**** Best Reads, Worst Reads, Stats, and Thoughts about Your Reading for 2016

This thread is a place to let you share your thoughts about your best books, worst books, stats, and any other information you would like to share about your reading for the year. Some people like to pick a number (i.e., 5 best, 10 best, etc.), others prefer not to limit themselves to a number. Feel free to recap in a way that works for you.

I am hoping to finish a couple more books before year end, so I won't be doing my recap until the New Year, but if you are ready, we are looking forward to your lists.

I'm holding off posting too, as I plan to read several more amazing books this year. Looking forward to everyone's reports though.

I already made my list. If in the next week I read another book that deserves to be here, I will make an addendum. My reading was down this year - 60 books - mostly likely due to the election.

Even though I have nearly 500 books in my house waiting to be read, I read mostly new publications. So, that being said, here are my favorite reads published in 2016. Categorized by nonfiction and fiction, listed in the order I read them.

Nonfiction:
Evicted
When Breath Becomes Air
Lab Girl
The Hour of Land
Upstream

Fiction:
Grief is the Thing with Feathers
Commonwealth
French Rhapsody

(Included one book read in 2015, but published in 2016. Did not include any books read in 2016 that will be published in 2017.)

Can't wait to see everyone else's lists!

Not as much reading this year as previous years, a somewhat more nonfiction.

Top fiction book:

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien (2016) Powerfui, harrowing, not-for-the-faint-of-heart story that stays with you long, long after you close that last page.

Runner Up in Fiction
The Golden Age by Joan London. Just a great novel about human connections. It's set in a children's polio clinic in Australia.

Other noteworthy fiction:

Haunted Women :The Best Supernatural Tales by American Women Writers by Alfred Bendixon (anthology, 1985) Mostly late 19th, early 20th century writers, and like any anthology one has favorite stories.
This Census-Taker by China Miéville (2016) At times this story had the feel of a fairy or folk tale, at other times it seemed rather Dickensian.
Almost Like Spring by Alex Capus (2002, T 2013, Swiss/French) A short, fictional retelling of a series of 1930s Swiss bank robberies in Capus's irresistible and quirky storytelling style—which is pure pleasure.
The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007, dystopian/post apocalypse) This compelling first person narrative is perhaps both a meditation on freedom and what one might be willing to do to achieve it, but it is equally an intriguing and compelling portrait of a subculture of women militants. Probably the best of several dystopian novels I read early in the year.

Best crime novels:

Even the Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin (2016) One can always rely on a satisfying crime novel from Rankin.
Snow Blind by Ragnar Jonasson (T 2015, Icelandic) Police procedural set in a small community in Iceland interesting for his setting and that the character is a rookie. There are three currently translated.

Noteworthy Nonfiction: How does one choose the "best of" in nonfiction? Seriously.

Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit (2014, nonfiction, essays) Solnit has a gift, a way of telling that takes the reader into thoughtful new places, much like poets do.
The Long Emancipation: The Demise of Slavery in the United States by Ira Berlin (2015, history) A succinct and fascinating sutdy, full of new insights; a worthy read for anyone interested in the subject specifically or a more holistic American history.
The Making of Donald Trump by David K Johnson (2016, nonfiction) Excellent journalism, succinct and insightful.
Famous Art Works and How They Got that Way by John Nici (2015, art history/popular culture) This read straddled the 2015/16 winter and was on my list of favorites last year also. A thoroughly delightful, fascinating and insightful trip through some of the most recognizable art works.
Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America's First Poet by Charlotte Gordon (2005, Biography) A very readable biography of the poet and her early New England Puritan world, rendered so well I was relieved to leave the Puritans mindset when the book finished, LOL

Best Fiction
(not in order)

The Last Chronicle of Barset and all the other Trollopes during the year
Cousin Bette
A Fairly Good Time, with Green Water, Green Sky
Come to Me
The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol
Massacre River
Butcher's Crossing

Best Nonfiction
The Invention of Nature
My Happy Days in Hell

Oh, do I need to read Invention of Nature. Another friend mentioned it to me this am.

I loved Come to Me when it came out in 1993. She visited the bookshop and it was memorable, perhaps in great part because I loved the book.

