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.

@Ulysses. Yes, it's a book that really draws you in I think! I frittered away hours on the internet reading about the history of the Hotel Metropol, and its restaurants, and looking at photos of the amazing exterior and interiors.
I read it on my Kindle, but I think it would make a wonderful special edition hard back, fully illustrated with period photographs of the hotel.

@RiverSkater

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

Absolutely agree about this one. I've lent it to to a friend and I'll probably re-read it as soon as she gives it back. It's a funny one to tell people about though, isn't it? The 'story' of it is so strange yet so ordinary in a way. I think she is a writer who has got so much better over the years.

I enjoyed saving missy. Not sure it makes the top 10 ever or anything, but a good book.

Hamnet - I wasn't expecting much, but I found it very moving and have thought about it a lot.

Station Eleven was another one that I enjoyed more than I expected to.

In an Instant by Suzanne Redfearn.

Three Hours Rosamund Lupton
Florence Adler Swims Forever Rachel Beanland
Troubled Blood Robert Galbraith
We Must be Brave Frances Liardet

That would be a great idea @AdaColeman.

Apparently the paperback has footnotes and extras that the Kindle doesn't and explains about the history going on in the background. I am ashamed to admit that I didn't even realise it was an actual hotel until you said there. Away to Google!

Piranesi
The Country of Ice Cream Star

Another vote for Hamnet

My Sister The Serial Killer. It was just so clever and touching and totally not what I expected. I absolutely loved it. Closely followed by 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World which was incredibly beautiful and surprisingly joyous and life-affirming underneath its sadness.

Hail Mary by Andy Weir was the best book I've read this year

I really like Gentleman in Moscow, think I actually preferred Rules of Civility by the same author.

I'm about the re-read the Sanctuary fantasy series by Robert J Crane.

Non fiction:
Rachel Holmes, Eleanor Marx: A Life
Francesca Wade, Square Haunting

Fiction:
Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet
Elly Griffiths, The Postscript Murders
Michelle Magorian, Goodnight Mister Tom
Emma Donoghue, The Pull of the Stars
Claire Chambers, Small Pleasures
Claire Fuller, Unsettled Ground
Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half
Louise Erdrich, The Night Watchman
Alix E Harrow, The Once and Future Witches

Another vote for Hamnet. It does seem to divide opinion though (not on here!)
Girl by Edna O'Brien
Halfway through Where the Crawdads Sing and it's awesome.

I've just read The Law of the Heart by Boris Starling and it was incredible. Not the sort of thing I'd normally read based on the blurb but one of the best books I've ever read.

Run by Ann Patchett

The Midnight Library (another divider of opinion, but I really enjoyed it.)

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby

These are not new books but I read them this year.

Bright by Duanwad Pimwana. Stories of a boy in a working class community in Thailand.
Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi. Famous writer escapes the Bolsheviks.
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Coming of age in Zimbabwe.
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Two sisters during the Biafran war.
The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey. Fisherman catches a cursed mermaid.

Thursday Murder Club ( v witty)
Where the crawdads sing ( really loved it)
The paper palace (absolutely incredible cannot get it out of my mind)
Such a fun age (easy reading but sooooo good )
Sorrow and bliss (v v good)
How to kill your family (loved it!!!)

My Dark Vanessa
Tampa (not for the faint hearted though)
The Truants
The Serpent (after watching the Netflix show)
Little Fires Everywhere
Tangerine

Shuggie Bain
American Dirt
The Strike series by Robert Galbraith

Seven Sister series - Lucinda Riley
The Lido - Katie Quinn
Three Hours - Rosemary Lipton
The Heatwave - Kate Riordan
(Didn’t like Hamnet)

I love The Fire keeper's Daughter. It's officially YA lot, but I really enjoyed it. I live in the same state that it's set in, so that made it a little more interesting.
It's a cross between YA Romance and detective genre, and also very deliberately describes the culture of the author who is part Ojibwe and part French American. It's been described as a really important book in the publishing world as it's commercially successful and shows that books with a lot of cultural description can be accepted.

Haven’t read much myself this year as I’ve been too tired and distracted but Station Eleven stands out for me.

I’ve just finished Piranesi and I thoroughly enjoyed it that’s a close second!

Shuggie Bain
My Dark Vanessa
Miss Benson's Beetle
Mythos by Steven Fry
50/50 by Steve Kavanagh

the lates strike novel
a german trilogy (isabel rohner, schöner morden)

Shuggie Bain - incredible, but be prepared as it’s rather harrowing.

Piranesi, hands down

Runners up:
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik - YA and probably not the OP's thing but I loved it.
Fire and Blood by George RR Martin as a follow up to a Song of Ice and Fire reread.