Looking Back at 2016: My Top 10 Reads

I read so many good books this year. Here is my list of my favorite books this year.

It really surprised me. I loved this book.

 

 

 

 

I wasn’t sure if I would like this book, but it was so scary and tension filled. Read it!

 

 

 

 

Another really good apocalyptic story. Read it!

 

 

 

 

I read this for my book club. And it is so good. If you love Southern Lit, read it!

 

 

 

 

It’s more an essay than a book, but it’s a fabulous argument for why we all should be feminists.

 

 

 

Really a fascinating read about how a talented child will take over a family.

 

 

 

I listened to this one. It’s the first audio book I’ve listened to in a while. And I really enjoyed it. The narrator did a great job, plus I learned how to pronounce so many Brit words and places.

 

This is one of my favorite books of this year. I’ve hopped on the Elena Ferrante bandwagon and am planning to read the second one soon.

 

 

 

This is another one that I wasn’t really sure what it was about when I picked it up to read. But it is really good.

 

 

 

I love this series of books by Tana French so much. The latest in the series is so good, and it slyly comments on the genre of books with “Girl” in the title who are a bit angry. Read it!

 

 

So what do you think of my list? Have you read any of the books? What were your favorite books of 2016? Don’t forget to leave your link below so I can visit your blog. Happy Reading!

October Wrap-Up

It’s November? Already? The month just sped by. So here is my October Wrap-Up. I had a very good reading month thanks to the Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon. Readathons are great for bumping up my reading. I should do it one every month.

Challenge Update:

#ReadMyOwnDamnBooks–4 books

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016–1 book

Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon–5 books

Books acquired:

His Wicked Reputation by Madeline Hunter [Library eBook]

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott [Library eBook]

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott [Library eBook]

‘Til Death Do Us Part by Amanda Quick [Library eBook]

Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas [Library eBook]

The Right to Write by Julia Cameron [Library eBook]

The Trespassers by Tana French [Library eBook]

The Daughters by Adrienne Celt {Book Riot Book Mail Box}

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho {Book Riot Book Mail Box}

Books Read:

Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver [Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016 and #ReadMyOwnDamnBook]

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott [Library eBook]

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling [Dewey’s 24 Hour readathon]

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury [Dewey’s 24 Hour readathon]

Haunted Happenings by Robert Ellis Cahill [Dewey’s 24 Hour readathon]

Haunted Pensacola by Alan Brown [#ReadMyOwnDamnBook and Dewey’s 24 Hour readathon]

Yellowstone Ghost Stories by Shellie Larios [#ReadMyOwnDamnBook and Dewey’s 24 Hour readathon]

Bird Box by Josh Malerman [#ReadMyOwnDamnBook and Dewey’s 24 Hour readathon]

‘Til Death Do Us Part by Amanda Quick [Library eBook]

The Trespassers by Tana French [Library eBook]

Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas [Library eBook]

The Right to Write by Julia Cameron [Library eBook]

In Progress:

His Wicked Reputation by Madeline Hunter [Library eBook]

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott [Library eBook]

Cleopatra  by Stacey Schiff [Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016 and #ReadMyOwnDamnBook]

The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacey Schiff

S by J.J. Abrams, Doug Dorst

Favorite Reads:

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

The Trespassers by Tana French

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

Abandoned:

Still Life by Louise Penny library eBook, book club pick for October. The two in the group who read it hated it! So I didn’t bother.

November TBR Stack:

Cleopatra  by Stacey Schiff

The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacey Schiff

Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Hafisi

The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

Across the web:

This year’s winners of Jezebel’s scary story post.

The Girl on the Train and Women’s Dark Fantasies by Anne Helen Peterson. An interesting analysis of the rise of thrillers featuring women.

Brangelina is Dead: Long Live Angelina by Anne Helen Peterson I love gossip so much. This is an analysis of how Angelina controls publicity. She should run a class for other celebrities on how to do this well.

Blogosphere:

I want to read the book featured here.

I read this post on the Little Coffee Fox blog and it reminded me of a good way to help with writing.

I love notebooks. I buy them and then never write in them. So this article gives suggestions on how to use all of the notebooks I collect. If you collect notebooks too, you might find this essay and links useful.

How was your October? Let me know in the comments below.

Review of The Trespasser by Tana French

This is the the sixth book in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad Thriller/Mystery series.

From Goodreads:

Antoinette Conway, the tough, abrasive detective from The Secret Place, is still on the Murder squad, but only just. She’s partnered up with Stephen Moran now, and that’s going well – but the rest of her working life isn’t. Antoinette doesn’t play well with others, and there’s a vicious running campaign in the squad to get rid of her. She and Stephen pull a case that at first looks like a slam-dunk lovers’ tiff, but gradually they realise there’s more going on: someone on their own squad is trying to push them towards the obvious solution, away from nagging questions. They have to work out whether this is just an escalation in the drive to get rid of her – or whether there’s something deeper and darker going on.

