*****Best Reads of the Year - January

Rather than waiting until the end of the year to get everyone's best reads, we are going to do them on a month by month basis. One choice per month for both fiction and nonfiction. I imagine these threads are going to be where the TBR stacks will grow the most!

You really think we'll be able to narrow it down to just one?????

Nice idea!

The 75-ers are the best! Great idea, Stacia!!

What a fun idea, Stasia!!! It will be a great way to check for books that multiple people are recommending, so I can prioritize!!!

I can see this January thread turning into "What Other 75-ers Should Read in February"! :)

Ooooh my hand waivers near the ignore x but I am unable to click on it. (Grabs the classifieds instead in order to find a way to pay for the recommended books)

Glad everyone likes the idea, but I cannot take credit for it. Kudos go to Jim (drneutron) for thinking of it!

Good thinking Batmen...

aw, shucks...8^}

jim your blushing!

What a fantastic idea. I suspect there will be some months when it'll be hard to pick a best read, and I agree with #6, the previous month's list will probably turn into the following month's reads for many of us.

OK, so here are my best reads for January:

Nonfiction - tie: The National Parks: America's Best Idea by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns; Larry Burrow's Vietnam by Larry Burrows

Fiction - The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

So, what were your best reads for the month?

Most of my reads for January were just okay. They weren't bad, but not books I'd really jump to recommend to others. I guess the one I liked the best was Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre, but it's not the kind of book that's suited for everyone.

If it isn't breaking the rules I'd like to nominate two novels as January favourites; The Wind in the Willows and Gormenghast, which was a re-read. Both lovely, imaginative fantasies. Neither of the non-fiction books I read really grabbed me, sadly!

#15: I had a tie for nonfiction, I can see no reason why you cannot have a tie for fiction!

I guess it's better to have too many favourites than none at all after a month of reading!

Definitely!

January Best Reads from Emilie:

Fiction: Riding for a Fall by Lillian Roberts

Non-fiction: Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman

All of my January reads were excellent - hard to pick one. Hmmmm, I'll say The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss. Though if I answer tomorrow, it will probably change.

My best non-fiction for January was Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Best fiction (just finished) was A Dry White Season by Andre Brink.

Best fiction: Small Island by Andrea Levy
Best non-fiction: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley

Best fiction: Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
Best non-fiction: On Hallowed Ground: the story of Arlington National Cemetery by Rober M. Poole

Definitely The Complete Maus for me (Art Spiegelman - it'll probably be one of my best for the year too...

#24: Maus I and Maus II were on my memorable reads list for last year, Fliss. I thought they were terrific!

Fiction: Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant

Non-fiction: Talking about Jane Austen in Baghdad by Bee Rowlatt and May Witwit

I liked all but one of the other books I read too.

Fiction: The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt
Non-Fiction: Hacienda How Not to Run a Club by Peter Hook

Fiction: The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett
Non-Fiction: Poetic Lives: Shelley - Daniel Hahn

Disclaimer: I read a lot more fiction than non-fiction; as well as my nominated best fiction read, there were two other fiction books that were also better than the best of the non-fiction. (Does that sentence make sense?)

This thread is dangerous and evil! (I covered my eyes while scrolling down, even. Well, mostly.....)

January was not a banner month quality-wise for me. I tend to think I'm picky / a tough critic, but the only book I read in January that I really feel deserves a mention in a 'best of' thread is one that's been mentioned many times before by readers greater than me:

Fiction: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

January Fiction : The City of Dreaming Books, by Walter Moers.

best this month between two:

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett and The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.

For me it was The Knife of Never Letting Go

#28: (Does that sentence make sense?)

I think so, but then again, I have not had any sleep :)

My best fiction was Soulless by Gail Carriger.

It was a slow reading month, so I didn't actually complete any non-fiction. I have a couple of good ones in progress, though... stay tuned for next month! ;)

I agree, this thread can be dangerous. Books I successfully kept off the TBR pile the first time people posted about them I have ended up adding today since they are the "best" of the month :-)

My nonfiction best would be Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
I read a few great fiction and a lot of so-so fiction this month, but I guess I'll pick The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon for my best this month.

Fiction: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
Nonfiction: Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life after Death by Deborah Blum

I was fortunate to read a lot of great books in January.

The nonfiction pick is easy, since I only read one, and it deserves it:In Search of a Lost Ladino by Marcel Cohen.

Fiction is much more difficult, but if I have to pick one it is Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa, with a tie for runner-up between Doctor Glas by Hjalmar Söderberg and Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom.

Fiction: I, the divine by Rabih Alameddine
Nonfiction: The man who loved books too much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

Best Fiction for January: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston because it is a book that I will return to over the years -- and one of the few books that I will want to listen to at some point.

Best Nonfiction: Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. Ditto for being a keeper and one that I will reread in the future.

Fiction: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - Fantastic and certain to be one of my best for the year.

Nonfiction: The Spiritual Tourist by Mick Brown - This was a pretty good travel/spirituality book written by a journalist who explores some outlying facets of Buddhism, Hiduism and Islam.

Fiction: A tie between The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood and Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Non-fiction:Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

I am going to say a tie between Molly Fox's Birthday and The Elegance of the Hedgehog - both fiction

I've got two that I really enjoyed, both are fiction:

Los Ríos Profundos (Deep Rivers), by José María Argüedas

and

Estrella Distante (Distant Star), by Roberto Bolaño

You can find English versions of Argüedas´s book on the internet for pretty cheap, but I´m not sure if Bolaño´s book has been translated (yet).

