Today, I am joining Marissa from Rae Gun Ramblings to discuss our favorite books of the year! You can find hers here and join us tomorrow on FB for a live discussion of them.
How many books did you read in 2016? About 50, I forgot to mark them all on my Goodreads this year. I need to update it!
What were the top 5 books you read?In no particular order
Rebel of the Sands – Alwyn Hamilton-
Kids of Appetite by David Arnold– Two deaths set Mad and Vic on a path. The death of Vic’s father leads to a mission to scatter his ashes in all the places that were important to his father and it leads to the murder of Mad’s Uncle. The Hackensack Police Department desperately want to hear the end of the story but first they must listen to the beginning.
Sometimes I feel like books find you at the right time in your life. Kids of Appetite is about strength and making your own family. It is about collecting stories and falling in love. It is about life and loss and was just what I needed.
Illuminae by Amy Kaufman- Kady’s planet was just attacked. A small planet on the edge of the universe is now a blaze and she must fight her way to a evacuating ship. The ships escape with the attacker in pursuit. It doesn’t seem like it could get much worse until the evacuees realize that the people who attacked them used a bio weapon that has turned into a plague and it is killing the afflicted rapidly and it seems like death is certain even before the ship’s computer turns against the crew. I honestly didn’t think I was going to like this book but if turned out to be fun adventure that I couldn’t put down. Just a word to future readers this is not a book for a e-reader. Formatting is half the story with this one. Get your hands on a physical copy of you want to read this.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – In the aftermath of the Georgia Flu, which was estimated to have killed 99% of the population, the Traveling Symphony is a small group of musicians and actors who travel to the small towns that have popped up in hotels and airports to perform plays and symphonies. Station Eleven is a post apocalyptic book that I feel shows what the end of the world would really be like. Small communities, some lawlessness, some cults and also some people devoted to the arts and bringing them to the people. People who know that “survival is insufficient.” This book didn’t have a huge driving force behind it, rather it seemed like we just got a view of this group of people for a small snippet in time. It was kind of slow moving but honestly quite delightful.
Court Of Fives by Kate Elliot – I loved this book. It is American Ninja Warrior meets Fantasy Folklore. It was a page turner from start to finish. Heart breaking and daring. I loved the main character and her development through the story. If you like YA Fantasy, I highly recommended it.
Name an author you’re glad you discovered in 2016 – Any of the ones who wrote my top five. All five were new authors for me and I was pleasantly surprised by each book. I will be reading others by these authors.
What book(s) did you find yourself recommending the most this year? I recommended Iluminae and Station Eleven to almost everyone because they really work for both YA and Adult readers.
What book was recommended TO YOU the most this year? Did you read it? A Court of Thorn and Roses. Not yet, I actually ended up putting it on my Christmas list and thought my husband would be bummed if I read it before he gave it to me. It is sitting on my nightstand right now.
Did any book make you angry? Gameboard of the Gods. It mostly frustrated me because I found myself so invested in the story and excited for the sequels only to find out that the third book is on a permanent hold. It doesn’t even have a publisher yet.
What was the most surprising book (good or bad)? Kids of Appetite. I have a book subscription box and I told myself that I HAD to read every book that came to make it worth it. I really didn’t want to read Kids of Appetite and I ended up loving it.
Was there a book you can’t believe you waited to long to finally read? Outlander. I finally read the first one and it was such a fun read!
Outlander- I have heard about this book every where and so when I found it for a couple bucks at a book sale, I picked it up. I am completely in love. Claire Randall was a combat nurse during WWII, and now she is trying to reconnect with the husband she hasn’t see in years. While it Scotland, Claire walks through a standing stone and it thrown back in time to 1743. She is thrown into a life of war between Scotland and England and struggles to get back home. After she meets James Fraser a young Scotsman, she may not want to leave when the time comes.
What was your favorite read of 2016?
WOW! I can't believe you read THAT many books in a year. Glad you found some you really liked.
Not sure if I could narrow down my favorite read of 2016! I am already looking forward to what to tackle in 2017 and have started pinning a bunch of ideas! Now to get to a beach to start the reading relaxation process!
I dont think I could name a favorite read, but I did love Leaving Time by Jodi Piccoult. I would love to know what you thought of it!
Haven't read any of these books , but my NY resolution is to read 2 books a month. Maybe I'll check one of these out! I finally read The Help in 2016 and loved it. Reminds me a lot of the town I currently live in.
I have been reading the 7 highly effective habits of successful people! its non-fiction, but a great read! thanks for sharing your books!
I read some great books in 2016 but couldnt choose a favorite. I did read some not so good ones too! HA
Wow you read so many books! I was really bad in 2016 and started 3 and never finished so this year I will definitely be doing some reading.
I didn't read nearly enough books last year. I'm attempting to read more this year as I truly enjoy reading. One of my favorite authors, Ronie Kendig, had a few releases in 2016, so those would be my top reads of 2016.
You read 50 books! Wow thats impressive I am in a GoodReads book club myself now so I want to see if I can get back into my reading mojo again!
I am ashamed to say that I did not read that much in 2016. I never really found the time. I did get Khalid Housseni's new book, but I have barely had the time to crack into it.
Congrats on reading so much !! I didn't read one full book all of 2016, I read a lot more articles and blogs all the time. Thanks for sharing
Ok kids of appetite is not at all what I thought it was about when I read the title. lol. It sounds much darker than I anticipated.
Wow so much reading. I'm jealous, I've wanted to tackle my long reading list and it just hasn't happened yet. I need to check some of these out! – Jeanine
How wonderful that you had so much reading time! I have books picked out for this year to read one each month!! I'll have to look into these too! Thanks fo sharing!
I did not read enough in 2016. I am hoping to do more reading in 2017, and I started up the Goodreads challenge to track my progress.
I'm not a huge YA fan. I am more into Chick lit and historical fiction. The books you recommended do sound interesting, though so I will look them up on Goodreads! 🙂
I'm so impressed that you read 50 books last year! I read 18 and my goal was 16 and I thought I did good! I'm always looking for a new read though so I sincerely appreciate this. Great post!
This is a great list! I'm trying to read a more more this year so I'm thinking of giving Outlander a go – thanks 🙂
I did not read nearly enough in 2016 and would love to read more this year! I will have to start with your list of recommendations!
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This is bad! I haven't heard of any of these books! I used to be an avid reader than I had three kids really close together! This year I need to get back into it@
Wow, you sure did read a lot in 2016. This was my busiest year and sadly I didn't read as much as I would have liked. I'm hoping to change that in 2017 and Station Eleven sounds intriguing since I like historical fiction. Thanks!
Wow. I wish I had read over 50 books last year, that would've made me feel super productive. Must make sure I read a lot more this year because I really do enjoy it.
I would have to recommending Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. It was by far my favorite read of 2016!
My favorite of 2016 is Power of Broke. Such an inspiring and motivating book. Worth a read.
I've been looking for some new books to read and these are some great recommendations.
These are such great recommendations! I never know what to read and there were a few titles that look like a fun read to me! My favorite book of the year was Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger – it's so honest and inspiring!
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I have never heard of any of these titles before, but they sound like interesting reads! One of my favorite books of 2016 was Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan.
I haven't read ANY of these, so I definitely need to GET on it. They sound like books with genres I'd like. Adding them to the list! xx Adaleta Avdic
50 books is a lot to read! I need to get back into the habit of reading. I love historical fiction and some of these sound like what I would love to read.
Good list I haven't read any of them but I'm in the process of making a list of books I need to read in 2017 going to add some of these to the list.