30-day Challenge! - Day 1: What is the best book you have read this year?

[Amy]

Beautiful Wreck by Larissa Brown, a hauntingly beautiful Viking time travel romance (and I'm not usually one for romances).

[[deleted user]]

The Giver and The Rosie Project

[[deleted user]]

House of Echoes by Barbara Erskine. It was one I couldn't put down, and had a very interesting storyline. I enjoy a good ghost story every once in a while, and this one was great. :)

[Hilary]

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

[Joseph]

Easily Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

http://100greatestnovelsofalltimeques...

[Joseph]

Bob wrote: "Usually when I think of a favorite book it is a book that I deeply enjoyed reading. The best book I have read this year is not what I normally think of as an enjoyable read, but it was a deeply th..."

I absolutely get what you mean. What I've enjoyed the most, and what I think was the best, are not necessarily the same thing. I also get how that could be the case with McCarthy. I felt the same way about Blood Meridian. I wouldn't really call it enjoyable, but it was very good. My review of Blood Meridian: http://100greatestnovelsofalltimeques...

Lastly, since we seemed to see things similarly, I ran the...compare ratings thing. It was uncanny how similar our tastes were. Great minds...all that.

[[deleted user]]

I've read quite a few 5 star books this year but if I have to choose then We Have Always Lived in the Castle for new to me and Persuasion for rereads.

[[deleted user]]

Tracy wrote: "This book was very different. Almost like 3 books in one even. It has really stuck with me. It's controversial and thought provoking. "My Notorious Life" by Kate Manning, I gave it 5 stars and adde..."

My Notorious Life

It looks good have added it to my wishlist.

[Elsbeth]

The Prediction by Darren Sugrue.
Wonderful book by a new writer! And you can download it for free, here on Goodreads!
For my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Nathan]

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Everything about it worked for me. There's one scene...my stomach dropped, my heart was pounding...I'm glad I was seated when I read it, because I probably would have fallen over. I haven't had such an intense physical reaction to a story since reading the climax of John Steinbeck's The Pearl when I was 12.

[Elsbeth]

Nathan wrote: "The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Everything about it worked for me. There's one scene...my stomach dropped, my heart was pounding...I'm glad I was seated when I read it, ..."

Oh, I'm glad to hear it is a wonderful book. I have it on my ereader, but didn't get around to reading it, yet. I really loved Donna Tartt's other books. I'm looking forward to this one!

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person]

Grapes of Wrath is the best book that I have read this year that can be considered a classic.

[siriusedward]

Middlemarch
Black Beauty
The Lord of the Rings

If I have to choose .

[Christine]

Gone with the Wind! I'm so glad that I took the time to read this. I used to watch the movie all the time when I was younger but had never taken the time to read the book.

[Bat-Cat]

Middlemarch
Bleak House
Jane Eyre

[Loretta]

I açtually read many five star books this year (2016) but if I had to pick just one it would be The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Here's a book that I wasn't even going to read until my brother persuaded me to at least give it a try (he knows I'm not a fan of Sci-fi/fantasy). Glad he did because I absolutely loved it!

Honorable mention: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. If I had listened to some of the reviews on this book I would have never read it and would have missed out on an excellent read! :)

[Rhedyn]

Les Miserables

[Brina]

Last year-- Gone With the Wind, Keepers of the House. This year so far- One Hundred Years of Solitude.

[Pamela]

My favorite books of 2016 were Tale of Two Cities and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Honorable mention goes to the In Death series, which I discovered in July; I managed to read the first 19 books of the series before the end of the year. Quite a few 5 star reads for me in 2016.

[Renee]

My favourites last year were Wuthering Heights, The Moonstone, and I thought Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass was a lot of fun to read.

[Jehona]

I can't be sure if it is the best ever, but at least since I finished it, I haven't enjoyed any other that much. Foucault's Pendulum is funny, witty, smart, deep, enjoyable, with lots of information about history, religion, literature...

[Shauna]

Either The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker or The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden.

[siriusedward]

Till now..that is June of 2018


The Gift of Rain
The Blue Castle
The Snow Walker
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Leaves of Grass
The Remains of the Day
The Red Pony

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse]

Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer.

[[deleted user]]

I feel like it's a tie between Binti (Binti #1) Binti by Nnedi Okorafor and The Sacrifice by Diane Matcheck The Sacrifice They were great and I rated both of them five stars.

[Terry]

Sophie’s Choice by William Styron.

[Lynn, Old School Classics]

Oh how fun Jillian! You have revitalized these old threads. I never participated in them before. How about a 30 day 2021!!