And Butcher's Crossing is by the author of one of my favorite books - as you may know - Stoner. Yet, I still need to read this one...

I think I won't finish anything else for 2016, so these are my stats-

Favorite Fiction
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
The Forsyte Chronicles by John Galsworthy (all nine volumes)
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

Favorite Mystery
A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George (there were so many good mysteries, but this was a new author for me)

Favorite Reread
The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

Favorite I Can't Believe I Actually Liked "That"
Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

2016 Stats
Books Read Total = 67
Print/Kindle = 44; Audio = 23; Women authors = 34; New to me authors = 8

Here is my end of the year assessment.

Books Read: 103
Percentage by Gender: 36.5 male, 63.5 female (goal was 60% women authors)
Diverse Books: 14 (I counted only books by authors living in English-speaking countries, so 18%)
Countries Read: 20 (48% American, 16% British, 6% Canadian)
Books by the Year: 31% were published in 2016, 22% in 2015. Oldest was published in 1951.

Overall Assessment: Reading books by women is getting easier (this is the third year that I've paid attention to this) and it was a fair start at reading more diversely. My love of reading awards shortlists keeps my percentage of Americans and British authors high.

Books I loved Sooooooo Much

The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie - This novel was charming, but in an understated way.

Darktown by Thomas Mullen - A novel that was both well-researched, while wearing that research lightly, and a solid crime novel.

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue - Donoghue's writing is invisible, and she has the ability to pull me into the lives of her not-entirely-sympathetic characters.

Marrow Island by Alexis M. Smith - Novels with environmental themes usually feel like sermons, but this one was about people.

Best Non-Fiction

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond - important, impressively researched and written with an eye for the human element. This is the book everyone should read.

Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present by Alison Matthews David - Gorgeously photographed historical fashion and seeping flesh wounds. Perfect!

Most Worthy and Important Books (Include Evicted, obviously)

The Orenda by Joseph Boyden - a superlatively good historical novel that responds directly to Black Robe and other novels written from the point of view of the white explorer/missionary/pioneer.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead - arguably this year's most important book.

The Sellout by Paul Beatty - confounding, exasperating and clearly not written with the comfort of nice white people in mind.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry - if ever a book could lay claim to being the Great American Novel, this is the one.

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen - under the guise of a thriller, this novel looks at the repercussions of the Vietnam war, but from the point of view of the Vietnamese refugees.

My Favorite Crime Novels We've all got a genre. Crime is mine. (include Darktown here)

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh - Classic hard-boiled noir

Blood, Salt, Water by Denise Mina - Mina writes about the people on the edges of society with such compassion and grace.

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott - everyone is compromised, no one is innocent.

>10 This-n-That: One more vote for it. It is not an easy book to read in places but it is one of those books that everyone should read.

>9 RidgewayGirl: I agree that Evicted should be on everyone's reading list!

Also liked Marrow Island. Have you read Glaciers?

I agree about Evicted, too. It has really been a hidden issue for most of us.

Nancy, I loved Glaciers.

Despite a quite turbulent year, I managed to read （but not review) about 135 books in 2016. My favourites are as follows:

Best fiction read in 2016
1. Victory by Joseph Conrad
2. Flush. A biography by Virginia Woolf
3. Verhalen by Maurice D'Haese
4. De passievrucht by Karel Glastra van Loon
5. Boule de suif by Guy de Maupassant

Best non-fiction read in 2016
1. The complete Rolling Stone Interview by Susan Sontag
2. Manhattan '45 by Jan Morris
3. Drawing down the moon. Witches, druids, goddess-worshippers, and other pagans in America by Margot Adler
4. Oscar's books by Thomas Wright
5. Haunts of the black masseur. The swimmer as hero by Charles Sprawson

The worst fiction read in 2016
1. England, England by Julian Barnes
2. Heartburn by Nora Ephron
3. The cleft by Doris Lessing
4. The light of Amsterdam by David Park
5. Last night. Stories by James Salter

I read 94 books this year. I'd say it was a good year overall, but not a standout year.