Non-Fiction: Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Lawhead

Fiction: Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead - By default, of the four fiction books I read in January, this was the only one that I liked.

Unquestionably Children of the New World by Assia Djebar.

Best nonfiction was Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade

Fiction is tied between Possession : A Romance by A S Byatt and Rats and Gargoyles by Mary Gentle. If I had to pick one at the moment it would probably be ... *thinks*... *tosses a coin*... No I can't decide!

Nonfiction: The Gardener's Year by Karel Čapek

Fiction: The Furies by Janet Hobhouse

Fiction - The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
Non-Fiction - My Heart's in the Lowlands by Liz Curtis Higgs

TPoL might have been threatened by On Agate Hill if I'd started it sooner than yesterday - am really liking it so far.

>42 torontoc: I also read Molly Fox's Birthday in January and liked it a lot.

>48 Fourpawz2: and The Pursuit of Love is one of my favourite books

Fiction: Tie between The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton and Still Life by Louise Penny.
Non-fiction: The First World War: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Howard.

Right since I haven't any non-fiction this month I'll be really sneaky and have a best general fiction and a best YA fiction :P
General Fiction: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (hands-down best book overall)
YA Fiction: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia

Honourable Mentions:
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen.

Fiction: tie between The Post-Office Girl and The Reef.
Non-fiction: alas, didn't finish any in January but I have been dipping into A People's History of the United States for a long, long time now and so, in memory of Howard Zinn, I will designate it as my best non-fiction for January.

Fiction: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Non-Fiction: Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

Didn't read any non-fiction that I feel compelled to recommend so I'll take two fiction picks instead:

Silence by Shusaku Endo
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Five other books in want of the right readers: A Pair of Blue Eyes, The Family of Pascual Duarte, Nog, My Name is Red, Memoirs Found in a Bathtub

Laura

Years ago, I read A People's History of the United States, and it has haunted me ever since. In particular I remember his chapter on Christopher Columbus and what he and his band did to the Arawak
Indians

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/southamerica/arawak.html

My non-fiction pick for January: Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour. Granted, it was the ONLY non-fiction I read this month (oops!) but it was a good one.

Fiction pick: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

YA Fiction pick: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Karen

Definitely Watershipdown, for me (haven't read any non-fiction), which is probably going to be one of my favourites of the whole year, unless a whole lot of other greats come along. Thouuugh, with all these other intruiging suggestions, I can see that happening. :P

Most definitely The Salt Smugglers by Gerard de Nerval is my January pick for best book.

non-fiction In Europe: Travels Through the Twentieth Century
fiction Moby Dick
YA The Graveyard Book

I loved both of these books, and they immediately went on my all-time favorites list.

Nonfiction: Handmade Home, by Amanda Blake Soule. I am looking forward to reading her second book...who knows, it may be my best read next month!

Fiction: Peter and Max: A Fables Novel, by Bill Willingham. I rate the Fables graphic novels as my all-time favorites of the fairy tale adaptation genre, and this was an amazing novel set in the same world.

Fiction: Old Filth was my favourite for January.

Non-Fiction: Didn't quite get there, I'm stuck in a fiction mode.

Well, since I'm such a slow reader, I've only got 5 to choose from! Anyway, my favorite January read is:

The Mabinogion

I read this from the Green Dragon Fantasy Books list, and I very much enjoyed it - Welsh folklore is very cool, and it even has a touch of Arthur legends included. Highly recommend this one!

#62: I am reading that one right now and enjoying it.

Best Fiction Rebecca Daphne du Maurier without a doubt (may end up being in my top ten ever)

Non-fiction no contest as only one read but as it was Daphnes autobiography Myself when young the two go together nicely and I recommend it wholeheartedly!

The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton was my best read in January.

My best for January was Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Hands down it's The Count of Monte Cristo for me.

I have two very different fiction picks as the best reads of Jan.
The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

I cannot highly recomend the NF that I read.

Rebecca was also a best read for me for January - also enjoyed Chatterton by Peter Ackroyd and for short stories, The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes. Of the two non-fiction, Idiot America was amusing, thought-provoking, and scary.

I am going to say my best read of January was The Wrecker because it was set up to read like an old fashioned thriller. I could almost see the book playing before my eyes in black and white. It feels very classic and was such an easy and heart pounding read. Also, it being a guy book and me being a woman I was pleasantly surprised how much I want to keep this book.

My best of January was a hard choice to make as I read some good books - but it was probably the one I read first:

The Wednesday Wars Gary D Schmidt.

A coming of age story that is funny, painful, insightful and ultimately filled with hope. I think I saw it as a recommendation on LibraryThing last year. I forget who it was who recommended it, sorry. But whoever it was: thanks!

Oh! I'm so torn... Of Human Bondage or God of Small Things or The Crow Road oh no...... just can't decide. I appear to have glutted on excellent reads in January 2010.

Best for January:
Fiction: Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
NonFiction: The Art of Effortless Living by Ingrid Bacci
Poetry: Behind My Eyes by Li-Young Lee. I wanted to pick this for NonFiction; most of the poems are about his father, but I wasn't sure if it actually counted as NF.

My best read in January was definitely The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

My best January book was Michelle de Kretzer's The Lost Dog

I heaved a sigh of relief when I realized that two candidates were disqualified because I read them at the end of 2009, and a third in early Feb.

So my finalists -- chosen because they surprised me, as well as delighted me -- are:

Non-fiction:
Passionate Minds: The Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment by David Bodanis

Fiction:
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde