Your end of year top 5 - 10 titles of 2016!

[Ace]

I really enjoyed:

The Tsar of Love and Techno
Water for Elephants
The Persimmon Tree
Homegoing
News of the World
Britt-Marie Was Here
Illuminae
Small Great Things

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

I'll think on mine because my list was completely Aussie authors, so I put them in that thread :) Will get back to you!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Here's mine - and they're all non Aussie authors (as they are in the other thread;))

In no particular order

Daughter Of Australia by Harmony Verna
The Fireman by Joe Hill
Void by David M. Staniforth
Blood Lines by Angela Marsons
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo
When The Dragon Roars by Nesly Clerge
The Lying Planet by Carol Riggs

[Elias]

My top 5 for the year are:

The Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly [Personal favourite of 2016]

And in no particular order...

Zoo 2 by James Patterson
Hope to Die by James Patterson
The Farm by Tom Rob Smith
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

[Kathryn]

I love this thread, and I love that there's an Aussie author thread as well!

I had 5 non-Aussie author 5★ reads this year and they were:
A Dublin Student Doctor by Patrick Taylor
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
The Last Christian by David Gregory
Sons of Encouragement: Five Stories of Faithful Men Who Changed Eternity by Francine Rivers
and So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore: An Unexpected Journey by Wayne Jacobsen.

My next 5 were 4.5★ reads:
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
After You by Jojo Moyes
The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Tough by Neta Jackson
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
and Dominion by C.J. Sansom

[MaryG2E]

Interestingly, this year my focus has been strongly on Australian authors. Doing a quick calculation, I've read 60 books so far in 2016 by AAs. As a result, my reading of international authors has been diminished. My top reads for 2016 that were not Australian authors, in no particular order, are:

Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow
In the Woods by Tana French
Serena by Ron Rash
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Runaway Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich
Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Mansell

[K]

I had more 5 star reads than I realised. It was hard picking just ten. My reading pattern has had a certain theme this year, too, I've noticed. My top 10 five star reads of 2016 (in no particular order) are as follows:
1. Beautiful Illusion by Jacquie Underdown
2. Mind Dimensions by Dima Zales
3. The Boys of Summer by C.J. Duggan
4. At Any Price by Brenna Aubrey
5. Stan by C.J. Duggan
6. Lost to You by A.L. Jackson
7. Shadow Lily by G.J. Walker-Smith
8. Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon
9. Written in the Scars by Adriana Locke
10. One Ride by

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[Zoey]

My Top 10 reads for 2016 would be

The Sunne in Splendour Sharon Kay Penman
Me Before You Jojo Moyes
Mistake Creek Rachel Amphlett (Aussie)
Lady of the Glen Jennifer Roberson
Innocent Traitor Alison Weir
Secrets in Time Alison Stuart (Aussie)
A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows Diana Gabaldon
Twisted Emma Chase
Tied Emma Chase
Hidden Bodies Caroline Kepnes

[Phrynne, Series Queen!]

This is so, so hard! I have read more books in 2016 than in any single year before and so many of them were good!

The stand out title for me this year was I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. That one just sucked me in and left me reeling!

Some others that I remember with good feelings are:-
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld
A Time of Torment by John Connolly
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
There were lots more!!!

[Andrea]

My favourite reads from 2016 were:

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth
Eleven by Mark Watson
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
Nine Days by Toni Jordan
Songs At the River's Edge: Stories From a Bangladeshi Village by Katy Gardner
Why You Are Australian: A Letter to My Children by Nikki Gemmell

[Valerie]

My best books of 2016 (all 5 stars) in no particular order:

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman
IQ84,#1 by Haruki Murakami
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Paris by Edward Rutherfurd
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty

[Mish]

Here are my favourites for the year:

1 - Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
2 - My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante - and the rest of the series
3 - The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane
4 - Carol by Patricia Highsmith
5 - The Engagement by Chloe Hooper
6 - Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan
7 - Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder
8 - The Dinner by Herman Koch
9 - Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson
10 - Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain

[Suzie]

Here are some of my favourites for 2016:
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Dry by Jane Harper
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
Where the Trees Were by Inga Simpson
Lust & Wonder by Augusten Burroughs
The Map Thief by Michael Blanding
Orchid Fever: A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust and Lunacy by Eric Hansen
and the Divergent series including Four: A Divergent Story Collection by Veronica Roth - I'm counting this as one, not four books :)
Oh and I just finished The Birdman's Wife by Melissa Ashley which I'm adding to this list!

[Odette]

Here are my top 5 reads for this year which were not set in Australia, and in no particular order:

The Embroiderer by Kathryn Gauci
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich
When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

I loved Small Great Things as well Steph :)

[Tarmia]

My top 10 books for 2016:


Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Saga, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
Habibi by Craig Thompson
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

*In no particular order.
These are the books I read in 2016 that really stuck with me for various reasons.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

A couple there that I have had on my TBR for a long time Tarmia :)

[Jane]

Like Phrynne I have read more books this year than ever before and I have read more widely than before due to the variety of Goodreads challenges I have completed. My top 10 for 2016 would be, in no particular order:

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty AA
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
The Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly AA
The Martian by Andy Weir
I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Life or Death by Michael Robotham AA
Naked in Death by J.D. Robb



It was really hard to pick 10 - I left out some good books! I also like it that I've discovered new authors that I am now reading more of, thanks to these challenges, a few of which I've included above.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

The challenges certainly take us out of our comfort zones don't they Jane :)

[Stef]

Here are mine: some are aussie because that's just how it was

1, No Place Like Home (Australian)
2. The Color Purple
3. The Well of Loneliness
4. Unna You Fullas (Australian)
5. Discourse in Educational and Social Research (sorry I am a nerd and that was a really fun read that I snuck away from home in the evenings and read at the library in small doses like chocolate and ended up buying when I finally got work.
6. Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms (Australian)
7. Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences (only understood about 75% though
8. Research Methods in Educational Leadership and Management (I was very surprised to find myself enjoying that one)
9. My Forbidden Face
10. Abounding In Kindness: Writings for the People of God

Thanks for making me remember these because I was just remembering the crap books I waded through but these and a couple of others really were gems I was so glad to make the acquaintance of

[David]

My top reads for 2016 would be:

1. The Black Dahlia by James ellroy
2. The World of Suzie Wong by Richard Mason
3. The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
4. Sunset Express by Robert Crais
5. Columbine by Dave Cullen
6. 11.22.63 by Stephen King
7. The Sellout by Paul Beatty
8. The Forgotten Hero of My Lai by Trent Angers

Special mention to:

1. Nagasaki by Craig Collie
2. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
3. The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Stef wrote: "Here are mine: some are aussie because that's just how it was

1, No Place Like Home (Australian)
2. The Color Purple
3. The Well of Loneliness
4. [book:Unna..."

There's a thread for the Aussie authors too if you like :)

[Carolyn]

This was hard to do as I had so many more 5★ reads this year than last year but here are ten of my top ten reads for 2016 (not in any particular order):

The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach
*The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian by David Dyer
The Fireman by Joe Hill
*The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
*Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
The Dry by Jane Harper
The Whites by Harry Brandt
Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman

*Three of these were in my mid year top 5