Favorites

Fiction:
War and Peace (reread)
Out Stealing Horses by Per Peterson
Stoner by John Williams
finishing The Pallisers by Anthony Trollope
The Vet’s Daughter by Barbara Comyns
The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
The Dinner by Herman Koch
The Ambassadors by Henry James
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton

Nonfiction:
Gut by Guilia Enders
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Least Favorite Fiction:
The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
Harriet Hume by Rebecca West
Out of Africa by Isak Denison
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Books in translation:
German
Russian - 2
Polish
Norwegian - 3
Finnish
French
Dutch -2
Swedish
Hungarian
Korean

Books published by decade
1760
1790
1840
1860
1870 - 2
1900
1910 - 2
1920 - 5
1930 -4
1940
1950 - 6
1960 – 4
1970 - 4
1980 - 4
1990 - 6
2000 - 10
2010 - 21
2016 - 21

Percentage of books by women
57/94, 61%

New-to-me authors
59/94, 63%

Nonfiction:
26/94, 28%

3 Rereads:
War and Peace
The Sound and the Fury
Their Eyes Were Watching God

I also was surprised that I read 21 books published in 2016! That's almost 28% and way more than I normally read. And when you add in an additional 21 books published since 2010, that's 47%!

When I joined LT, one of the things I wanted was to find more recently-published high quality books because I usually found bestseller lists unsatisfying and didn't know where else to look for good, new books and authors. Obviously LT has worked its magic in that respect. I do find that I'm sort of missing the classics, though, and I'm thinking of making more time for them in 2017.

It's been too odd of a year for any simple best of lists. Trying to construct my thoughts, and keep this post somehow readable, in a year where I count 28 books of ancient literature.

Some oddball numbers, in prose form:
I read 77 books, which seems like a lot to me. I consider 44 of them regular old normal books, which I mention because that's a personal record. 22 of the others were audio, and my time (~200 hours) is a lot less than last year (~250 hours)...partially because I abandoned so many audio books. Other oddities include what I didn't read: second fewest novels in the last 12 years (9), least non-fiction, history and science in the last four years (34, 10, 9), least memoirs/biographies in six years, during which I never read less than 12 in a year (6). Also, as I read so many old classics, my reading was dominated by books written by men 49/19 - that's the most books I've read in one year by men ever.

The books:

The 28 ancient classics, all read for the first time this year, include Enûma Eliš, Inanna, The Illiad and The Odyssey, Theogony and Works and Days (Hesiod), The Homeric Hymns, Pindar's Odes, Sappho's scraps, most, but not all, of the classical Greek plays, The Argonautika by Apollonius of Rhodes, and Virgil's Ecologues and Georgics.

What stood out? While I'm glad I read them all, and especially glad I read Homer, the best memories lie with the Homeric Hymns (not written by Homer), Inanna because of Diane Wolkstein and, maybe, Sappho. The Ecologues were the hardest to understand, Pindar was the toughest to get through and Apollonius was the least satisfying (although the edition I read was really nice).

Of the Greek playwrights there are only four preserved. Sophocles was the best, but Aristophanes was the most moving, in hindsight. But Aeschylus and Euripides certainly deserve to be mentioned.

I also read about ancient literature and mythology, and three books stand out:

1. Homer's Readers by Howard W. Clarke - evolved into something terribly difficult, but not before some wonderful history on what happened to Homer over time, including when the works were lost to Western Europe, but the idea of them was still around.
2. Orpheus and Greek Religion by W. K. C. Guthrie was another old difficult classic, but oddly rewarding.
3. The Gods of the Greeks by Karl Kerenyi - was more an accomplishment, a classic in its own, than really rewarding.

And I read two modern classics by Thomas Pynchon, although one falls under the radar.

1. V. was odd and difficult and terrific.
2. Gravity's Rainbow was odder and more difficult and, well, I'm not about to read it again.

So, that was the all the weird stuff I read. Of the other books, the best and my favorite book of the year was the first novel in the Neapolitan series on Elena Ferrante.

My Favorites of the year go something like this:

1. My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan #1) by Elena Ferrante
2. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
3. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
4. Evicted by Matthew Desmond
5. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
6. H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
7. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

For what it's worth, the first five on that list were all audio books.

