Favorite book(s) you have read in 2016 so far?

[ufcasey]

So I just finished reading an absolutely fabulous book, Once We Were Brothers, and it made me realize - I've read a lot of really great books this year and I would be hard pressed to pick just one as my favorite book of 2016 so far. So now that we're already over half way through the year: out of the books you have read so far in 2016, what are some of your favorites? Here are mine, broken down by book type.

Historical fiction:
Once We Were Brothers - This is set in both WW2 and present day. This seriously was awesome - Nazi war criminals could be among us! It has a bit of mystery/thriller to it too, so not dull at all.
Letters From Skye - I just love this, especially as an audiobook (you actually NEED to listen to the audiobook instead of read it I think). It's epistolary format fyi.

Non-fiction:
Nothing to Envy - I had no idea that North Korea was so crazy. Their recent history is told through the eyes of 6 defectors so it's very personal and moving.
Just Mercy - I think every American, especially if you are white, needs to read this and confront how racially corrupt our police and judicial system really can be. This was very eye-opening and reads like an episode of Dateline.
Rena's Promise - I really can't recommend this book enough. It tells the real life story of two sisters who survived the inhumanities of the Auschwitz concentration camp. What really sets it apart is that it doesn't just tell you about the horrors of the Nazis, it also tells you the the small kindnesses fellow prisoners were able to do even in the face of deadly risks to themselves.

YA:
Please Ignore Vera Dietz - this is quirky, serious, lighthearted, and I didn't want it to end. I can't explain it. Just read it. Actually, listen to it if you can - great audiobook.

Fantasy:
A Court of Mist and Fury - this is the second book in the series and IT IS AMAZING. So read the first book, and then read this book anyways even if you only kind of liked the first book. Because this second book is HOLY CRAP AMAZEBALLS.

Fiction:
Big Little Lies - Another GR reviewer summed this book up perfectly: "Probably the funniest book about murder and domestic abuse I'll ever read."

Paranormal Romance:
Riley Jenson Guardian series - I read this entire series this year and I LOVED IT. Please power through the first book - it does get much, much better. It's a bit smutty overall, but the ratio of plot to smut evens itself out a lot more as it goes along. So stick with it if that puts you off at first.

[monkeyfeet]

I've given 5* to three books this year -
Mila 18
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Boys in the Boat

[secretlyevil]

Letters from Skye is my first real experience with audio books since I was a kid, it really is so good. These are really great recs. Thanks!

These days my reading is sadly little. Recently I have decided to make a concentrated effort to read more, and read good books. It's so easy to read the cheapos on Amazon when you have a kindle. However, more often than not they...aren't good. It has made me not like reading as much as I used to. Someone recently told me our library system's e-book borrowing system has gotten much better. When I first got my kindle it was atrocious. I am going to look into that. Our library system on a whole is bad, I let my library card lapse. Which is sad as I firmly believe in the importance of libraries.

[travella]

I haven't had any 5 star books this year, but I don't give those out often. The following books received four stars.

Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey

A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout

Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner

Wanderlove by Kristen Hubbard

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

[kelliebeans104]

Some of my favorites from 2016 that aren't rereads are:

Notorious RBG

The Opposite of Loneliness

Station Eleven

and The Raven King

[ufcasey]

Aug 8, 2016 11:37:44 GMT -5 secretlyevil said:

Letters from Skye is my first real experience with audio books since I was a kid, it really is so good. These are really great recs. Thanks!

These days my reading is sadly little. Recently I have decided to make a concentrated effort to read more, and read good books. It's so easy to read the cheapos on Amazon when you have a kindle. However, more often than not they...aren't good. It has made me not like reading as much as I used to. Someone recently told me our library system's e-book borrowing system has gotten much better. When I first got my kindle it was atrocious. I am going to look into that. Our library system on a whole is bad, I let my library card lapse. Which is sad as I firmly believe in the importance of libraries.

I would say the vast majority of books I read are from my online library - so definitely check it out. And if your online library selection kind of sucks, pay for the relatively small fee for library privileges in a different county that has a bigger online selection. It's completely worth it.

[charlatti]

Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse and The Longest Night are my two favorites so far.

[Vespasia]

Sadly this thread made me realize I really haven't read anything great this year. I have enjoyed several books but not enough to really recommend them. The only one that has gotten 5 stars from me so far is Rick Steve's Scotland but that doesn't really count.

Letters from Skye was only $1.99 on Kindle so I went ahead and got it. I might save it for our trip.

[abs]

A Court of Mist and Fury is hands down the best book I've read this year. It's just perfect!

I also loved Winter Garden, Eligible, and November 9th.

Nothing else I've read this year has particularly stood out.

[snshne322]

I did a reread of a couple of my 5 star books from previous years, so I'll skip those.

The two new ones for the year that I've given 5 stars to are:

The Raven King
A Court of Mist and Fury

[Wallflower]

I'm sure I could come up with a longer list if I reviewed what I've read this year but when I read the title, I immediately thought "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," so I'm going to go with that as my answer. Sort of a Rorschach approach.

[litskispeciality]

I've only read a couple of 4 star books so far, but here are some good ones:


Young Adult:
Before I Fall Lauren Oliver (although this could have been 30 pages shorter)

Non-Fiction:
Trouble Maker Leah Remini
Picture Perfect: The Jodi Arias Story

Historical Fiction:
The Nightengale
Everything I Never Told You - but I think that's just fiction?

[MrsAxilla]

A Court of Mist and Fury is hands down the best book I've read so far, although I also have five stars to The Nightingale and Marie Antoinette: The Journey, by Antonia Frasier. I have a couple in the queue that have been mentioned in this post, so I'm looking forward to a strong end to 2016!

[rainbowchip]

Slammed and Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
The Lunar Chronicals by Marissa Meyer. I'm still waiting on Winter but I really love this series
The Crown by Kiera Cass - read it in one day
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy

I had quite a few 4 stars that looking back I would probably give them 5 stars. There was usually just one little detail that cost the book a star.

[labbie]

Nonfiction:
Marathon Woman: Running the Race to Revolutionize Women's Sports by Kathrine Switzer (memoir)
The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Brower (interviewed several past/present White House staff)

Fiction:
The Martian by Andy Weir
South of Broad by Pat Conroy
A Dog's Purpose by Bruce Cameron

[ThirdandLong]

A Court of Mist and Fury.

The Raven King, as 1st runner up.

[sassypants]

I absolutely loved Amanda Palmer's The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help. I listened to it on audio book and I totally recommend that format because she adds her music into it and reads it herself.


I also loved A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, by GRR Martin. It is a GOT book but there is a LOT less death in this one and the protagonists are fantastic characters. Aside from those, my reading has been more of the meh variety.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I've had zero 5 star books this past year. The 4 star book I remember enjoying the most was At The Water's Edge by Sara Gruen, but my bookclub overall wasn't a fan.

[Nonny]

I have no 5 star books yet this year; I'm a tough critic.   

Here are my 4 star books:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - YA, very fast read that made me laugh and cry, and made me realize I really need to read more Sherman Alexie.

Orphan Number Eight (or Orphan #8, depending on the cover) - medical exploitation of orphaned Jewish children in the US, and a tale of what one might do when given the opportunity to confront the person who permanently impacted your life.

The Thirteenth Tale - a fictional biography of an author, with lots of little twists and turns; I feel like this would have a "The Sixth Sense" quality on re-read.

The Night Circus (reread) - I love the meandering beauty in the descriptions.  I wish the Night Circus was a real thing I could attend. 

Our Souls at Night - haunting and believable; I also need to read more Kent Haruf.

Every Last One - devastating and believable, and also a bit of cautionary tale (although I'm not sure she intended it to be that way).

In a Dark, Dark Wood - best mystery I've read in a long time (in retrospect this probably could have been a 5 star read for me) - just enough details that you can kind of figure things out, and just enough hidden that you aren't beating your head against the wall at the stupidity of the characters halfway through the book. 

[AJL]

These are my five star books for 2016 (so far.)

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly - (Goodreads.com summary) 
    New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France.

    An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences.

    For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.

    The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents—from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland—as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - (Goodreads.com summary) 
    Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their difference, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess.

    But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell  - (Goodreads.com summary) 
    In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be human.

The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati - (Goodreads.com summary) 
    The year is 1883, and in New York City, it’s a time of dizzying splendor, crushing poverty, and tremendous change. With the gravity-defying Brooklyn Bridge nearly complete and New York in the grips of anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, Anna Savard and her cousin Sophie—both graduates of the Woman’s Medical School—treat the city’s most vulnerable, even if doing so may put everything they’ve strived for in jeopardy.

    Anna's work has placed her in the path of four children who have lost everything, just as she herself once had. Faced with their helplessness, Anna must make an unexpected choice between holding on to the pain of her past and letting love into her life.

    For Sophie, an obstetrician and the orphaned daughter of free people of color, helping a desperate young mother forces her to grapple with the oath she took as a doctor—and thrusts her and Anna into the orbit of Anthony Comstock, a dangerous man who considers himself the enemy of everything indecent and of anyone who dares to defy him.

[charlatti]

AJL, The Sparrow is such a great book. I read it more than 10 years ago and pieces of it still come to mind frequently. There's a sequel that's worth reading too. Not as good IMO but still memorable.

[MrsAxilla]

Aug 12, 2016 7:37:32 GMT -5 charlatti said:

AJL , The Sparrow is such a great book. I read it more than 10 years ago and pieces of it still come to mind frequently. There's a sequel that's worth reading too. Not as good IMO but still memorable.

Maybe I'll check it out!

Nonny I wanted to listen to Part Time Indian on our family road trip but when I read the description, Ben (9 yrs) and DH gave it a hard pass.  

[10nille]

Brain on Fire
The Death of Santini
Boys in the Boat
Fireball
Their eyes were watching God

Several books by Rachel Van Dyken (Consequence Series and Ruin Series) and Leah Marie Brown (It Girl Series).

[Nonny]

Aug 12, 2016 21:59:51 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

Nonny I wanted to listen to Part Time Indian on our family road trip but when I read the description, Ben (9 yrs) and DH gave it a hard pass.  

Bummer. 

However, on the bright side, reading it as an actual book (or ebook) is probably better, because it includes a lot of funny illustrations that you'd miss out on doing it as an audiobook.

[pandora89]

The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah, oh man, this book was amazing. I finished it and was so sad it was over. It was a bit slow at the beginning and I was so tempted to not finish it but I am so glad I did. I cannot stop thinking about it. I definitely cried a few times while reading it. I know it is a historical fiction but just imagining that people really had to endure all that is mind boggling, I couldn't have done it.

[mrspez07]

The Likeness by Tana French
Girl on a Train

I really enjoyed reading both of these. The Likeness is an unlikely scenario but she does such a good job getting into the characters time together that I felt I was there.

[BlackCanary]

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Alice by Christina Henry

[suzannesugarbaker]

The Raven King
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows

[litskispeciality]

Pandora, I agree with you on the Nightengale. I said that on another thread, the last time I cried while reading a book, and these were almost ugly tears. I also agree to stick with it as it's slow at the beginning. I did learn more about WWII than what you learn in school, or perhaps just my district. Gives you a new appreciation for things like heat and food.