You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Kristie wrote: " Lisa Ann ⛄ wrote: "Also found myself re-rating as few books, during my year in review. Some of the books I had rated four stars were not equally enjoyable, in retrospect."

I found myself consider..."

Usually, I don't re-rate, but one really deserved to have a higher rating and one a lower rating. I still wish there was an official half star option.

I agree! Half stars would be good. I think the reason my ratings seem a bit off is that several of them would have been half stars, some I moved up and some down. Later, I'm not sure about the up vs down and may switch a couple.

This year I didn't round uo ever. If it was 3.5 it got a 3 and so on

That may have to be my plan for next year, Travis.

Kristie wrote: "My picks are in no particular order. As usual, this was a bit difficult for me, particularly the top picks this year. I got it down to six, but then really struggled with cutting one. I couldn't de..."

I pulled The Other Einstein out of my top 5 best too but it certainly could have fit very easily there. It was a really good read.

Sandra, The Story of a New Name did not make it on my 5 best list but I loved it. It was my favorite in that 4 book series. If we could choose more than 5 it would have been on it!

I know theres no rules for how you make lists but I personally did not count rereads as I already knew I loved them thats why I read them again for.

I thought this will be appropiate here

Loved it, Travis. Mariab. (I guess I was tired...)

Mariab- Thanks for sharing. I laughed at the "risk of papercuts".

best books

Middlemarch
The Nightingale
Of Mice and Men
Allegiance of Honor
The Plague

The Name of the Rose

worst

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two
Little Women
Eagle in the Snow
Cattle Brands A Collection of Western Camp-fire Stories

In no particular order..

My top 5:
- The Butterfly Garden - Scarily believable and haunting
- Jeff Wheeler's Kingfountain Series - This series sucked me in from the start!
- Six of Crows - Great start to a new series!
- So You Thought You Knew: Letting Go of Religion - This book allowed me to really explore some of my thoughts about organized religion and growing up in "the bible belt."
- Wool Omnibus and entire series by Hugh Howey - What can I say that hasn't already been said about this series....

Bottom five:
- A Girl and Her Monster - Could have been really good, really wasn't.
- When Mockingbirds Sing - Beautiful title, beautiful cover, dull story.
- The Dog That Laid Eggs - DNF. So dumb and rambling, it just couldn't hold my interest.
- Better Off Dead - Meh.
- The Girl - Trite YA fantasy, just didn't work for me.

I had 47 5* reads out of 159 books read so far this year.

The Best: In no order, no comments - and it was hard to choose!
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Two Boys Kissing
The Android's Dream
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Born with Teeth

My Worst:
1* King of Cuba only DNF of the year
2*s Telex from Cuba - Cuba was not a good site for me.
2*s The Clockwork Scarab
2*s Galápagos
2*s The Lifeboat

Oh, Cherie...I own two of your worst books (The Clockwork Scarab & The Lifeboat) and I've seen them on other worst lists too. Such a disappointment. I was looking forward to both of them, but I keep putting them off as my GR friends don't seem to enjoy them.

This thread is making my TBR strain. Anyone else feeling that their TBR may topple?

Isn't that what TBR's are supposed to do?? :)

Kristie - If you are asking me, I say find a boat and tie The Lifeboat book to the anchor and throw it over the side. But, hey some folks liked it.

The Clockwork Scarab was more of a disappointment because I wanted it to be better. That said, I still read the other two books in the series. There are supposed to be two more. I thought they got a little better, but maybe because I already knew the characters. Not quite as much "swooning" in the last two and I wanted more of the steam punk story. If you are in the right mood, give it a try, since you already have it.

I also read The Clockwork Scarab, and I don't think it was that bad. Like Cherie, I wanted it to be better. I read the second book but not the third. I thought the books had a certain charm. If you own it, give it a try when you are in the mood for something whimsical.

I was also disappointed in The Clockwork Scarab. I gave it 2 stars because I didn't hate it but I thought it was going to be a lot better than it was. As for The Lifeboat, that was just plain awful!

Thanks for your thoughts ladies. I may give The Clockwork Scarab a try some day, but it won't be at the top of my list. I'm not much for swooning, but whimsical can be good when I'm in the mood.

I have a physical copy of The Lifeboat. I'll have to decide if I want to try it or just donate it to the library and let some other poor soul suffer through it.

