Best and Worst of 2016

[Lisa]

It's that time of year again! What are your 5 best and 5 worst books of 2016?

Mine are as follows:

BEST

1) As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann (this is my favourite book of all time. I LOVE it!)
2) The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker
3) His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
4) Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
5) Prince's Gambit and Kings Rising by C.S. Pacat (these are books 2 and 3 in the Captive Prince trilogy and I can't choose between them. I loved them both equally)


WORST

1) The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan (it's probably best not to get me started on this!)
2) A Royal Affair by John Wiltshire
3) The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason
4) Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
5) A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman

[Janice, Moderator]

2016 was a great year for reading. I gave a whack of 5 stars so it will be difficult to narrow it down.

Best:

Harry Potter Boxset
The City of Mirrors (Actually, the whole trilogy)
The Trespasser
End of Watch
Age of Myth

Worst:

Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel, Nazi Agent (dnf)
The Vanishing
Night Has a Thousand Eyes
Dodger
The Lightkeepers

[Peggy]

Oh! I always love this thread!

BEST (in semi-random order)
1. The Way of Kings
2. Words of Radiance
3. The Golem and the Jinni
4. Moloka'i
5. The Universe Versus Alex Woods


WORST (in semi-random order)
1. The Girl on the Cliff (not random, this really was the worst. ever.)
2. A Year of Marvellous Ways
3. The Leaving of Things
4. Flat-Out Love
5. The Exquisite and Immaculate Grace of Carmen Espinoza

(the other 4 are not necessarily super bad, just my least favourites of 2016, all got 2 stars).

[Sarah]

I was thinking it was about time for this thread. Thanks Lisa!

Best
The Passage Trilogy (well, the last 2 books as I read The Passage last year)
End of Watch
The Fireman
Leviathan Wakes
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
That was hard! I had some good reads this year. A special mention also to the Saga Graphic Novel Series.

Worst
Terror Kid
Marabou Stork Nightmares
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
InterWorld
Charlotte's Web
These were all 3 stars. They weren't exactly awful but were my least favourites. I didn't rate anything lower than 3 stars this year.

[Travis]

Best:
Under the Dome
Washington: A Life
The Godfather
The Border
The Power of the Dog


Worse
Anathem
The Departure
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
The Fireman
Gretel and the Case of the Missing Frog Prints

[Kristie, Moderator]

I always think it's funny how someone's best can be someone else's worst. Just shows how different our tastes can can be! I'll be back to post my best/worst soon.

[Tasha]

Here are mine:

BEST
1 - The Golem and the Jinni
2 - Lonesome Dove (started in 2015 but finished 2016)
3 - America's First Daughter
4 - Moloka'i
5 - The Nightingale

WORST (2 star reads)
1 - The Whip
2 - The Age of Daredevils
3 - The Guest Room
4 - In a Dark, Dark Wood
5 - The Virgin Blue

2 of these worst books are authors that I usually really enjoy, Bohjalian and Chevalier.

[Dawn]

Oh good, I just figured out mine last week.

BEST
1) Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Loved this book, it was a story that switched from current events to childhood events, showing how those things affected Elaine, now an artist.
2) The Odd Women by George Gissing
Great female characters, a book of the New Woman genre and thanks to a friend for recommending I read it.
3) The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston
Some Canadian Literature set in Newfoundland about the time they joined Canada. Great storytelling.
4) Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb
Another Canadian Author, this one is a about lost love and immigration. Very moving and hopeful.
5) William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher
Fantastic, apparently I'm a big fan of Shakespeare if the topic is right!

