The Girl with All the Gifts & The Boy on the Bridge by MR Carey
Chasing New Horizons by Alan Stern
The Dark Forest (middle book of the 3 body problem series by Cixin Liu)
I’ll Be Gone In the Dark by Michelle McNamara
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane De Hart
The Lost Bank (story of the downfall of Washington Mutual) by Kirsten Grind
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Shumacher (I liked it better than the first one she wrote, Dear Committee members - which I enjoyed, but I thought this one was better)
I only read 33 books, but I liked nearly all of them.
Fantasy
Jacqueline Carey’s first two trilogies - in many ways all one huge book, at least the second trilogy tied up one huge loose end from the first three.
Kushiel’s Dart
Kushiel’s Chosen
Kushiel’s Avatar
Kushiel’s Scion
Kushiel’s Justice
Kushiel’s Mercy
Spinning Silver - by Naomi Novak (also a CC bookclub book)
The Queen’s Poisoner - Jeff Wheeler (first of a series that I have so far read two books of)
Mystery
Why Kill the Innocent - C.S. Harris
Sci Fi
Surprising very little that I liked, just a novella by my favorite author.
Flowers of Vashnoi - Lois McMasters Bujold
Short Stories
I am not a fan of short stories, but I am a fan of Penelope Lively and loved this collection.
The Purple Swamp Hen
Fun Read
The Crazy Rich Asian trilogy
Memoir
When in French, Love in a foreign language - Lauren Collins
Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Boudain
Other Fiction
What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley - Hannah Tinti
Classic/Reread/CC Bookclub Pick
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen always delightful
** cc book club selections, thanks to everyone who participates, especially @Mary13, always enriching, inspiring and fun. **
Five star books
The Great Believers - Rebecca Makkai
Unsheltered - Kingsolver writes about a nearby south jersey town -Vineland
My Kirchen Year : 136 Recipes that Saved my Life - Ruth Reichl
Clock Dance,- Anne Tyler ( this one reminds me of The Ladder of Years
** The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley - Hannah Tinti **
**Pachinko ——Min Jin Lee **
Defending Jacob ——- William Landay - whew what a page turner
**The Dry —— Jane Harper **
The Woman n the Window——- AJ Finn
My life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books…Pamela Paul
The Magnolia Story- Chip and Joanna
Four stars
The Library book - Susan Orlean
When the English Fall- David Williams
**The Immortalist - Chloe Benjamin **
Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (Think Red Tent in ancient Greece)
Less by Andrew Greer
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Home Fire by Kamila Shame
Also recommend The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantu if you are interested in border issues.
Looks like I read about 50 books this year (that’s what my library patron record says, so I may be off a little.) Most of them were at least “okay” but some were outstanding (I starred those in my list below):
Mysteries/thrillers/noir-ish fiction:
History of Wolves – Emily Fridlund
The long and faraway gone – Lou Berney
The handyman – Bentley Little
The chalk man – CJ Tudor
November Road - Lou Berney
Sci-fi/ apocalyptic fiction
When the English fall – David Williams
All our wrong todays – Elan Mastai
The end of the world running club – Adrian Walker
YA fiction
Okay for now – Gary Schmidt
I’ll give you the sun – Jandy Nelson
Non-fiction
I’ll be gone in the dark – Michelle McNamara
Educated – Tara Westover
Beartown – Fredrik Backman
Man, I hope Lou Berney and David Williams are working on new books for 2019!
I completed 50 books and probably did not finish another 25. I use Nancy Pearl rule of 50 pages to decide whether I will finish a book. Too many books, too little time. These books stay with me long after I read
Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House - by Alyssa Mastromonaco
Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century. By Jessica Bruner
I also like My Life with Bob a lot. I thought it was interesting she said if you look back at your reading list, you can place yourself back to that moment of your life.
@ignatius How lucky you are to have read the Lymond Chronicles for the first time! And Pride and Prejudice!
I never manage to write down what I read, but some outstanding books I recall reading this year include
Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
Manhattan Beach, Jennifer Egan
The Fault in Our Stars, John Greene
The Fall of a Sparrow, Robert Hellenga
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (very entertaining, I am a big fan of her Temeraire series)
A Gentleman in Moscow
Rules of Civility, both by Amor Towles
