This week’s Top Ten Tuesday on The Broke and the Bookish is: Top Ten Books I’ve Read So Far in 2015. So far this year my reading has been pretty up and down, with some amazing books and some disappointing ones. Here are the ten that stand out as having been the most memorable and impressive so far:
If I Fall, If I Die – Michael Christie
Zeitoun – Dave Eggers
One More Thing – B.J. Novak
Black Dove, White Raven – Elizabeth Wein
A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara (Not yet reviewed)
God Help the Child – Toni Morrison
We Are All Made of Molecules – Susin Nielsen
Life After Life – Kate Atkinson
We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Girl With All the Gifts – M.R. Carey (Not yet reviewed)
It’s been a pretty great year so far, not only in terms of the quality of books I’ve read, but the range of them. Here’s hoping the next six months are as fabulous! What were your favourite books so far this year?
I haven't read any of these, so I will have to check them out. I have been a big fan of Toni Morrison, so I will have to at least give that one a try.
Whoa whoa! TGWATG as a favorite!!! Can't wait to discuss on Thursday 🙂
Ahh, Life After Life made my list as well. Such an interesting concept and beautifully written. My list, if you'd like to check it out: http://newberyandbeyond.com/top-ten-books-ive-read-in-2015-so-far/
I went into it not really knowing anything about the plot, but also having heard great things about it. So I was kind of in shock when – surprise! – zombies. I think it took maybe 100 or 150 pages for me to really feel my way into it and get on board with the characters, but after that point I could. not. put. it. down. The best parallel I can think of is that it really reminded me of The Walking Dead, maybe a little bit of Station Eleven. And the ending… I won't say anything, just that it's worth getting to!! Definitely let me know if you do read it, cos I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Oooh excellent choices! WSABF is such a quick read you could polish it off as a bedtime read in one night. But it'll stick with you and make you do some deep thinking. Just finished TGWATG and while it was slow to start, I loved it.
Sorry Lauren – your comment wasn't lost, just waiting in my approval queue! 🙂
OMT was so witty and had me laughing out loud multiple times. I don't normally like short stories collections, but this one was brilliant! We Should All Be Feminists is so short that I think it only took like an hour to read. But it's so powerful that it'll have you nodding along with it and making a list of the people you want to give a copy to (save yourself some time and just go with everyone you know). Definitely one I'd recommend!
You all have me curious about The Girl With All the Gifts! I had heard good things before, but I'm definitely more interested now.
If I Fall was one that caught my attention as much because of the author as the book description – he's Canadian, like me, and used to be a pro skateboarder. I found out after reading the book that there's actually a fair amount of his own life drawn on for the story. I like supporting local authors (he now lives on an island not far from Vancouver) and the book also sounded intriguing. It turned out to be fantastic, and I'd highly recommend it. Great balance of character development and plot.
I think when it came out in hardcover we had the one with the roses – this is the softcover edition that we had in Canada. I love both covers, actually! I found Life After Life took a little while to get started, but was worth the effort as I enjoyed the later chapters the most. I haven't read any Adichie other than We Should All Be Feminists yet, but I plan to. She's a powerful and thought-provoking writer, if WSABF is anything to go on!
I tried to read Heartbreaking Work and didn't get very far before DNFing. Same thing happened with The Circle. But this one is a bit different – it's an account of one man's experience during Hurricane Katrina. He stayed in New Orleans to help people (he had a small boat and provisions of water and food), but ended up mistakenly getting arrested… it was a whole ordeal. I read it because I went to NO for the first time this year, so I was reading a few books about the area. Very good, but not always an easy read!
Both We Should All Be Feminists and The Girl With All the Gifts are books I am looking forward to reading. I am glad to hear you really liked them!
I loved If I Fall – it was one of the first books I read this year, but it's still sticking with me! I'd definitely recommend it if you like character-driven books (though the plot is no slouch either).
Wasn't it amazing? I just finished it last week and am still feeling all satisfied with the ending. Which is a rare, rare thing for me.
Blerg. Wrote a comment and I think it disappeared. Basically, a few of these are on my radar, so happy to see them here and push them up the list. I'm most looking forward to the Christie, which seemed to get raves when people read it, but not much pub overall. Those are the gems I like to find. Thanks for sharing your list!
Lauren
I loved One More Thing! Such a great read. I hope to read We Should All Be Feminists soon. Great list! Mine is here: http://jmillwanders.com/2015/06/30/top-ten-tuesday-books-ive-read-so-far-in-2015/
Several of these are on my shelf/list waiting to be cracked open, so nice to see them here. I'm especially anxious for If I Fall, If I Die, which didn't get much publicity yet people are raving about it. Those are the books I like to read. Thanks for sharing your list!
Lauren
I've read quite a range of books and genres so far this year too, which has been fun. I've been meaning to read “Life After Life” for a while now. I've only ever seen the cover with the roses on the front — the cover you have here is just gorgeous! I'm assuming it's the Canadian edition? I've also been meaning to read “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Have you read that one yet?
Wow!! These are all new to me. I've read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers and enjoyed it. I will have to check out Zeitoun.
Here is my TTT: http://www.jacquesbooknook.blogspot.com/2015/06/top-ten-tuesday-top-10-books-ive-read.html
I haven't heard of a lot of these but If I fall If I die, looks really interesting. Great list!
I loved The Girl with All the Gifts. Will be checking out the others on your list!