What’s been your best read this year?

[HighburyLass]

Just one book (if you can!) that has stood out for you this year?

For me, it’s James by Percival Everett. Was given it as a present, I wouldn’t have chosen it. But my goodness what a great read. I was unsure as I hadn’t read Huckleberry Finn but it really didn’t matter (and now maybe I will!)

What have been your reading highlights?

The Ministry of Time - Kaliane Bradley
time travel, very funny, sweet.

The Favourites - Layne Fargo
re-telling of Wuthering Heights in the world of ice dancing.

The Day The World Stops Shopping - JB McKinnon
non-fiction, considers the impact of overconsumption on people and the planet and it absolutely changed my approach to shopping!

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.

A novel about the real side to cowboys/ the wild west. Fascinating although sometimes quite gritty.

Not a new book but only just heard of it this year!

I loved this one

I loved this book too. So well-written and I really rooted for her.

Such a great book

Honey bee by Craig Silvey has to be mine.

a story of a young run away boy and his friendship with an old man who has just lost his wife. They meet at a bridge one night both intending to end their lives and form an unlikely duo.

Lessons in Chemistry - I was given it, would not have looked at it on a bookshelf even in a charity shop but I absolutely loved it.

Think it’s already been mentioned but the Women by Kristen Hannah, absolutely brilliant story about an army nurse in the Vietnam War. I have read a lot of her books and have always loved that she takes a time in history and writes from a women’s perspective. Took a little while for me to get into it but certainly one of her best books.
i enjoyed Raising Hare a lot more than I thought I would.
Got lots more now on my want to read list.

It’s not a new book but Pachinko by Min Jin Lee was by far the stand out book for me this year.

DS bought it for himself and loved it so much he bought me a copy as a gift.

My favourite book of all time by a mile.

Me too, and I only started somewhat reluctantly on a recommendation late summer and now I have to wait until May for more Carl and Donut time!

I read this on Audible and found it gripping the way an ordinary family life can change bit by bit into totalitarian chaos.

It has really lived with me since.

War and Peace.

Signed up to do a slow read of this incredible novel with Simon of Footnotes and Tangents on Substack. You read a chapter a day and then have the option to join in with a thread discussion about the Chapter. Simon provides a weekly summary of the previous 7 chapters with his own thoughts and links to historical articles, poetry, art and maps.

I feel so totally immersed in this book and the characters now I’m going to be bereft when I finish on 31st December. It completely earns its status as a classic.

Tolstoy’s writing and themes has knocked pretty much everything else I’ve read out of the park. I highly recommend the experience. He’s running the slow read again next year.

Inspired by this thread I have just about finished The List of Suspicious Things today! Got a bit stuck about halfway through a month or so ago but got fresh impetus to finish it, and have really enjoyed it.

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon. I loved the characterisation , the parallels with the present day and the last few words "...the world a wounded thing that can only be healed by story"
Like others I also really enjoyed The Women by Kirstin Hannah, All the Light We Cannot See and the first 2 books by Jo Callaghan. Looking forward to the 3rd by her

I added Lonesome Dove to my list just a couple of days ago so I’m glad to see another positive review. Apparently it’s one of the most frequently recommended books on Reddit’s r/suggestmeabook.

Project Hail Mary is my favourite book of the year. I recommended the audiobook to my DH who hasn’t touched a book in years but often listens to podcasts. We’ve both listened to it several times since he downloaded it and can’t wait for the film.

I just couldn’t get on with Lonesome Dove - it was a rare dnf for me. Everyone i know who read it has raved about it - I must be missing something!

The God of the Woods is probably the best standalone book of the year for me (murder mystery set in a remote mountain region of the US).
Very closely tied with Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (queer vampire historical revenge drama!)

I also loved The Hallmarked Man (book 8 in the Strike series) but you do need to read them in order.

My overall favourite though is Sunrise on the Reaping. Devoured in a day, and had to sit quietly for some time after. Probably only has that effect if you enjoyed The Hunger Games books, it really was perfection for me.

Same here, I also didn't finish.

The Glassmaker by Tracey Chevalier, follows a glassmaking family on Murano through the centuries and has a lovely twist to do with time. The main character is the first woman in her glassmaking family to work with glass and we see the changes in the family's fortunes through her eyes.

How to Build A Boat by Elaine Feeney. A story of a young ND lad navigating his way through the world around him and the two teachers who take him under their wing. Magical.

The Lighthouse Keepers Wife by June O'Sullivan. Man with happy family takes up the post of Lighthouse Keeper on Skellig Michael in 1860s, Assistant Lighthouse Keeper and wife arrive and move in next door and it all goes very gothic.

Thanks for this, I wasn't aware of it. There's another wonderful book based her life, The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland.

Based on this thread, I reserved this on my Libby app and it’s become available today! 👍

Thank you @SereneLilac - I will check that out. I love Artemisia’s paintings and would welcome another book about her.

Interesting recommendations. They include some I have read and enjoyed this year (The Marriage Portrait and Lessons In Chemistry), some old favourites (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall), one I read this year but didn’t enjoy (The Names), one that was recommended to me and I know I will be getting for Christmas (Raising Hare), and some that I read years ago and had more or less forgotten (Precious Bane and Oscar and Lucinda).

The best book I have read this year (not new, but I was rather late to the game) is A Gentleman in Moscow, which describes the life of a Russian Count after the Russian Revolution when he is placed under house arrest for life. It’s a fascinating and very enjoyable read.

The nightingale - Kristin Hannah.

Set in WW2 and is about sisters in France in their own way dealing with the nazis - one becomes a resistance operative but the other remains in their little village. Such an amazing read.