I had a interesting, emotional filled, action packed reading year filled with mystery, fantasy, science fiction, non fiction, thrillers, dragons, and romance. I traveled through outer space to the Antarctic to Eastern Europe to fictional lands in the middle of the ocean. I read 93 books, out of which 15 were rereads and only 7 were ebooks. Plus 34 were new to me authors. Which means I did a great job at clearing my shelves, only I don't remember which ones were new versus dusty. Guess I should have kept better track of that. And now that I look back at the books completed, I'm contemplating changing some from 4 stars to either 5 stars or 3. What a conundrum.
The stories (in no particular order) that really stood out this year were:
Stuart Turton's 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - a fantasy mystery which kept me on my toes keeping track of the characters and the storyline. Very convoluted, but intriguing and unique mystery which went all over the place. Was everyone in on it? Too many people, secrets, behind the stairs politics, above the stairs agreements, black mail, murder, and love affairs. The characters never quite knew who to trust. Loved the description and imagery.
and from one of my favorite writers, Cassandra Clare’s Sword Catcher - the beginning of a 4 book series which is full of dark magic and secrets and was excellent. The story captured me from the very beginning and held my attention the whole way through. Made me mad, confused, glad, and sad. Who would rue the day? To be continued in the next book, The Ragpicker King which fortunately I have.
The Last Love Note by Emma Grey - A story about grief, love, loss. A story about powering through, resilience, humor, honesty, and family. Never letting go, but moving forward, finding your way without the love of your life, and somehow falling in love again with the one was right in front of you all along. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. One of those stories I'll have to get in paperback to read again.
I discovered Fredrick Backman this year and will definitely be reading more of his stories. My Grandma Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry was such a sweet, heartwarming, hilarious, intense, imaginative story. Made me laugh, made me cry, made me wonder, as well as want to shake a couple adults for their attitudes. All the feels. At first, all the bickering between everyone turned me off. But once I got past that, the story took off.
Plus Britt Marie was Here turned into a very moving story. She’d lived her life for some one else and lost herself in the process. She’s socially awkward, a bit ocd, and maybe a little autistic (imho). She ends up in a small town, full of misfit, oddballs, juvenile delinquents, and more and finds her backbone as well as a found family. It’s sad and funny and the ending is a bit vague which left me wondering.
I finally gave in and read Robin Hobb’s Assassins Apprentice #1 in the Farseer Trilogy which was excellent. Hobb’s writing is really good and flows and her world building, empathy, and emotions were so well done, you’d think you were watching a movie. Looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy, then exploring Ship Traders.
Oh my goodness! I couldn't put down Dean Koontz The Forest of Lost Souls. One woman pitted against a megalomaniac and his cohorts and small town politics. Full of mysticism, nature, good and evil with wonderfully written characters and descriptions. Once I started it, had to finish, reading long into the night. Well worth losing sleep over.
A unique fantasy/science fiction story by a new to me author was Gareth Brown's The Book of Doors in which a woman finds a book and stumbles upon a door which opens a world of travel, lying, killers, time loops, and all kinds of trouble. For every emotion, there is a book which in the wrong hands can either reek havoc or in the right hands bring healing. Full of chilling twists and turns that captures your attention and keeps you hanging on for the ride.
And Dan Brown does it again with The Secret of Secrets in the Robert Langdon universe. His girlfriend unwittingly captures the attention of the CIA and steals her ideas and her book about human consciousness and death experiences to create spies out of the people on the edge of life who can see what's happening around them before they come back to their bodies. Fantastic story full of science, mystery, history and even the Golem created by a 16th century rabbi in Prague.
And last but not least, two non fiction reads:
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum and me written by a museum guard, Patrick Bringley, which gave me an appreciation for art and how to look at it. It was a delicious read with made me want to back to New York and explore The Met for several days.
and Victoria Erickson's Edge of Wonder: Notes from the Wildness of Being - A little non fiction book of beautiful poetry written in a way that was inspirational, warmhearted, made me think, and really spoke to me. No iambic pentameter for me. LOL! So good, I wanted to buy a dozen extra copies and send them out as gifts.
I'd love to gather all these authors in a room and listen to them for days.