Mariab wrote: "

I thought this will be appropiate here"

I liked the keeping students from college and teen rebellion
Thanks Mariab!

siriusedward wrote: "Mariab wrote: "

I thought this will be appropiate here"

I liked the keeping students from college and teen rebellion
Thanks Mariab!"
;-)

Hello, new here, glad to have found this group :)

Best:
1. Get in Trouble by Kelly Link. A collection of short stories. I came across one of them by chance online, The New Boyfriend, and fell in love immediately with her fictionalised, odd, universe. I actually read this at the very end of 2015 but I'm adding it here because I can.
2. The Good Luck of Right Now - I discovered Matthew Quick this year, the guy who wrote the novel Silver Linings Playbook. I fell in love with his style and his characterisation and the quirky element of the whole thing and am anticipating the next one of his sitting on my bedside table.
3. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris. David is one of those people whose name I've kept seeing everywhere but have never read, and I was just charmed by this collection of essays. My favourite writers are the ones who can write about a table napkin and make it interesting. His writing about the kookaburras that regularly visit my deck was really interesting. I love reading outsider perspectives. As always it helps you to see a little anew something you've known all your life.
4. Bilgewater by Jane Gardam. This was a sweet book. I'm a little allergic to overly sweet books but this one made it past that allergy extremely well.
5. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World - you know when you put into your list a book that you haven't already finished yet that your cousin chose you an extremely good birthday present. This book is full of the wonderment that is beginning to flood through the science field as we discover that the world we have strangely considered kind of dead-though-alive is actually very much more alive than maybe we're even comfortable with. I love trees. I'm convinced my ancestor was an oak. This book is unashamedly romantic. Gorgeous.

Worst:
A Little Life What the hell? What on earth was the big deal about this? Completely overwritten in spaces; her editor must have died halfway through this book. I forced myself to read it from halfway through simply to spite myself. Or something. Or to try to find out what everyone was going on about. And it never happened. Self-indulgence with a few moments of brilliance.
2. The Goldfinch See above.

I can't come up with a 3, 4, and 5. I knew this would happen, that my sometimes-slack Goodreads updating would come and bite my bum. Add to that my *awful* memory and I simply can't find anything to add, though I'm quite sure I've read them.

Welcome, Sue! I'm glad to see you jumping right in.

Welcome, Sue!

I feel the same way about A Little Life. I have tried to read it twice now and have given up both times before the halfway point. I might give it one more try (third time lucky right?) but if that also fails, I won't bother anymore.

Thanks Janice and Lisa,

And wow, Lisa, I admire your tenacity. I did find her characterisation was good and some parts about trauma were really well written but she had to go and wreck the whole thing by overblowing unfortunately

Welcome, Sue!

Except one of my GR friends, who rated A LITTLE LIFE 5 stars, all the other gave it 2 or 3 stars, and two of them abandoned it. It is strange since it has an overall rating of 4.26 stars.

I've been avoiding A Little Life bc of the hype and the horrible cover. I'm glad to hear some people didn't like it, that helps me to stay away from it. I still want to eventually check out The Goldfinch though.

Sue wrote: "Thanks Janice and Lisa,

And wow, Lisa, I admire your tenacity. I did find her characterisation was good and some parts about trauma were really well written but she had to go and wreck the whole t..."

I'm a glutton for punishment! Lol. There is a part of me that thinks I must be missing something which is why I keep persevering. I think Jude is an interesting character for obvious reasons but I feel that she spends far too much time focusing on other characters who are not as interesting to me. I don't want to hear about every single aspect of their lives, I want to know about Jude and that wasn't happening in the 250 or so pages that I got through.

I have had The Goldfinch sitting on my TBR pile for ages. I really want to read it because I loved The Secret History but the length is putting me off a bit.

I'm with Tasha. I refuse to read that book because the cover is so awful. I don't want to have to look at it. I'm glad some people didn't care for it so I feel that I'm probably not missing out.

For me, best:

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Tie That Binds by Kent Haruf
Dry by Augusten Burroughs
(+ Soppy by Philippa Rice, because I moved in with my fiancé this year and we are so much like the couple in the book!)

Worst:
I have read a fair share of horrible Hungarian books (cringeworthy romance books, a cringeworthy erotica book etc.) plus I got around to read the monstrosity that is Authors vs. Goodreads... these were my 1-stars.
More well-known books, from the 2-star realm:
Julia Quinn's A Night Like This
Requiem by Lauren Oliver (horrible ending to an ok series)

Sue wrote: "Hello, new here, glad to have found this group :)

Best:
1. Get in Trouble by Kelly Link. A collection of short stories. I came across one of them by chance online, The New Boyfrien..."

Welcome to YLTO, Sue. So far it seems my trusted reading friends have all liked The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World. Guess it is time to add it to my tbr list. :-)

I'll post this here:

https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/12...

Wow! That's a lot of work, Mariab.

Janice wrote: "Wow! That's a lot of work, Mariab."

Wow, I agree. Well done. So glad to see that Upstream: Selected Essays made your list, Mariab. I am waiting for my turn through the library.

Is that your site Mariab?

I want to also add The Final Empire to my favourites list.

Janice wrote: "Wow! That's a lot of work, Mariab."

Lisa Ann ⛄ wrote: "Janice wrote: "Wow! That's a lot of work, Mariab."

Wow, I agree. Well done. So glad to see that Upstream: Selected Essays made your list, Mariab. I am waiting for my turn through t..."

Er... sorry I have mislead you unintentionally. This is not my list, although I would suscribe it in some books, it is the list from https://www.brainpickings.org/ , which is a wonderful site for thinking, ideas and human development in general.
I just thought it would be a good idea to post it here.