What I have learned: I should read more CanLit, it's awesome. :)

WORST
1) The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
This should really have been a good read for me, it's the kind of book I like but a dearth of action, too much math and unsympathetic characters made it a 2 star read.
2) The Odyssey by Homer
I was expecting to thoroughly enjoy this story and ended up being bored out of my mind. If it had been a normal book I wouldn't have bothered finishing it.
3) Neuromancer by William Gibson
This was surprisingly dated, though it has not stopped me from starting the next book in the series.
4) The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Seriously disappointed in this one, I wanted to like it so much. But the characters were barely one-dimensional and the story was very choppy.
5) The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
I'll just quote from my review: I found it skimpy with the history and verbose on arguable outcomes, being neither engaged by one or convinced by the other I was left bored.

[Travis]

Same here Hoe Hill I usually enjoy. The Fireman just didn'tvwork for me. Was like a tribute to Farenheit 451 which is als a book I don't like

[Sarah]

Wow Dawn. Three of the books in your worst pile have been favourites of mine lol.

I agree it was a tribute to Fahrenheit 451, Travis. I liked the dragonscale aspect though. I wanted to put Under the Dome in my favourites too but wad trying to be good and stick to 5. Plus I already had a King in there.

[Dawn]

As long as it wasn't The Odyssey, because I've been getting a lot of comments on that one. :)

[Travis]

Didn't like Windup Girl either. I do enjoy Homer though.

[Travis]

Oh and with the Fireman I hated Kate Mulgrews narration which she also narrated NOS4A2 which was ok for me. Wondering if its Mulgrew more than the book? Not gonna read either in print to find out..

[Janice, Moderator]

I also gave 5 stars to Under the Dome. I had quite a few 5 star reads this year.

[Sarah]

No I've not read Homer before, Dawn. Not likely to either. I've read Three Body, Windup Girl and Neuromancer out of your list.

[Camilla]

I went through my read books and realised that I've had only four five-star reads this year, and three of them belong to the same series. Starting with Pines, the whole Wayward Pines series was excellent. The other - if I count those Wayward books as sort of one book - was Pimeyden pyörä, #8 in the Pendergast series.

On the other hand, I've given one star to 45 books during this year... Many of them were kindle freebies (I think I said this last year as well, I should stop reading them, but they are often quick reads and easy to fit to e.g. Topplers) as well as books that I read only because of the Geo challenge.

[Sarah]

Wow Camilla. You definitely need to choose some books you know you're going to like. Hopefully the new yearly challenge will be more flexible for you in that respect. Yes I liked Wayward Pines. I need to try his other books.

[Trudy]

I had a great reading year! Some of these books surprised me by how much or how little I enjoyed them:

Best
1. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
2. Inés of My Soul
3. The Night Circus
4. On the Shores of Darkness, There Is Light: A Novel
5. The Jaguar's Children

Worst
1. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
2. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
3. The Bean Trees
4. The Painter
5. The Sorrows of Young Werther

[Kirila]

Lovely! So many books to add to the TBR shelf :)

My best (in no particular order):
1. The House of the Spirits - I had read some Allende's books before and was eager to check out her most famous one. Somehow I expected a heavy classic, but was pleasantly surprised how it pulled me in.
2. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2 - I am a huge fan of the series and even though this was a play and not as intricate as the other books, I loved it!
3. Rebecca - I have a fear of classics :D I think mandatory reads at school caused it. But recently I have been reading some great classics and I was surprised how much I enjoyed them!
4. All the Light We Cannot See - a beautifully written book full with so many emotions
5. Çalıkuşu - Heartbreaking. Emotional. I cried when I was reading parts of the book, I felt everything Feride felt. And I couldn't let go. I wish it was not over. Such a heartbreaking story, beautifully written. (I read it in Bulgarian and I am surprised it's so hard to find the edition in English.)

