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.

The best things I've read this year are Death and the Penguin and Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov. Death and the Penguin is a black comedy about a journalist who writes obituaries in Kyiv who owns a penguin. Grey Bees is about a beekeeper who lives in the 'grey zone' between Ukrainian and Russian soldiers near Donetsk.

I also enjoyed Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro which is about a disabled woman investigating her daughter's death. And I'm about the last person in the world to read My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante which I adored. It's the first in a quartet following two friends from a working class neighbourhood in Naples.

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

I’ve read a lot of meh books this year. Probably enjoyed most, the Richard Osman books and Becoming by Michelle Obama.

Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason- I read it again straight after finishing it. Never done that before!

Shuggie Bain - the characters have stayed with me

I read the latest Maggie O’Farrell. It was weak at points but I throughly enjoyed it.

The Reader on the 6:27.

Quite a short book (52,000 words) that I read in a couple of hours one afternoon because it really grabbed me. Bit of an odd book but I really liked it.