The Worst, both abandoned, were
1. The Revenant by Michael Punke - for poor writing
2. The Babylonian Genesis: The Story of the Creation by Alexander Heidel - for manipulated discussion (seriously)

I read 52 books this year, about average for me the last few years. As usual I have a few sci fi on the list, and lots of historic fiction.
Also as usual, lots of travel narratives. Discovered a few new (to me) authors. Below is my fav list in order read:

Fiction
Infinite Home Kathleen Alcott
Speak Louisa Hall
my name is lucy barton Eliz Strout
The Life Before us by Romain Gary
Americanah
bone clocks David Mitchel
darker shade of magic
Station Eleven
Hag Seed

Non fiction
Love Like Salt
You will not have my hate
no one told me not to go Emily Hahn
China to me Emily Hahn
Day of Honey

discovered authors:

Emily Hahn
Romain Gary
Chitra Adiche

most disappointing book

Road to Little Dribbing Not sure what happen to Bryson, but he seems to have taken a page from Paul Theroux. Horribly judgemental and not very funny. Pity, I always loveed his books

Here are my most notable reads in 2016
Fiction (and in no particular order)

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes
The Hilltop by Assaf Gavron
Slade House by David Mitchell
The Children Act by Ian McEwan
Outline by Rachel Cusk
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Epitaph a Story of The O.K. Corral by Mary Doria Russell
The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
Nutshell by Ian McEwan

Non Fiction

Just Send Me Word A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag by Orlando Figes
Stalin's Daughter by Rosemary Sullivan
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
Nixon In China-The Week that Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan

Well, I'm definitely not going to finish anything else before the year is over, so I guess it's time for a review.

My total reading numbers per year have been remarkably consistent over the past few years, coming in at roughly a gross of books per annum. This year I read 146, so no change there.

The only way I can compile a best-of-the-year list without going crazy with indecision is to do it based on the star ratings I gave out, so, as usual, I'm including everything I rated 4.5 stars or higher. Although, that being said, I still kind of want to give an honorable mention to Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic, even though, for one reason or another, I only rated it 4 stars at the time. That one is definitely sticking with me.

Anyway. The list:

Fiction

The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman
City of Stairs and City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett
The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
Don't Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
Railsea by China Miéville
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Non-fiction and Humor

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Adulthood is a Myth: A Sarah's Scribbles Collection by Sarah Andersen
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe
The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Wow. I'm surprised by how long that list was! I guess, whatever 2016's faults may have been, it was at least a pretty great reading year for me. Lots of variety on those lists, too, which is nice.

My vote for Most Disappointing Book of the Year goes to Lightless by C. A. Higgins. I'd heard some pretty good things about that one, but alas, none of them were true.

>21 bragan: Just finished a reread of Trigger Warning, can't go wrong with him. BTW Gaiman fans might like to read Views from the Cheap Seats, a collection of essays, speeches and book intros he gives on a variety of topics related to reading, books, publishing and sci fi fantasy not nec in that order. Well worth the read

>22 cindydavid4: The View from the Cheap Seats is definitely already on my wishlist! Hopefully I'll pick it up before too long.

And I love all the Death books so much. Well, the Discworld series in general is just fantastic, but I have a very special place in my heart for those.

Oh yes, I think Death is my favorite character, actually, along with Granny and Vimes. I reread all of the books when Pratchett died (well, not the last few). Most of them hold up pretty well. He also has a few collections that were published after his death that you might be interested in:
The Slip of the Keyboard a collection of his nonfiction essays, and Blink of the Screen an anthology of unpublished and early work

>24 cindydavid4: Yes, those are probably my top three characters, too.

I have Blink of the Screen. I've been debating whether to read it before or after continuing on with my Discworld re-read.

>15 japaul22: Stoner is one of my all-time favs!

>21 bragan: Loved Being Mortal, Lab Girl, H is for Hawk and Evicted as well.

H is for Hawk was amazing. I definitely will read anything else she comes up with. TH White has been a favorite author of mine since I was a kid (think I went through three editions of Once and Future King by the time I graduated college). I had no idea about his life and found her description of him and his writings about the hawk really surprising. Wanted to read his book as a companion to this one but never got around to it

I have read a 103 books in 2016 which included a lot more modern literary fiction than I normally read, thanks to this group!