My worst (in no particular order) - I didn't read books I didn't like this year so even though I enjoyed them, some of them ended up in this list anyways:
1. The Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut - a very short book, which took me forever to read. It's not that the information wasn't interesting. There were a few stories that were quite funny. But the style it was written in and the amount of information thrown at you did not win me
2. Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All - I have read the first two Jonas Jonasson books and enjoyed them very much. This was a bit disappointing compared to them. Not nearly as funny or entertaining.
3. Anne of Avonlea - I liked the first book very much and I am currently reading further books in the series, but for some reason the first half of this book took me a year to finish...
4. Heaven Has No Favorites - A nice book, but not the usual Remarque. I like his historical novels better.
5. Wolf Brother - A kids book I read for the geo challenge. I enjoyed it, but it is meant for kids.

[Dawn]

Travis of NNY wrote: "Didn't like Windup Girl either. I do enjoy Homer though."

I'm going to try The Iliad and see if it works better for me.

[Dawn]

Sarah wrote: "No I've not read Homer before, Dawn. Not likely to either. I've read Three Body, Windup Girl and Neuromancer out of your list."

I'm reading the second book of the Sprawl series and I'm finding it better than Neuromancer, so far at least.

[Casceil]

For anyone considering tackling The Iliad, I strongly recommend that you acquire the audio CD of The Iliad of Homer. It's a series of lectures that explains the Iliad in a way that makes it much more accessible. The course starts off with an explanation of the story and background of the Trojan War that "everybody knew" when the Iliad came into being, so the audience was assumed to know that story. There are also explanations of some of the Greek terms used, the various ways they get translated, and the connotations they originally had. I got this lecture series from the Teaching Company, but I notice you can also pick up the CD from Amazon.

[Travis]

I used a similar audio to aid with The Divine Comedy. They are definitely useful and helpful. Casceil

[Mariab]

Dawn wrote: "Travis of NNY wrote: "Didn't like Windup Girl either. I do enjoy Homer though."

I'm going to try The Iliad and see if it works better for me."
Not to sound ominous, but I think the Iliad is even dryer than Homer...

[Casceil]

The Iliad is by Homer.

[Dawn]

My idea is to try it and see if Homer in general isn't my thing or just The Odyssey. So we'll see, I have The Iliad in audio and I'll be trying it out next year.

[Camilla]

Sarah wrote: "Wow Camilla. You definitely need to choose some books you know you're going to like."

LOL, yes, I know! The problem is that I read so much that inevitably some of the books I come across will end up being bad. 45 books is still less than 20% of the books I've read this year. I was able to use very many books from my TBR for the Geo challenge, but the majority of those that I "had" to read because of a certain task that were outside my TBR I didn't enjoy that much.

I did have 30 four-star reads this year, and four stars is already a very good read to me. I think it also has to do with the way I'm a bit thrifty with my stars. If a book is just okay, but doesn't ring any special bells, it gets two stars. If I don't like it, I'm quite ruthless and it gets one star regardless of whether it's a respected classic, free kindle cr@p or a very popular, new book (I still shudder when I think of The Girl on the Train, although I caved in at the end and gave it two stars; 1.5 would have been more accurate).

[Peggy]

Good to hear about The House of the Spirits, Kirila. I was considering reading a Allende book for the year long challenge (book translated from Spanish), but I was afraid they would be tough.

[Stephanie]

I really wanted to read at least 100 books this year but I just didn't get to read as much as I wanted..I didn't even make my goal of last year which was 75! Hopefully 2017 will be a better reading year for me :-)

Best:

1. Mrs. Mike
2. The Fault in Our Stars
3. Unsaid
4. The Dogs of Christmas
5. Shattered Dreams

Worst:

1. The Maze Runner
2. Dinosaur Summer
3. The Kindness of Strangers
4. Mayhem in Christmas River
5. Lives of the Monster Dogs

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Dawn wrote: "Travis of NNY wrote: "Didn't like Windup Girl either. I do enjoy Homer though."

I'm going to try The Iliad and see if it works better for me."

