Book Lists 2016 (Archived) Book • Page 3

2016 (Goodreads)
1. Beautiful You - Chuck Palahniuk
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larson
3. A Little Life - Hanya Yangihara
4. H is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald

 

2016 - Goodreads
1. Locke & Key graphic novel series by Joe Hill
2. The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins - John Pearson
3. City on Fire - Garth Risk Hallberg
4. Too Much Happiness - Alice Munro
5. Our Souls at Night - Kent Haruf
6. The Invaders - Karolina Waclawiak
7. The Story of My Teeth - Valeria Luiselli
8. The Sellout - Paul Beatty
9. The Turner House - Angela Flournoy
10. The Book of Aron - Jim Shepard
11. The Avenue of Mysteries - John Irving
12. A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler
13. Fates & Furies - Lauren Groff
14. Ban en Banlieue - Bhanu Kapil
15. The Diving Pool - Yoko Ogawa
16. Bats of the Republic - Zachary Thomas Dodson
17. The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen
18. Home Is Burning - Dan Marshall

Currently Reading:
The Tsar of Love and Techno - Anthony Marra
A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
The Pothunters - P.G. Wodehouse'

I'm obviously a big fan of the Tournament of Books
I'll be kinda happy to finish this bunch of books and read what I want.

 

All up to date with review links inserted! Still barely on track for 50 in 2015, but I'm enjoying diving back into the fantastical worlds pretty hardcore this year.

I will be reviewing the Carlos Ruiz Zafon book, but want to write reviews for the first two in the series first (read them last year) as the first two books are some of the most beautiful books I have ever read and I want everyone to read them. So... if you're reading this, go read "The Angel's Game" and "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, please and thank you. I promise you they're beautiful and life-changing. (I think you may like the gothic elements of them, @Vivatoto)

Currently reading: Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind, Brene Brown - Daring Greatly

 

I've had the shadow of the wind on my goodreads "to read" list for 2.5 years but have yet to take the plunge. I need to just do it.

Oh and by the way, The Name of the Wind is amazing

 

I read it when I was a lot younger, right around when it came out, and fell in love with it and Barcelona. Actually got to go to Barcelona on a Spring Break while studying abroad in college (and two other times) and seeing the city made those books come alive. Read them again this last fall, and the end of Shadow of the Wind made me tear up. Incredible experience for me.

 

A handful of updates here since my initial post.

 

Sweet, I added that to my list, I don't believe I've ever heard of that author before. Reading the Wise Man's Fear (sequel to Name of the Wind) now and its so fucking good. Reading a lot slower than I usually do because his prose is just gorgeous.

 

He's from Barcelona and all his books have been translated from Spanish. If you're a fan of beautiful prose, you'll enjoy it even more. I have that one, so I'll be able to pick it up as soon as I finish the first one. I'm reading pretty slowly, though, 'cause my nonfiction read has me tightly in it's grip right now.

 

I think this is where I stopped updating on AP...Fires of Heaven was the best WoT yet, it was absolutely incredible. The epic, longform story telling is really paying off. Punisher is sweet, I love Garth. I read the Mothman Prophecies when I was a kid, reading it now it's still the most terrifying book of all time. I don't know what it is about Point Pleasant, but all the shit surrounding that is like my favorite supernatural story ever. Hellraiser continues to be great. OMG Crawlspace was sooo good, really terrifying stuff, I'd been waiting for it for awhile. Absolutely obsessed with The Walking Dead, I'm reading them online so I figured I'd just keep track of them through their compendiums. Locke and Key had the best ending ever, it was so perfect. Pillowface was cool, had a really interesting take on slashers. Wise Man's Fear was so beautifully written that even though there are some parts that drag I really don't care.

 

Nice. Similar tastes. I have read 2, 3 and 4 of the Expanse series this year and am debating on when to read the 5th. I just switched to an E Reader but I have been buying the expanse novels and think i may want to continue to buy the physical copies but the 5th isn't out in paperback yet. Tough choice. Part of me wants to just collect the series in paperback but im also ready to dive right into the 5th anytime.

I also have mistborn coming up in my queue. Right now I am about 20% through The name of the wind and i dont think ill switch to another fantasy series till ive finished that and the 2nd (assuming i continue to enjoy it)

Another fantasy novel i'd recommend that i thought was awesome is The Fifth Season by NK Jeminism. The second in the trilogy is out later this year as well.

