Wow, this year has really flown by and it's time again for the best of the best lists! I enjoy looking back at other people's prior year's lists as well as my own and seeing how things went in years past. So I can't pass it up this year and am looking forward to checking out everyone else's posts. As much as I love all lists, the best of lists for books are probably my favorites.
This year I read 71 books and I gave five of them five stars on Goodreads. They were:
Winter of the World by Ken Follett: This is book two in the Century Trilogy. The first is about WWI, the second takes the characters through WWII. He does a great job of introducing characters from different walks of life which gives you a lot of insight into what different sides and countries were going through during the war. I am looking forward to reading the third set of the series, although these books are a bit long, so I have to space them out a little!
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult: This was a great story of a girl working at a bakery who befriends an old man, who ends up being a former Nazi SS officer. To make it even worse, the girl's grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. This book was recommended to me years ago by Lisa and I am glad that I finally took her up on her suggestion!
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab: The first book in the Shades of Magic trilogy, this is a great step away from reality. The story takes you to several variations of London, some good, some bad, and is full of magic, kingdoms, good, evil and adventure. The characters are likable and the second book in the series is also a lot of fun as well!
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly: Set in WWII, this is a story about three different girls, a doctor from Germany who ends up working at Ravensbruck, a Polish girl who ends up imprisoned in Ravensbruck and an American socialite who ends up entangled in the mix. I learned a lot about the horrors that happen in the camps that I hadn't really known much about before.
In addition to these, some of my other favorites were: Aristotle and Dante Discovery the Secrets of the Universe, Circling the Sun, Between the World and Me, Ready Player One, Homegoing and Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. See other 4 star recommendations here.
I also participated in the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, which encourages people to try new types of books. I did not finish the list of 24 categories, but I had a lot of fun exploring new categories! Below is my list. Yellow are the ones I did not complete.
1 A horror book - The
Terror
2 A nonfiction book about science
3 A collection of essays
- A Manual for Cleaning Women
4 Read a book out loud to someone
5 A middle grade
novel - Finding Someplace
6 A biography
7 A dystopian or
post-apocalyptic novel - Ready Player One
8 A book originally published in the
decade you were born
9 Listen to an
audiobook that has won an Audie Award - Euphoria
10 A book over 500
pages long - The Lake House
11 A book under 100
pages long - Holy the Firm
12 A book by or about a person that
identifies as transgender
13 A book that is set
in the Middle East - Prisoner of Tehrah
14 A book that is by an author from
Southeast Asia
15 A book of
historical fiction set before 1900 - The Taming of the Queen
16 The first book in a
series by a person of color - Blanche on the Lam
17 A non-superhero comic that debuted
in the last three years
18 A book that was adapted into a
movie, then watch the movie
19 A nonfiction book
about feminism or dealing with feminist themes - Spinster
20 A book about
religion - 1000 Lashes
21 A book about politics, in your
country or another
22 A food memoir - Cleaved
23 A play - Death of a
Salesman
24 A book with a main
character that has a mental illness - Tender Points
How was your year of reading? What was your favorite book of 2016? Did you participate in any reading challenges this year?