Half year done - what has been your favorite book so far?

[Nonny]

My one five star book of the year is Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite.  I bumped it up because when I started reviewing it I couldn't stop writing and wrote ~1200 words (which is about 5 times longer than most of my reviews); it really stuck with me and made me think long (and angerly) about things

My four star books for the year are (in order that Goodreads is presenting them to me):
Wool Omnibus (Silo #1) by Hugh Howey
Binti (Binti, #1) by Nnedi Okorafor
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things (re-read) Bryn Greenwood - this is another one that really sticks in your craw
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong by Paul A. Offit

Counting Backwards: A Doctor's Notes on Anesthesia by Henry Jay Przybylo

[gibbinator]

Jul 10, 2018 0:07:16 GMT -5 Nonny said:

Jul 8, 2018 11:50:12 GMT -5 gibbinator said:

The Silo trilogy by Hugh Howey (Wool, Shift, Dust). Great post-apocalyptic fiction.

SPOILER: Click to show

I haven't started Dust yet, but I loved the opening story of Wool.  There is a part of me that wishes I'd read that, and nothing else.

Read it, get closure You can't leave off where Shift ended. I know how you feel though, I feel much the same way.

I've got Station Eleven on my library holds now thanks to you

[leeba25]

gibbinator, Nonny, I’ve only read Wool so far ... but I thought I would share something interesting in case you weren’t aware. I usually read on my Kindle paper white but every once in a while I use my iPad app instead. This book is a “Kindle in motion” version, and it’s the first such book i’ve ever read. Basically that means that it’s somewhat illustrated (maybe 1 illustration per chapter) and there’s some moving graphics as well. It was a really cool addition to the novel.

Based on your follow up notes, i may not read further. Lol.

[Nonny]

Jul 10, 2018 6:06:16 GMT -5 gibbinator said:

Jul 10, 2018 0:07:16 GMT -5 Nonny said:

I haven't started Dust yet, but I loved the opening story of Wool.  There is a part of me that wishes I'd read that, and nothing else.

Read it, get closure You can't leave off where Shift ended. I know how you feel though, I feel much the same way.

I've got Station Eleven on my library holds now thanks to you

I'll definitely finish it, but reading the omnibuses was killing my stats for the year, because each one was taking me about 3 weeks to read.  LOL. 

[expectantsteelerfan]

My favorite so far this year was Before We Were Yours. I'm loving this thread for adding to my 'to-read' list!

[MrsAxilla]

Jul 10, 2018 0:07:16 GMT -5 Nonny said:

Jul 8, 2018 11:50:12 GMT -5 gibbinator said:

The Silo trilogy by Hugh Howey (Wool, Shift, Dust). Great post-apocalyptic fiction.

SPOILER: Click to show

I haven't started Dust yet, but I loved the opening story of Wool.  There is a part of me that wishes I'd read that, and nothing else.

Jul 8, 2018 18:19:56 GMT -5 ally said:

I also went back to Goodreads to see what I had rated 4 1/2 or 5 stars and found five books.

Wonder - RJ Palacio
Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks
The Fifth Season - NK Jemison
The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden

When I read Station Eleven I loved it so hard that I went around recommending it to anyone who would listen, and then had both of my book clubs read it so that I could reread it just a couple of months later.

Wow!  That’s quite an endorsement!

[Nonny]

Jul 11, 2018 22:06:51 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

Jul 10, 2018 0:07:16 GMT -5 Nonny said:

I haven't started Dust yet, but I loved the opening story of Wool.  There is a part of me that wishes I'd read that, and nothing else.


When I read Station Eleven I loved it so hard that I went around recommending it to anyone who would listen, and then had both of my book clubs read it so that I could reread it just a couple of months later.

Wow!  That’s quite an endorsement!

I was seriously enthralled.  I still think about that book from time to time, and I'm sure I'll reread it again at some point.  

Someone on here recommended it, but I don't remember who it was.  They said something about their non-reader husband having picked it up, and loving it so much they started reading it again immediately after finishing it, and I was like, "OK, I have to read a book that has that big of an impact on someone who otherwise doesn't enjoy reading."

[MrsAxilla]

Jul 12, 2018 15:05:06 GMT -5 Nonny said:

Jul 11, 2018 22:06:51 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

Wow!  That’s quite an endorsement!

I was seriously enthralled.  I still think about that book from time to time, and I'm sure I'll reread it again at some point.  

Someone on here recommended it, but I don't remember who it was.  They said something about their non-reader husband having picked it up, and loving it so much they started reading it again immediately after finishing it, and I was like, "OK, I have to read a book that has that big of an impact on someone who otherwise doesn't enjoy reading."

I’m about 30% in and can’t wait to see how all these connections play out!

[bex]

Station Eleven was SO GOOD. I now get some parts of it is confused with the book of the unnamed midwife (also very good, but Station Eleven was better) but if I actually think about it I can separate the two (because they are very different beyond the very basic premise.)

I find that many dystopian novels have great premises but the author doesn't seem to know what to do with that premise, but Station Eleven was good the entire way through. The author definitely knew where she was taking the book when she started.

[brandy0331]

The Bargainer series by Laura Thalassa. I did a lot of rereads this year though, including the Outlander series.

[sassy1ja]

Top rated so far this year:

American Marriage
Crazy Rich Asians
The Female Persuasion
Sometimes I Lie

[dochas]

The Immortalists was my favorite so far.

I just finished The Wife Between Us and I thought it was really, really good.

[pinotgrig]

My 5* books so far this year are:

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer
I.O.U. - Why everyone owes and no one can pay (if you reading about the financial crisis, this was one of the most detailed but accessible books I’ve read on it)
Making the grades: my misadventures in the standardized testing industry
On tyranny: twenty lessons from the twentieth century
The undoing project: a friendship that changes our minds
We should all be feminists
Notorious rbg
Bad feminist

[secretlyevil]

I've read 42 of my 2018 50 books goal. I've read a lot of non-fiction and memoirs this year.

[wkatie]

I just ordered Station Eleven based on this thread - thanks!

My favs so far this year:

Educated
What Happened
An American Marriage
The Great Alone
Now That You Mention It - Kristin Higgins

[secretlyevil]

It's hard to say what my favorites were. Looking over the list...well I re-read the HP series as audio books and that was fun. New books wise I'd have to say:

Campaign Widows - lighthearted, easy breezy read
Before We Were Yours - ran the whole gamete of emotions
Born a Crime - audio book DEFINITELY!
Ready Player One - another fun read

I think the ultimate favorite to date for the year is a toss up between: So You Want to Talk About Race and Change Your Questions, Change Your Life

ETA: I also really, really liked the Alice Network that I finished recently...

[just]

I'm new here, but the board has been mentioned twice on two different boards this week so I figured I'd swing on by!

So far I liked
- Weapons of Math Destruction, Cathy O'Neill (and I'm not usually a non-fiction person, but it had lots of Higher Ed examples that spoke to me)
- Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders (the audiobook was so riveting!)

[just]

Jul 7, 2018 21:09:33 GMT -5 suzubell said:

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I love Follett's historical fiction.

If you liked Pillars, you should try the sequel World Without End. There's a third one too that I actually read/listened to this year, and it wasn't as good, but I'm a diehard fan so like it anyway (A Column of Fire)

His 1900 series was good too. The first one was great (Fall of Giants - WW1), with book 2 (Winter of the World - WW2) being very good, and the third being only ok (Edge of Eternity - Cold War)

[suzubell]

Jul 25, 2018 16:04:23 GMT -5 just said:

Jul 7, 2018 21:09:33 GMT -5 suzubell said:

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I love Follett's historical fiction.

If you liked Pillars, you should try the sequel World Without End. There's a third one too that I actually read/listened to this year, and it wasn't as good, but I'm a diehard fan so like it anyway (A Column of Fire)

His 1900 series was good too. The first one was great (Fall of Giants - WW1), with book 2 (Winter of the World - WW2) being very good, and the third being only ok (Edge of Eternity - Cold War)

I’ve read them all. Finishing Edge of Eternity now!

[incognitony]

Saving great reqs in here

[CheeringCharm]

I gave five stars to:


The Revolution of Marina M by Janet Fitch (I think this one is kind of controversial - it seems like people either love it or hate it)

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win by Jo Piazza

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira Lee

Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito

[sassypants]

I guess Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

[mpc]

Little Fires Everywhere
The Eyre Affair
A Man Called Ove