So Far this year (no particular order)
Calibans War
Abaddons Gate
Cibola Burn
The Fifth Season
Nexus (only book i struggled to finish)
Dust (wool trilogy book 3)
The girl with all the gifts
bird box
The first fifteen lives of harry august
The name of the wind (currently reading)

 

How does the rest of the series compare to the 1st book? I read the first and while I enjoyed it, I wasn't like dying to jump into the 2nd book. Basically I'm asking if it's worth continuing haha.

 

It's worth it. They are all different types of novels and stories and while they build on each other, they also can be read as stand-alones (in order of course but none so far have really ended on a cliffhanger). I have never felt the need to dive right into the next one but I like that as I can switch it up and read some other books in between. I found the 3rd one to be the weakest in both the premise and the fact that it seemed to be a lot of filler but the 4th was a jump back to the quality of the first 2. I'd say read the 2nd at some point (my favorite so far) and see if you feel the need to continue.

 

I've actually been reading more than usual this year so I figured I'd contribute to this thread.

In no order:
Annihilation - Jeff Vandemeer
Authority - Jeff Vandemeer
Acceptance - Jeff Vandemeer
The Real and the Unreal: Selected Stories Volume One, When on Earth - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Real and the Unreal: Selected Stories Volume Two, Outer Space, Inner Lands - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Gunslinger - Stephen King
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
Ancillary Sword - Ann Leckie
Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl - Carrie Brownstein
Ready Player One (currently reading) - Ernest Cline

 

Left hand of Darkness is a great book by Ursula k le guin. She has a great poetic writing style. I need to check out more of her stuff.

 

Yeah I want to read that once I finish the Earthsea books! I checked out her short stories on a whim and immediately just fell in love with her style.

 

Goodreads profile

Read
1. The Givenness of Things - Marilynne Robinson
2. Satin Island - Tom McCarthy
3. One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway - Asne Seierstad
4. Home - Marilynne Robinson
5. Omensetter's Luck - William H. Gass
6. Speak - Louisa Hall
7. A Lesson Before Dying - Ernest J. Gaines
8. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
9. The Toughest Indian in the World - Sherman Alexie
10. Childhood - Jona Oberski
11. Survival in Auschwitz - Primo Levi
12. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
13. Life on Mars - Tracy K. Smith

Currently Reading
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Red Parts - Maggie Nelson

I've had to read a lot of different stuff (Childhood, Survival in Auschwitz, etc.) for units I'm teaching at school, so I haven't been able to read much of what I really want to read. I've also been trekking through Jane Eyre for at least a couple of months now. It's long, and I've had my attention diverted from it a lot lately. My goal is to finish it by the end of May (i.e. before summer break starts).

 

In love with Nailbiter. Hush was my favorite Batman yet, which is saying a lot. Also love Hack Slash. Took me awhile but I'm finally caught up on the Walking Dead. The Wheel of Time continues to turn and be excellent. A bit silly how long it took me to read On Writing but everyone should do it, regardless if you're interesting in writing. Finished Preacher and omg I loved it, looking forward to the show. Bird Box was incredible, a great horror novel that I've been missing lately. Batgirl is a bad ass. I got an advance for Empty Bodies and it's the best yet, so if you are into the series, get hyped.

 

What's Empty Bodies about? Not familiar.

 

Zombie post-apocalypse with a twist on what the zombies actually are. Zach has become a favorite of mine in the indie horror scene. Fast paced with really good characters. The first book is like 99 cents on amazon, if you are interested in zombies I'd give it a go. Not my favorite subject but I like it done well.

 

Sounds interesting. Zombies aren't typically my thing but I don't think 99 cents will hurt hah.

 

Ha, yeah I feel ya, I'd read all of his stand alone horror first and loved it all so figured I should eventually read his big series. I think I read books 1-4 in like a night or two which I never do with a series. A fun read that's getting progressively better.

 

Damn, and I thought I read a lot/quickly haha.

 

Every book I've read in 2016 now has a review! I also reviewed The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #1(chronologically the second one) and #2 (chronologically the first one) and will plug those here again because I want everyone in the world to read those books.

I'll be finishing Stephen King's 11/22/63 this week, and hopefully Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind soon after. After that I have a memoir dealing with depression and faith (Night Driving) and Ready Player One lined up.

 

I've read about half of your reviews and I'll finish in a few minutes I just had to say hooray for Warbreaker! I'm surprised we feel so differently about Sanderson's female characters though. Shallan is like my favorite character ever. Pretty crazy now that you know where Nightblood came from, amiright?

And I ordered Shadow of the Wind. It has the King stamp of approval which always puts the "buy with one click" button on amazon to good use.

 

It's funny, 'cause the women in Wheel of Time are far and away my favorite. Haha, believe it or not, I just put two and two together on that. Wow, I'm slow.

Excellent!