What's the best books you've read in the last 12 months?

[lizkt]

American Dirt really stands out for me.

Looking for some new books to read so would love to hear any ideas.

Where the Crawdads Sing

The Girl with the Louding Voice
My Dark Vanessa
The Young Team
Queenie
Where the Crawdads Sing

Station Eleven

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. So so brilliant and engaging and a surprisingly easy read.

Piranesi ~ Susanna Clarke
A Gentleman in Moscow ~ Amor Towles
The Dig ~ John Preston

Where the crawdads sing

Loved American Dirt!

Shuggie Bain
The Midnight Library
Nickel Boys
Sleepers
I Am Pilgrim
The Thursday Murder Club
The Nightingale
The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Not all published in last 12 months but I’ve read them in that period, so not sure if they fit the criteria but worth a read!

The Nine Hundred.
Born Survivors.
A Soul Called River.

I've just finished tonight Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers and loved it so much I might just reread it.

@RiverSkater

I've just finished tonight Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers and loved it so much I might just reread it.

Me too!

Also My Dark Vanessa - totally different but equally enthralling.

I really loved Home Stretch by Graeme Norton. Really good characters and well written.

Hamnet
Small pleasures
Queenie
Pretending

Just remembered My Sister, the Serial Killer was another good one I've read.

Thanks all, I will check them out.

I had heard great things about My Dark Vanessa and it's 99p on kindle right now!

@017HF

I read The Bee Keeper of Aleppo recently. I found it educational rather than enjoyable. I'm glad I have read it, but it was a hard read (in terms of subject content). The rest of the book group I belong to thought so too.

I really didn't enjoy The Midnight Library either (another book group read). I just didn't find it engaging.

@RampantIvy I didn't enjoy Beekeeper of Aleppo or Midnight Library either.

I know they were very popular books this year but still.

American Dirt is a much interesting telling of a refugee story than Beekeeper.

Thank you @lizkt

Normal People (and planning to read again which rarely do)
The Doll Factory
The End of the Affair

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

I loved A Gentleman in Moscow too @AdaColeman. It took me a while to get into it and then I couldn’t stop reading.

I didn't like Normal People either. I found both the main characters unengaging and irritating and just couldn't identify with either of them. I watched it on TV as well, and felt like throwing something at the screen from time to time. This was another book group book.

Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane and You and Me On Vacation by Emily Henry – both stellar, clever rom-coms.

@GreenTeaPingPong

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. So so brilliant and engaging and a surprisingly easy read.

Agreed. It’s so moving, original, and beautifully written.

@Winterfairy23 I loved The Girl with the Loading Voice too!
A Heart in a body in the world
The Hate U Give
Thursday Murder Club
One Day

Empire of Pain