite harrowing. Reminded me a lot of Thomas Hardy.

Midnite are you Australian? Caisel Mor isn't in print here. There are a few 3rd party sellers but no direct sales.

Yes, I'm Australian. It's been out of print for quite a while, but I got a good copy of it via one of the Amazon sellers a few weeks ago (I'd lent my original copy to someone and it never got returned). The author has said he is working on getting them done as ebooks, but there's no release date yet. They're worth getting as second hand if you can pick them up. A brilliant read.

The Trouble With Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon. It's set in the hot summer of 1976 in a neighbourhood where one of the neighbours goes missing.bTwo ten year old girls set out to find out what happened. Other secrets come to light, suspicion falls on another neighbour who is suspected of being a paedophile. It's really well written and gripping. The author is a psychiatrist and I think that.informs the development of the story and characters.

The Cazalet series of novels by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

The Patrick Melrose series of novels (I've read three of the five) by Edward St Aubyn.

The Shardlake novels by C J Sansom.

Norah Webster by Colm Toibin.
A book about ordinary people rather than events (ie not a who dunnit, will they dunnit, or fantasy or historical events).

I hated Norah Webster, MissMargie . Just goes to show we all different books. I found myself getting really irritated by her character. She was so cold and unfeeling especially towards her children. Didn't warm to Brooklyn by him either, but I did like another of his novels - The Blackwater Lightship.

We all like different books...

I've read so many, I can't remember half of them! I loved The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison. And I've just read Exhume by Danielle Girard.
Ooh and The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen was excellent.

Its older now, but Midlesex by Jeffrey eugenides really gripped me this year, something about the mix of history (that I'd only been vaguely aware of) and the voices. And I liked the characters. Flawed, human and funny.

I've been having trouble with books where I don't like anyone, Girl on a Train in particular...

I haven't been reading as much and so much want to get back into it, used to read 2 books a week.

Mermaid - I could believe that, to me it just came over as a real person with all their faults.

I am often disappointed by 'best sellers' as they are all about the story, not the characters (except superficially) so I liked Norah Webster.

My Amazon wishlist is gonna get longer. Thanks for all the tips and EverySong thanks for starting a great thread.

My contributions
While No One Was Watching - Debz Hobbs-Wyatt (different perspective on JFK assassination) written by a Brit but nails the characterisation imo.

The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kidd ( slave owner and slave alternate telling the story)

Happy reading

Amy Tan books are a little difficult to get into but once you do you get totally lost in another world - well I did

I am reading Black Eyed Susan's at the moment it's good but it's not gripping me

Does anyone else going through a phase when they read books only about a particular era or place ? Mine is the Deep South at the moment so would welcome a recommendation (sorry hijacks thread) have read the most popular The Colour Purple etc

Station Eleven by Emily st John mandel.

It's dreamy and gripping.

The Girls - Lisa Jewell

"Dark Wood" and "Willow Walk" by SJI Holliday

"The Snow Child" I loved

"The Stranger In Cabin 10" was easy reading

Deep South Enthusiasm I did love Gods In Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson and also Between, Georgia also by her. Beloved by Toni Morrison.

sand I've read Invention of Wings it was really good

Waistcoat LOVED Middlesex and have also read his others, The Marriage Plot and The Virgin Suicides

Kindergarten HATED Station Eleven - sorry

Thanks Mermaid Margie* I'm lukewarm on Toibin. Really disliked Testament of Mary but I liked Brooklyn as a film.

Queen do you have a "first" book for any of those series ?

Bathsheba Thanks - I must make note of Snow Child a few have said it.

I devoured Snow Child on the hottest day of the summer. Fantastic book.

Best book I've read this year is "In the Unlikely Event" by Judy Blume. It's based on real life events which happened in Judy's home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey while she was a teenager, although the characters are all fictional. A fantastic read, highly recommended.

Thank you Songbird Gods In Alabama is on my kindle list

I have Beloved and have tried to read it a number of times I just can't get into it I really want to

Have you done Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil?

Also is USA in general OK? There's a great series set in Iowa

Do not say we have nothin - it's about the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the student protests. Really beautiful and interesting. I know literally nothing about Chinese history

Before that I read Puritu by Jonathan Franzen which I also enjoyed.

One of my favourites was A Kim Jong Il Production by Paul Fischer which an the true story of a South Korean director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong Il. There was an episode of this American life about it last year.

I'm currently reading The Girls by Emma Cline and it's terrible. I don't get what all the fuss was about - the topic is interesting (girl joins cult) but the writing is overwrought and could have done with some ferocious editing

Abry

I nearly bought that at the weekend - gutted

The best way I can describe it is it's like reading a novel that Hannah from the TV shows would write, if you see what I mean. There's lots of description which slows the pace down and sometimes makes it hard to follow (or that could be sleep deprivation)

I mean Hannah from the TV show Girls

I have seen the film but ages ago think it's a book worth reading

I really like Steinback books it's the descriptions and atmosphere I like

I really like books set in Victoria London too