After reading both a number of times for uni and school, I feel if you don't like The Odyssey, then you won't like The Illiad. But give it a go and prove me wrong!! ;)

[Rusalka, Moderator]

And I agree with Casceil, if you are having trouble with them, find a good guide to help you through. There is a lot of assumed knowledge from 2000 years ago, which is great if you lived 2000 years ago

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Peggy wrote: "Good to hear about The House of the Spirits, Kirila. I was considering reading a Allende book for the year long challenge (book translated from Spanish), but I was afraid they would be tough."

So not tough. Really accessible books into the magic realism genre.

[Trudy]

Peggy wrote: "Good to hear about The House of the Spirits, Kirila. I was considering reading a Allende book for the year long challenge (book translated from Spanish), but I was afraid they would be tough."

Peggy, or you could consider Inés of My Soul, which was one of my favourite reads this year. I highly recommend it!

[Peggy]

Thanks TrudyAn! I'll add both to my thread :)

And thanks for the extra reassurance Rusalka!

[Kristie, Moderator]

My picks are in no particular order. As usual, this was a bit difficult for me, particularly the top picks this year. I got it down to six, but then really struggled with cutting one. I couldn't decide which to leave out. I ended up pulling out The Other Einstein, but it was definitely a top contender for me!

My worst aren't really terrible books either, mostly they just didn't resonate with me. They were 2 & even 3 stars. I think I had a really good reading year this year. I did have a couple of other 3 star reads that I considered adding, but I feel pretty good about my choices.

Best:
The Fireman
The Girl In The Ice
All the Bright Places
Moloka'i
Between Shades of Gray

Worst:
My Name Is Lucy Barton
Red Queen
The Art of Not Breathing
Not My Mother's Kitchen
The Ice Twins

I know it may be a little weird that I have a cookbook in my worst, but I felt I needed to add it. I really didn't like the way he portrayed his mother. He seemed to talk down about her cooking, but also in a way that was insulting, such as being ungrateful because she served Wonder bread at meals and didn't choose the best cuts of meat. He just came across as very ungrateful and judgmental. I actually felt bad for his mom.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Funny, I feel like I read some of those so long ago that I had to go back and check that they really were this year. Apparently, I read a lot of good books the beginning of the year.

[Annerlee]

Best
In no particular order. It was hard to pick just 5, which means I've discovered some excellent books this year.

1. The Shining Finally read this and wasn't disappointed. Has so much more depth than the film adaptation
2. All the Bright Places A complete surprise. I loved the characters. An emotional roller coaster ride full of insight.
3. Obasan An account of the relocation and dispersal of Japanese-Canadians in WW2. Simply told, profound and sad
4. Ice A realistic, immersive tale of life on remote Nordic islands. The setting is beautiful but survival is a community effort to live with the extremes of nature
5. Wegener's Jigsaw More ice and snow. I didn't know who Wegener was before I read this book. An amazing character who fought on, although the odds were stacked against him. This book was recommended by a friendly librarian.

Worst

1. The Revelation A 'B-movie' type bloody horror with an improbable but gory plot
2. The House on Cold Hill Unrealistic and non scary haunted house story. Involves a cast of stupid, spoiled wimps and an attempt to describe hauntings using pseudo-science. Hmm...
3. House 23 The plot was too predictable. Felt like reading a first draft... I wanted to pick up a pen and start editing.
4. Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche The book was ok... it just went on for too long and in too much exacting detail. I found it very repetitive, although there were passages of genius too.
5. The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice This was ok, but did nothing for me. Sensational classic that was a bit too 2d for my taste,

[Janice, Moderator]

Kristie wrote: "Funny, I feel like I read some of those so long ago that I had to go back and check that they really were this year. Apparently, I read a lot of good books the beginning of the year."

I can so relate to this sentiment. I discovered that I started 2016 off with a string of 5 star reads. I also had a hard time narrowing them down to just 5, so I cheated and included them as series. Hehehehe.

[Janice, Moderator]

Annerlee wrote: "Best
In no particular order. It was hard to pick just 5, which means I've discovered some excellent books this year.