10 Favorites in modern literary fiction:
- Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer: absolutely loved it. The storyline, the dialogues, the many wise lessons it taught me
- My name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout: probably not an evergreen, but I was drawn in from the first page by this simple, moving story of a mother/daughter relationship.
- Heaven and Hell by Jonathan Kalman Stefansson: this novel made me feel as if I was part of the Icelandic scenery and the local communicty. Highly, highly recommended
- Hot Milk by Deborah Levy: another Booker nominee and another mother/daughter novel I liked a lot
- H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald: Living up to the expectations. Grief in its most pure form. Chilling and wonderful, especially in combination with the hawk-ing!
- Nora Webster by Colm Toíbin: also about grief but less explicit. About surviving perhaps.
- My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgard: I finished the six books and loved them all. I heard he recently divorced Linda, the wife he writes about in the last one and I really was touched by it: they feel a bit like friends or family and you wish them nothing but the best.
- Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante: part three of her Neapolitan novels and I am officially hooked now. One more to go.
- Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves: great story about a man in prison, completely different from what I expected
- Judas by Amos Oz: impressive Israelian novel about betrayal. As ever Oz teaches me a lot about Judaism and Christianity

10 Favorites in classics (here interpreted as books published before the 21th century):
- Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell: great story about a woman in the 1950s who tries to come to terms with the way her life has turned out
- The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind: Simple story with an enormous impact. Read it!
- The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch: I thought it couldn't get better than The Sea, the Sea but it could. Absolutely love Murdoch!
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote: I am probably the last one who read it, but wow, what a great way of writing and how human.
- The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart: I loved her The Underpainter and was afraid this one could not be as good but it could.
- Transit by Anna Seghers: amazing story of WWII from a completely different view: to be bored!
- Virgin Soil by Ivan Turgenev: all his books are amazing, so is this one
- Kristin Lavransdatter: great family saga, dated in medieval Norway. Must for anyone who likes Scandinavian literature
- Of Human Bondage by W Somerset Maugham: easy read, British humour, coming of age novel
- Santa Evita by Tomás Eloy Martínez: unexpected gripping read about Evita Perón

Books I (hardly) couldn't finish:
- Neuromancer by William Gibson: totally not my genre
- The Girls by Emma Cline: highly overrated. Childish style, an unoriginal and thin story (if that is correct English)
- Three Novels by Samuel Beckett: After these three I am sure Beckett is not for me
- Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor: read it in december but already forgot all about it
- Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien: probably a good book but for me it didn't work, I have perhaps read too much about China under Mao
- We by Yevgeny Zamyatin: This was the first dystopian novel and I like the genre, but this book did not do it for me
- The Master of Petersburg by JM Coetzee: Another one of his I did not like at all, even not while it is about Dostoysevski

The early part of 2016 is beginning to blur a little already, but I seem to have read 172 books in the year, a little more than average (but a lot of them were quite short).

What sticks in my memory? Themes and authors more than individual books, perhaps. I've read very diverse things in 2016, and I soon end up in chalk/cheese comparisons if I try to reduce it to any kind of top five.

Caribbean writing - this was a Reading Globally theme in Q1, and it took me in a slightly unexpected direction, towards the French-speaking bits of the Caribbean. Texaco was the book that really grabbed me there, but there was a lot of other good stuff, like Amour, colere, folie. (I also dipped a toe into Cuban writing, but there's a lot more to discover there).

Crime - I tried out lots of French, Dutch, British, Italian and Swedish writers in this category (probably others as well...). Particularly memorable was the Marseilles trilogy (Total Kheops, etc.) by Jean-Claude Izzo, but I also had a lot of fun reading Fred Vargas - I trust that there'll be a new Adamsberg before long.

Germans - After reading Volker Weidermann's Lichtjahre and Ostende 1936 I set off to explore and (re-)read some of the 20th-century German writers I'd either overlooked or touched too lightly before. Obvious highlights at the (very) heavy end of the spectrum were Die Blendung and Der Zauberberg, but it was also fun getting to know the banned 1930s chick-litter Irmgard Keun. Maddest book of the year was almost certainly Irmtraud Morgner's socialist-magic-realism epic Trobadora Beatriz.

