Some of my Favorite, Top, Most Memorable Reads of 2016

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Some of my Favorite, Top, Most Memorable Reads of 2016


                Well I don’t know about anyone else but I read some pretty spectacular books this year! And no I didn’t think this year was the most amazing thing that has ever happened but I can definitely appreciate the many great books I was able to get my hands on. I’m going to quickly share with you some of my most memorable of the year.
                My choice of the year for “the one book I never thought I would fall in love with” is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I read this book solely because of the many great reviews I had seen and heard from other people. I have absolutely no interest in the building of cathedrals so the plot would never have jumped out to me as something I absolutely needed to read. It also fit really neatly in my “Reading Through 30 Years /#birthdaychallenge” so away I went. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it. It was brilliantly written and evenly paced. The world building and character development was impeccably done. I put this book down and was highly upset at myself for waiting so long to get my hands on it.

There were a few nonfiction books that ranked very highly as some of the best books I’ve read as well:                 
                Columbine by Dave Cullen was an intense and extremely thorough look at the shooting that took place on April 20, 1999. Cullen examines the life of both of the young men that planned and executed the shootings, their motivations and their plan for the murders. Also an in depth of the investigative reporting that took place and the aftermath.
              In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan and Caren Zucker is a great comprehensive look at the history of autism from the very first diagnosis to modern day times. Written in an extremely understandable language it is a great way to educate yourself on the history of a diagnosis affecting millions.
                Lauren Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit: An American Legend  was pretty damn incredible. If you have never read Hillenbrand before you really need to pick up one of her books. She is an absolutely amazing nonfiction author who can balance beautiful storytelling and factual information. This is my second book by her and highly recommend it.
               Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson’s autobiographical story told through poems was a beautiful book. I think it absolutely perfect for a Young Adult audience but I absolutely loved it as well. I plan on getting my hands on more of Woodson’s work in the near future.
                The last two books I’m going to mention for great nonfiction books I’ve read this year were both introduced to me by the co-moderators of Litsy Feminist Book Club: killing rage:Ending Racism by bell hooks and We Should All Be Feminist by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I can’t do either of these books justice in small blurbs so I would definitely recommend checking out my entire review of these. But I will say that both of these books are extremely relevant for today, extremely well written and have the ability to change your way of thinking.

One of the books that inspired me to start this year’s them “Keeping It Short” was Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. I thought this collection of short stories was extremely well written and moving. It made me wonder what other amazing short stories I hadn’t read yet simply because I suck at including short stories in my reading. That ends this year and I have Ms. Lahiri to thank for that.

A Thousands Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini was another book that I included in #birthdaychallenge because it had been sitting on my TBR pile, calling it out to me for way too long! Again, absolutely amazing story about two women whose stories weave together in an extremely heartbreaking way, in the middle of a war in Kabul. It was not at all what I expected and I couldn’t put it down.

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson is a book I was lucky enough to get my hands on as an advanced reader copy from Netgalley. It is dark, creepy, well written and completely unpredictable. It felt toxic and I became highly invested in these characters very early on.

And last but definitely not least is the one book this year that I bought for my husband and ending up reading and loving: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I shied away from this book. I didn’t think I would enjoy it because I have never been a big gamer. I topped out after Nintendo64. Regardless of that though this book was amazing. I was highly entertained the entire time. It was absolutely hilarious and some of the most fun I had all year.

Well, those are my top picks for 2016. Add them to your list if you haven’t read them already. I hope they are as memorable for you as they were for me. Happy Readings!

Here are a few other books that were also amazing this year and well worth mentioning:
The Fireman by Joe Hill
End of Watch by Stephen King
The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin
I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
Alice by Christina Henry
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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