1. The Shining Finally read this and wasn't disappointed. Has so m..."

I just watched The Shining on tv the other day. It seems that they were showing either Christmas movies or horror flicks. The movie really didn't do the book justice. Wendy was such an insipid whiny character in the movie.

I've added Ice to my wishlist. The book blurb made me think of I Heard the Owl Call My Name, about a priest who goes to a remote Indian village in the PNW islands of BC. That was a 5 star read for me.

[Kristie, Moderator]

That works, Janice. Unfortunately, none of mine were series, so that strategy won't work for me. I will just silently apologize to all the other books I loved this year. Lol

[Camilla]

Kristie wrote: "I will just silently apologize to all the other books I loved this year."

ROFL! Poor books!

[Annerlee]

Janice wrote: "Annerlee wrote: "Best
In no particular order. It was hard to pick just 5, which means I've discovered some excellent books this year.

1. The Shining Finally read this and wasn't disap..."

Ice was one of the gems I found this year. I came across it completely by accident. One of the scenes was heart-stopping and I had to put the book down for a few hours before I could read on. A book that I've thought about often, since.

(I've added I Heard the Owl Call My Name to my reading list ... a good swap I think)

[[deleted user]]

Book Keepers:

1. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
2. A Year in Provence
3. Ross Poldark
4. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
5. West with the Night

Book Tossers (metaphorically speaking):

1. Divisadero
2. The Book of Dragons
3. Everything I Never Told You
4. The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion
5. Claire of the Sea Light

[[deleted user]]

Kristie wrote: "I couldn't decide which to leave out. I ended up pulling out The Other Einstein, but it was definitely a top contender for me! ..."

I pulled The Other Einstein out too, although I also enjoyed it. Also found myself re-rating as few books, during my year in review. Some of the books I had rated four stars were not equally enjoyable, in retrospect.

[Janice, Moderator]

Annerlee wrote: "(I've added I Heard the Owl Call My Name to my reading list ... a good swap I think) ."

It's a little book with a huge impact. I may have to read it again some day.

[Sandra, Moderator]

The best All 5 stars

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
The Nest
In the Woods
My Brilliant Friend
The Story of a New Name

The worst I don't have any 1 stars this year, I guess that's good. And not many 2 stars either.

How to Breathe Underwater (2 stars)
The Lifeboat (2 stars)
Letters from Skye (2 stars)
The Lightkeepers (poor 3 stars)
The Forgetting Time (poor 3 stars)

[Sandra, Moderator]

I also read wonderful children's literature. I thought it would be a good idea to select them separately.

Best middle grade novels

Click Here to Start
The Seventh Wish
The Last Great Adventure of the PB&J Society
The Adventures of Lettie Peppercorn
The Case of Maker Mischief


Best picture books

This Book Just Ate My Dog!
The Bear Who Wasn't There: Fixed Layout Edition: And the Fabulous Forest
The Green Umbrella
Madeline Finn and the Library Dog

[Kristie, Moderator]

Lisa Ann ⛄ wrote: "Also found myself re-rating as few books, during my year in review. Some of the books I had rated four stars were not equally enjoyable, in retrospect."

I found myself considering doing the same thing this year. I've never gone back and changed my ratings, but there were a few books that I think I was a bit generous to this year.

[Ariane]

My best books of the year:

1. The City of Mirrors (and actually, the whole trilogy)
2. The Secret History
3. A Game of Thrones (I just finished it)
4. Wuthering Heights
5. Rebecca

Worst:
1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two (don't even get me started on this one...)
2. Go Set a Watchman
3. Memnoch the Devil (sadly, I think I am tired of Anne Rice)
4. The Ice Child (I can't read her series anymore, I got sick of it)
5. Wicked Lovely

[Sarah]

I added Ice to my list too Annerlee. I love the children's fiction lists Sandra. You may help with people's Christmas present ideas there!