History - Rather less than usual, although I started off the year very well with The black Jacobins. Otherwise, The invention of nature is the only thing that really stuck in my mind.

Neglected non-fiction - Christine Frederick's pre-WWI time-and-motion studies of housework were perhaps the oddest thing in this category, followed closely by the Revd. Dr. Good's vaguely pious pilgrimage Rambles round reformed lands.

Probably a lot more I should mention, but I've forgotten it for the moment...

2016 was a much slower year in terms of the number of books I got time to read (a paltry 34 versus 74 in 2015), but there were still many goodies in there. I'll just capture the really best reads here, but there were many others that were still highly enjoyable reads.

Non-fiction
I read only a handful of non-fiction titles, mainly because life was very busy and my head was too full to concentrate on anything too arduous. Of those, the run away favourite was Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi. I'm not a tennis fan by any means, but this was a great book - a real warts and all insight into the highs and lows of one of sport's great showmen.

Also worth a mention was The Almost Perfect People by Michael Booth - a fun and fascinating insight into those cool Nordics who captivate us with their mysterious charm and ability to make us bizarrely envy their curious lives with little winter daylight and ridiculously expensive alcohol (these people know how to hygge).

Fiction
Firstly, the 5 star reads:

1. A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knaussgaard - more pure gold from the Norwegian genius. The book equivalent of reality TV with people who are actually clever and interesting. His immense frankness about the things the rest of us dare not admit to continues to be refreshing and absorbing.

2. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen - clearly I love Marmite. I know Franzen polarises opinions here in CR, but I love his epic fractured family dramas, and this was a fabulous read.

3. Small Wars by Sadie Jones - just a really good page-turning read. Surprisingly good elements of conflict drama, and a great summer read.

And very, very close runner-ups (4.5 stars):

4. American Rust by Philpp Meyer - great fiction-drama set in the backdrop of the American rust belt with well-executed characters who I took to my heart.

5. The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin - unbelievable that this is a first novel. This poignant tale of love and loss had a very memorable sense of place in rural NW America at the turn of the 20th century. I'm a bit of a Dory from Finding Nemo when it comes to remembering books even when I really love them, but this title has really stayed with me many months after reading it.

6. Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell - such clever writing. This classic (slightly forgotten) novel seemed simply fun and endearing at first, but was much, much cleverer than that when all the pieces fell into the place. Hidden genius in this writing.

7. Enduring Love by Ian McEwan - love this writer so much. He manages to come up with such unusual plot settings, and keeps me full of unease throughout. Simply brilliant.

8. A Widow for One Year by John Irving - another terrific dysfunctional family drama from a writer who was new to me. Will be reading more from him in the future.

Delightfully I read very few novels worthy of wooden spoons. Tragically, my worst rated book was a classic I'd looked forward to reading for years: A Room With a View by E.M. Forster. I know I'm mostly on my own on this one, but I usually love Forster's writing and failed to get under the skin of this novel. It just left me a bit cold and disinterested.

>21 bragan: Between the World and Me and Nothing to Envy made my list as well.

>28 Simone2: I'll be starting the 3rd volume of My Struggle shortly - it's like my yearly reward to get to read another volume. Interesting about Do Not Say We Have Nothing - I don't read reviews, but I seem to have seen a lot of positive buzz for that one. I wonder how I'll react to it when/if I get to it, now that I know when and where it's set. Hm.

>30 AlisonY: Pleased to see Agassi's book make your list. I enjoyed it immensely, but I'm a tennis fan and watched a lot during his era. American Rust is on my library list for one day soon(ish).

So many book bullets flying at me from this thread. A few additional comments:

>4 avaland: The Little Red Chairs has me curious. People seem very polarised by it, which I always find intriguing.

Evicted seems so high on everyone's reading lists this year. Question - is there the same pull in this book for people not living in the US?