Sarah wrote: "Is that your site Mariab?"

No, Sarah, sorry... I wish it would, though.

I didn't think so but as her name was Maria and others had commented on the amount of work, I thought I'd ask.

I read what I consider an extraordinary amount of five star books this year.

Best series: Matthew Corbett, with latest ❤❤❤❤❤ Freedom of the Mask, Robert McCammon

The Best Picked from about 20 titles, mostly for their quirkiness!
❤❤❤❤❤ The Killer Next Door, Alex Marwood
❤❤❤❤❤ Troll: A Love Story, Johanna Sinisalo
❤❤❤❤❤ The Trespasser, Tana French
❤❤❤❤❤ Caught Stealing, Charlie Huston
❤❤❤❤❤ The Poison Artist, Jonathan Moore

THE Worst!
☁ Galápagos, Kurt Vonnegut
☁ Texts from Dog, October Jones

Not Quite as Bad
☁ ☁ Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Gregory Maguire
☁ ☁ Science Fair, Dave Barry
☁ ☁ Zazie in the Metro, Raymond Queneau

Travis of NNY wrote: "This year I didn't round uo ever. If it was 3.5 it got a 3 and so on"

I got tougher on my ratings this year as well.

I've also on reflection lowered some of my ratings.

..and still ended up with several highly rated books.

Sarah wrote: "I didn't think so but as her name was Maria and others had commented on the amount of work, I thought I'd ask."

I just assumed that the blog was our Mariab's. I'm glad you asked and cleared it up for us.

Almeta wrote: "I read what I consider an extraordinary amount of five star books this year.

Best series: Matthew Corbett, with latest Freedom of the Mask, Robert McCammon."

I'm anxiously awaiting the next book in the series. There's very little information out there about an upcoming publication.

I've read all but two of your top 5, and they are now added.

Almeta wrote: "I read what I consider an extraordinary amount of five star books this year.
❤❤❤❤❤ Troll: A Love Story, Johanna Sinisalo..."

Oh, I'm so pleased when I hear somebody liked this! Finnish books aren't that widely known, and I really find Johanna Sinisalo an exceptional fantasy author.

Janice wrote: "...I've read all but two of your top 5, and they are now added. ..."

I'm so sorry Janice!☻




If it's any consolation, my list is increasing as well.

Camilla wrote: ",,and I really find Johanna Sinisalo an exceptional fantasy author. ..."

You know? I think I will try another one!☺

Mariab wrote: "Janice wrote: "Wow! That's a lot of work, Mariab."

Lisa Ann ⛄ wrote: "Janice wrote: "Wow! That's a lot of work, Mariab."

Wow, I agree. Well done. So glad to see that [book:Upstream: Selected Ess..."

Oh, no worries. I assumed because the names were so similar! :-)

Oh, boy, I've been waiting for this thread. *Cracks knuckles* I actually used to have both lists on my profile, then removed my worst, then replaced the best book titles with their covers, and now I'm placing them all here. So here we go!

Also, I have written reviews for all these books except for two, which I noted, so please check those out for my full thoughts!
BEST:

5. Ink A book set in Japan where they speak Japanese, the art is gorgeous, and the story is great?! Yes please!

4. Stars Above Despite not being the final book in this fantastic series, it was a very nice way to wrap up loose ends, and I love that adaption of The Little Mermaid! -NO REVIEW AVAILABLE-

3. Silver in the Blood A book set in Romania not involving vampires and the main characters actually develop and learn about themselves and have cool powers? Sign me up!

2. Salt to the Sea Another fantastic book about obscure Eastern European events, written by my idol author. Amazing!

1. The Crown's Game I cried when I found out this book was being written. Must I say more? THIS WAS AMAZING AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND DESCRIBED AND HISTORICALLY ACCURATE AND THE CHARACTERS WERE AMAZING AND EVERYONE MUST READ THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY!

WORST:

5. Princess of the Midnight Ball This was a hard spot to put my fifth one on, but I decided on this one because while my other two candidates were also super boring, they had more positive things going for them. This was just so super boring and I never cared about the princess' plight at all. -NO REVIEW AVAILABLE, HOWEVER I DO REVIEW IT BRIEFLY IN MY PRINCESS OF GLASS REVIEW-

4. The Gathering Storm Ulch, screw this book and screw its vampires and screw its main character.

3. Burning Glass Screw this book's attempts to be relevant and be a best-seller even more! JUST SAY YOU TAKE PLACE IN UKRAINE DAMNIT WE ALL KNOW IT!

2. Cruel Beauty Screw this book's attempt to understand the classic fairy tale, Beauty is an awful person to the Beast, forgetting that in order for the tale to work, Beauty must still be a complex and developed person, but still kind. -NO REVIEW AVAILABLE, SADLY-

1. Red Queen ......I need ice water. Fuck this book, it's so bad I'm not even going to saw 'screw it'. Read my review if you wanna know my thoughts, and take aspirin afterwards.

I was very disappointed in Red Queen as well. Cover is amazing, but that's it.