Wow. What an interesting read. Tana French just gets better with each book in this series that she writes. Each of the Murder squad mysteries is a bit different. Different detectives from Murder Squad are featured in each novel. And all of the murders seem to have a connection in some way to the detectives assigned to the case. We get to see how the mysteries change and affect the detectives in a much more personal way than in most mystery novels. The Trespasser is no different.  And that is one reason I keep reading the stories. In this novel Antoinette, and her partner Stephen, don’t seem to have a personal connection to this murder. At first. This story is an entry into the thriller genre starring women who are antiheros. Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train are two that have really popularized that genre in the last 10 years or so. It’s not surprising that Tana French has written her own version of this type of novel.

Antoinette, the main character, is not a comfortable or likeable. She is brash, rough, and no-nonsense. There is no place setting in the novel where she feels comfortable. Not at work, not while searching for clues, and not in her own skin. She is never comfortable with the theories and ideas she has about this case.  Additionally, she is not a kind or particularly empathetic to the witnesses she interviews for this case she doesn’t have much patience. With another detective she does use the “Cool Girl” persona to try and connect with witnesses. (If you’ve read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn you know exactly what that means.) Does she want to solve the murder of Aislinn Murray and give her the justice she deserves? Yes, and this does make her a good detective. She does care. Does she feel a connection to Aislinn? Yes, and this also makes her uncomfortable, though she doesn’t want to admit it. Truthfully, her discomfort in almost every situation in the novel is one of the reasons I am interested in this story. And, in the end, her discomfort is addressed and resolved.

The pacing of the story is good. It keeps the reader off center. The subplot dovetails nicely into the main plot. While some might argue too neatly, I wouldn’t. Since this is written in the first person it’s easy to sympathize with Antoinette’s struggle to find the murder. And I really am still a bit surprised by the reveal. Is it successful entry into this genre of thrillers? Yes, it seems to me that it is. It seems to be an answer to Gillian Flynn’s and Paula Hawkins’ novels. French seems to be saying this is what happens when you concoct a mad scheme; you may not be successful. And I find that really interesting. Is it a perfect novel? No. Would I recommend it to others? Yes! Especially if you are a fan of the female antihero thrillers.

What do you think of Tana French’s The Trespassers? Will you read it or have you read it? What do you think? Have you read any other “Girl” thrillers? Let me know in the comments below.

Friday 56, #11

It’s time for  Friday 56!  It’s a book meme hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice. Be sure to visit her blog if you would like to participate!

From Freda’s Voice The Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post in the Linky on Friday 56. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple!

Here’s my contribution:

I walk back to my car through wide cold hush, the sound of the wind in long grass building up from farther away than I can see, rolling in across the empty fields, over me and on. Normally it would make me edgy–too much nature gives me the creeps–but at last my head has the wiped-clean clarity I was looking for in my run this morning. For the first time in days, maybe months, I can think.

(Thumbnail courtesy of Goodreads)

I lucked out this week and was at the top of the library’s waiting list for Tana French’s latest addition to the Dublin Murder Squad series. I’ve been a fan of the series for a couple of years now. I am reading the eBook version, so I hit as close to the 56% mark  as I could with out being too spoiler-y.

So, what do you think of this excerpt? Are you a fan of Tana French’s series? Would you read this book based on the excerpt? Let me know in the comments below!

Top Ten Tuesday #3

It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday. It’s hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Do visit this fun blog and read all the other lists compiled. it’s a lot of fun and you’ll be sure to add books to your TBR pile. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is: Back To School Freebie — anything “back to school” related. I’ve decided to go with novels with academic or school settings and themes.

As always, Harry Potter series. Need I say more?

 

 

 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt. This one is set at an elite college in New England. It’s a creepy story about obsession, corruption, and evil. It’s been a while since I read it, so I may need to do so in the near future.

 

 

The Likeness by Tana French.  I read this and The Secret History very close together, and I think both books are very similar. This is the second book of Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series and the latest is coming out later this fall. I may need to do a re-read since it’s my favorite of the series so far.

 

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. This is set at an elite boarding school in New England. It’s more a coming of age story of a “poor” girl thrown in with the rich kids at an elite school.

 

 

 

Possession by  A.S. Byatt. This is the story of two Academics searching for the mysterious muse of a famous Victorian poet. Literary mystery! The life and death struggle to publish or perish!  Forbidden love! The struggles of being in the literature department and finding something to write a thesis framed in a mystery. I’ve read and enjoyed it even though A.S. Byatt is a terrible literary snob.

 

 

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. This is one of my favorite time travel novels. It’s the story of a historian at Oxford University who travels back in time to do research first hand.

 

 

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. A historian researching the origins of her family in Romania and of Vlad the Impaler. The story travels around Europe to help the young female historian discover the answers to her questions. It’s a genuinely creepy read. I like to read it in October to help enhance the experience.

 

 

Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story by Rachel Kadish. Another academic trying to find answers in her research. But unlike the young female academic in The Historian, this one stays on campus.

 

 

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. An American professor at Oxford finds a magical book while doing research in the Bodleian library.

 

 

 

On Beauty by Zadie Smith. The only book on this list I haven’t read this yet. It’s currently floating near the top of my TBR pile, so I hope to get to it this fall. According to Goodreads this the story of an English academic teaching at a college in New England.

 

So what do you think of my list? Are there any books you would add to it? What would your own list contain? Let me know in the comments below.

 

 

 

 

Thumbnails of the covers are courtesy of Goodreads.