>31 ursula: also starting the 3rd volume of My Struggle soon too (when I reclaim it from under my desk at work). Hope you enjoy American Rust when you get to it.

my favourites of 2016 (from my '16 thread)

The Labyrinth (poetry) and An Autobiography by Edwin Muir
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, William Shakespeare (drama)
True Grit, Charles Portis (novel)
Illuminations, Arthur Rimbaud (poetry)
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki (Zen/Buddihsm/spirituality)
A Loaded Gun, Emily Dickinson for the 21st century, Jerome Charyn (Biography)
Rimbaud, Graham Robb (Biography)
Julian of Norwich counsellor for our age - Brian Thorne (not counted in my numbers as so short) (counselling/spirituality)
My years with Apu: a memoir, Satyajit Ray (memoir/film)
Messenger of the heart: the book of Angelus Silesius with observations by the ancient zen masters trans Frederick Franck (poetry/ christianity/mysticism/zen/spirituality)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience , William Blake (poetry)
Sculpting in Time, Andrey Tarkovsky (memoir/film/poetics)
Blake and Antiquity, Kathleen Raine (philosophy/lit crit/biography)
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (novel)
Conversations with Kafka, Gustav Janouch (memoir)
Wise thoughts for Every day, Leo Tolstoy (spirituality/philsophy)

And two highlights as yet, maybe never to be complete - Emily Dickinson and Wordsworth's 1850 Prelude.

>32 AlisonY:

It depends on how much you are interested in internal affairs of other countries. I am a USA transplant and it would have been as important to read it while I was still in Europe. Would you read a book about homelessness in Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia? If yes - then this one is also worth reading

I read 47 books in 2016 (34 fiction, 13 non-fiction), which is a respectable number, but far from what I actually wanted to accomplish. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed pretty much every single book I read! Here are some of my top picks:

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
A teenage girl who can sense gold whenever it's near sets out for California during the Gold Rush of 1849

Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver
Beautiful essays on nature and literature

Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel
The offspring of two rival paleontologists fall in love in the Badlands

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield talks about how his training as an astronaut has helped shape his life (and vise-versa)

The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks by Terry Tempest Williams
Beautiful reflections on several national parks

The Time it Takes to Fall by Margaret Lazarus Dean
A coming-of-age story set amidst the Challenger disaster

All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg
A memoir of growing up poor in the South

Slade House by David Mitchell
An unnerving story about a mysterious house and those who inhabit it

>35 kaylaraeintheway:. Nice to see the overlap on our lists. Upstream and The Hour of Land also made my best of '16.

2016 Year End Reading Stats

Total books read: 73
Different authors: 72
New to me authors: 45

Author's Nationality

UK: 26 (36%)
Canada: 16 (22%)
Ireland: 3 (4%)
US: 16 (22%)
France: 1
South Africa: 1
Russia: 1
Australia: 3 (4%)
Nigeria: 1
Germany: 1
Italy - 1
Japan - 1
Unknown - 2
Mixed: 1

Author's Gender

Female: 44 (60%)
Male: 27 (37%)
Mixed: 2

Year First Published

1603
1790-1817
1928
1938 x 2
1947
1956
1962
1964
1967 **
1976
1977 x 2
1978
1983
1984
1985*
1988 x 2
1990
1991
1993
1994
2000
2001
2003
2004
2005 x 2
2006
2007 x 6
2008 x 2
2009 x 3
2010
2011 x 3
2012 x 3
2013 x 9
2014 x 5
2015 x 5
2016 x 7 (almost 10%)

*material in book was written in 1923 & 1935
** written 1930s

Travelling with Books (where these books took me)