My favorite book so far this year has been The Scarlet Plague by Jack London. It was an early post-apocalypse story featuring a plague; very timely and influential on other authors. Plus the story really hooked me. I didn't want to put it down. I read a digital copy along with the Youtube HorrorBabble narrator on audiobook. I really love HorrorBabble!

[Sara, New School Classics]

What a splendid idea to revive these! Thanks, Jillian. I have never answered them either, so I will take them one at a time for the next 30 days.

My favorite read this year (hard to choose) Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. I think it is one of those books you read and never forget and want to revisit over and over again. I find myself wanting to beg other people to read it--always a good sign.

[Joseph]

I would usually default to fiction, and even further restrict to novels...but I haven't rated any novel 5 stars this year, so I'm gonna go with John Adams by David McCullough

[Luke]

Thus far, Memories of the Future by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, the only five star I've awarded thus far this year.

[J_BlueFlower]

Best book read this year any category:
In the Land of White Death: An Epic Story of Survival in the Siberian Arctic. Non-fiction account of a polar disaster. Albanov's relation to the men he is "leading" is Dostojevskian.

Project Hail Mary. If you liked The Martian. I read it as ebook. And then - after reading it - bought it physically for others to borrow.

Best free stuff of the internet:
…And I Show You How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes
http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/06/02/...
Excellent short story. Love it when people know their science.

Best from group shelf:
A Rose for Emily Faulkner is intimidating. This story was easy to read though. The impact is so much bigger as you have to figure out what happened for yourself, and Faulkner laid out all the evidence for you. Masterfully condensed.

[Janice]

I have read a lot of books this year that have made it to my favourite/reread shelf, but the one that still stands out and is fresh in my mind is Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier and I read this book in January of this year.

[Lynn, Old School Classics]

Janice wrote: "I have read a lot of books this year that have made it to my favourite/reread shelf, but the one that still stands out and is fresh in my mind is Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier and I re..."

Rebecca is a fantastic book!

[Sara, New School Classics]

I agree, Rebecca is an exceptional book--a true classic.

[Carolien]

Rebecca is a true classic.

Best book of the year is difficult, but I'll go with Palace Walk (in fact the whole trilogy is wonderful).

[Shaina]

There are two books I really enjoyed this year... Gone with the Wind and The Count of Monte Cristo. Mind blowing!

[Sherry]

Very difficult question!

Most inspirational: Chronological Study Bible (runner up:
Autobiography of George Mueller)

Most painful: The Vagrants and How Dare the Sun Rise.

Most suspenseful: God's Hostage

Most enjoyable: Anne of Green Gables (runner up: Cranford)

[Milena]

The best book I have read so far this year is Jane Eyre. I read it back in January for the first time. It's now September and nothing has topped it yet.

[Mike]

Non-fiction: "Caste" by Isabel Wilkerson. Fiction: "The Killer Angels", by Michael Shaara.

[Candace]

This has been my best year of reading EVER: loved Dune, Hamnet, and found Eley Williams.
But I think my very favorite has been Lonesome Dove! !

[Milena]

Candace wrote: "This has been my best year of reading EVER: loved Dune, Hamnet, and found Eley Williams.
But I think my very favorite has been [book:Lonesome Dove..."

Loved Lonesome Dove! I think it's time for a re-read.

[Cynda]

Thanks Kelly for restarting this thread.
Next year I plan a big big literary and fiction year so may have a better answer then. For this year so far, I will go with The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell for mind and soul expansion. For entertainment with fairytale characteristics, perhaps a book I had never read or watched a movie/play of before: The Passion by Jeanette Winterson. I must read more of her books!

[Michaela]

Best Classics this year so far:

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Of Mice and Men
The Importance of Being Earnest

Additionally some contemporary Indigenous and feminist literature, short stories and mysteries.

[Anne]

Testament of Youth
Anna Karenina
The Grapes of Wrath

[Robin P]

Klara and the Sun
Project Hail Mary

[Gia]

Pride and Prejudice

[Piyangie]

All Quiet on the Western Front

[Gary]

Fiction : The Covenant by James Michener
Non Fiction : The Conditions of the Working Class in England by Freiderich Engels

[Cynda]

Fiction: Passing by Nella Larsen
Nonfiction: The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

Don't you just hate to pick only one? I have read 57 reads so far this year. Six I have reated 5 stars and twenty-seven I have rated 4 stars. Going over the 4 star reads for this post I found that perhaps I am a little stingy with that fifth star. A good many of my 4 star reads are worthy of five stars.

Five Star Reads so far this year-
Wives and Daughters
Tarzan of the Apes
War and Peace
Angle of Repose
A Horseman in the Sky
Love of Life & Other Stories

And the winner is War and Peace