Top 5 Books of 2016

Hi there. A wild blog post on a seemingly defunct blog has appeared! I'll get to the reasons why another time, but for now, I thought I'd put out a (much delayed) best books of 2016 post. Initially this was going to be a Top 10 post, but then I went through what I actually read (thank you Record Keeping God, Goodreads) and realised that only five books were really worth me talking about. So here we go! (These are in no particular order, by the way).

I was fortunate enough to get a review copy of this one from Harper Voyager (thanks Harper Voyager!) and so I got to read it a little early. Boy, wasn't I happy I did that. I was blown away by this book - the first chapter especially was next-level. It has to be one of the best first chapters I've ever read. The writing was gorgeous, the characterisation was great, and the world-building was outstanding (especially with the interesting use of footnotes).

A little slow on the uptake, it really amps up towards the end. I cannot wait to read the sequel, Godsgrave.

I actually did a full video review of this one on my BookTube channel, so if you wanna see it, just click here. But a definite must-read.

     

Far from the Madding Crowd took me by surprise. After vowing to not read another Hardy for at least two years after Tess of The d'Urbervilles in 2015, you can imagine my annoyance surprise when I got it in my head to read this one. I was a big fan of the Carey Mulligan film, and thought that since I knew what was going to happen, it wouldn't be as difficult to get through. 

While I was sometimes wrong (the man loves to talk about farming), for the most part I adored this book. The first sentence was an absolute winner, and I loved that Bethsheba wasn't a girl of her time. She wasn't always likeable, she made mistakes, and on more than one occasion, I was bloody sick of her. It was a great exploration of character, and if you decide you want a bit of Hardy in your life, I can definitely recommend this one.

As far as I'm concerned, Melina Marchetta can do no wrong. With every new trial in genre, she has never gone wonky. This is Melina Marchetta's first foray into adult fiction, and it absolutely blew my mind. I wouldn't necessarily call it a thriller - it's not exactly fast-paced, as it really delves into the characterisation, but I think it's fair to say it definitely fits in the crime genre. The exploration of identity and racial profiling was especially well-done.

Intense, with some wonderful dialogue. I can't say enough good things about this book. For a more in-depth look at my feelings on the book, definitely go to my September 2016 Wrap-Up, around the 5:25 mark.

It feels sort of weird to talk about this book when the last one was released earlier this year, but oh well. This was definitely a stand-out book for me in the year of 2016. Everything that I had liked about A Court of Thorns and Roses had been expanded on and fleshed out in this sequel. I had definitely been interested to see how the story would continue to play out, when the first book had such a neat ending.

The world building was out of this world (hah!), and the depth of character created (especially for Feyre) was solid. I loved this book (which is great because I can't say as much for the last book, A Court of Wings and Ruin).

Definitely my favourite in the series.

The Underground Railroad just edged in, in time to make this list - it was one of my last reads of 2016, and it helped end the year on a good note. In every way, it knocked it out of the park.

The writing was stunning, and the story was provocative, and I feel like Colson Whitehead thought about every little thing. It was such an impactful read, and I can't recommend it enough.

If you want more of my thoughts on the book, definitely watch my Summer Reading Wrap-Up Part 1 video, around the 7:53 mark.

And we're done! Those are my top 5 reads of 2016. What do you think? Any agreements? Disagreements?

Hopefully (if I can learn to manage my time better), you'll be seeing me a bit more on this blog. It's fallen into disrepair because I haven't used it in so long, but I'm hoping to make it new and squeaky clean.

Expect some sort of general life update soon!