Kent, Edwardian-era / Greenland, 2009 / Isle of Wight, late Victorian period / Ireland, 1950s / Molokai, Hawaii, 20th century / Sussex, 1860s / England, 1790 - 1817 / Paris, 1947 / Pittsburg, PA, 2008 / North America, 1950 - 2012 / Mumbai, 2008 / Vancouver, 2006 / Montreal, 2015 / England, 1810 / England, 1810 / England, 1760-1830 / WWII France & Germany / Toronto, 2013 / England, 1970s / South Africa, 1980s / Canada, 1970s / Fairyland / Moscow, 1930s / Canada, 1992 / East Anglia, 1959 / Sydney, 1950s / London, Las Vegas & Vancouver 2004 / London & Kent, 1937 / NW London, 2000s / Southern Ontario & Southern California, 2009 / Alberta, Vancouver, New York City & Los Angeles, 1990-2015 / London & Ireland, 1976 / East London, 1980s/ Obscure islands, 1600 - 2009 / Ireland 2007 / England, 1960s-1980s / London 1970s-2010s / Cyberspace 1984 / Steinbach, Manitoba 1940 - 1990 / Quebec 1940 & England 2000s / Australia 2015 / Scotland 2015 / Italy 1978 / England 1800s / England 2011 / London 2014 / London 2016 / London 2015 & 1995 / Vancouver & Toronto 1977 / Vancouver 1991 / Ireland mid-20th century / England 2010 / Venice & Cyprus 1600 / Vancouver 1940s-2016 / Western Japan 1930s / SoCal 1962 / SW Australia 1988 / Vancouver 1970s

Non-fiction Books: 20 (27%)

Notes on all of this

73 books is sort of a low to middle average for me. Much of this is as expected, but what is different in 2016 is:

- My relatively high proportion of UK authors reflects that that is the area that I both enjoy the most and where I feel most comfortable. Happy to continue with this even though I know it's not fashionable around some LT parts.

- Read almost 10% books published this year which is highly unusual for me. I usually wait until a ll the hub bub has died down before I decide whether or not a book is worth picking up.

- 20 non-fiction books feels low -- for sure 10 or 20 years ago the proportions would have been reversed.

New to me authors who I'll seek out eagerly

Madeleine St John
Zadie Smith
David Mitchell
Charlotte Wood
Jen Sookfong Lee

Books I Remember Fondly - at the time I may not have rated these all highly, but in my memory I enjoyed them and any faults I saw then are forgotten or forgiven.

Sanditon and Other Stories, Jane Austen
The Women in Black, Madeleine St John
NW, Zadie Smith
A Single Man, Christopher Usherwood
Natural Way of Things, Charlotte Wood
Bridget Jones's Baby, Helen Fielding
Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man, Siegfried Sassoon
Blaming, Elizabeth Taylor
The Conjoined, Jen Sookfong Lee
Fifth Child, Doris Lessing
Slade House, David Mitchell

Non-fiction:

very favourites: Through the Keyhole, Susan C Law and Vancouver in the 70s, Kate Bird

Among the Janeites
Jane Austen Cover to Cover
Eminent Hipsters, Donald Fagan
Swing Low: a Life, Miriam Toews
But Can I Start a Sentence With "But", Chicago Manual of Style

Most Disliked

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr*
Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo*
If You Want to Write

Did not finish:

Grapes of Wrath, the John Steinbeck classic. Loved the narrator, but couldn't handle the dialogue or the plot.

* Read these for book club. Didn't expect to like them, but my bookclub has surprised me before, so I tried. No one was very fond of the Beautiful Forevers, most but not all adored All Those Lights We're Not Seeing.

>28 Simone2: You are not the last person to read In Cold Blood! I'm hoping to get to it this year.

I could read for decades off this list!

My own contributions--I had some fine reading this year.

Favourites of 2016:
Out Stealing Horses
My Struggle: A Death in the Family
The Gift of Stones
My Uncle Silas
The Shorter Pepys
A Far Cry from Kensington
Little Kingdoms
Brick Lane
Bastard out of Carolina
The Bridge on the Drina
Cogs Tyrannic
Deep Country
Books of Bale
A Whole Life
The Buried Giant
Birdie
The Bell

Worst of 2016:
Devoted Ladies
Chatterton
The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein
Dusty Answer

I'm happy to say that there were not that many duds this year. A few of the duds were from my own shelves -- I was trying to clear some space, so dipped into some books that I had had for ages to see if they warranted saving. I jettisoned far more than appear here. There were also a lot of kind of boring murder mysteries from the library that don't even merit mention.

>38 bragan: Do, it is a great read!

>39 ipsoivan: I loved that book; I've read several of his others but my favorite is Quarrantine

>41 cindydavid4: I have read a few of Crace's books and loved them all. He is one for the ages, to my mind.

>39 ipsoivan: delighted to hear of another fan of Bastard out of Carolina. I loved that book in 2015.