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What was your favorite book that you read this year?

My favorite book was The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner.

If it had to be published in 2021, I'll go with The Dark Hours, #4 in the Renee Ballard series.

If it could be published before 2021, Small Spaces, MG horror that seriously scared me, and I'm seldom scared by adult horror.

Zora wrote: "If it had to be published in 2021, I'll go with The Dark Hours, #4 in the Renee Ballard series.

If it could be published before 2021, Small Spaces, MG horror that s..."

Published any year.

I'm going mention A Gracious Plenty by Sheri Reynolds

I read so many books that I gave 5 stars to but I would narrow it down to:

. 1400 pages and I wish he'd written a second volume, that's how good it was.

That’s hard for me to decide!

I guess How To Hang A Witch by Adriana Mather.
She gave me insight on the Salem witch trials and I could easily relate to what the book was portraying in the case of bullying and rumors.

Emily wrote: "That’s hard for me to decide!

I guess How To Hang A Witch by Adriana Mather.
She gave me insight on the Salem witch trials and I could easily relate to what the book was portraying in the case of ..."

How to Hang a Witch

Here’s the link in case anyone wants to check it out.

My Top 5 -

1. Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
2. The Breaker by Minette Walters
3. Virtual Light by William Gibson
4. Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart
5. Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Madeline wrote: "My favorite book was The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner."

I loved this book too

Vikki wrote: "Madeline wrote: "My favorite book was The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner."

I loved this book too"

The audiobook is amazing!!

Looks like I gave thirteen 5-star ratings. I've narrowed the list down to these as my top 5 favorite reads.
The Unknown Ajax
Lovecraft Country
The Winter Sea
Death Without Company
Lonesome Dove

Martha wrote: "Looks like I gave thirteen 5-star ratings. I've narrowed the list down to these as my top 5 favorite reads.
The Unknown Ajax
Lovecraft Country
[book:The Winter Sea|339..."

Longmire is a great series. I'm really looking forward to Lovecraft Country.

Let's see if I can manage 5....

The Lost Apothecary
The Sanatorium
Black Summer
Three Hours
The Doll

That's actually really hard and I keep changing my mind for that list

Vikki, I didn’t know that we had such similar reading styles. The Sanatorium was another great book! I just added a couple more of your books to my tbr.

Madeline wrote: "Vikki, I didn’t know that we had such similar reading styles. The Sanatorium was another great book! I just added a couple more of your books to my tbr."

She's meant to have a second book out next year which I'm interested to read :)
Feel free to browse through my shelves for ideas ;)

Thank goodness others before me have listed five instead of one. I'd struggle with just one, and am already having trouble getting it down to five.


It's unexpected for me that I'm including this because I've never been much of a sci-fi fan, but just LOVED the audio book of this.


Tugged at my heartstrings and loved the vivid description of the setting.


I loved the story itself, and especially loved the young boy. This is another with a vivid setting description. Apparently I'm drawn to that.


Challenged me to think about the views/perspectives of others, something that I always appreciate.


If I had to pick one, this would be it.


Others that I wrote on my Post-It note for consideration:

This is hard, but let's see:

The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
A Sin of Omission by Marguerite Poland
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Troy by Stephen Fry

Carolien wrote: "This is hard, but let's see:

The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollo..."</i>

I enjoy Trollope as well, Carolien, although I've only read a couple of the Palliser books so far. Must explore his work more

<i>Amy wrote: "Thank goodness others before me have listed five instead of one. I'd struggle with just one, and am already having trouble getting it down to five.

[bookcover:Project Hail Mary
It's unex..."

I do have to try more by Andy Weir. I've got one on my bookshelf

Vikki wrote: "Let's see if I can manage 5....

The Lost Apothecary
The Sanatorium
[bookcover:Black Sum..."

I have a book by Sigurdadottir (*sp*) on my shelf. I'm now more interested in trying it.

Bill wrote: "Carolien wrote: "This is hard, but let's see:

The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
Doctor Thorne by [auth..."

If it's one of the series books by Yrsa Sigurdardottir I'd recommend starting with the first in the series. She has a few standalones translated into English too. I've read all her books that have been translated and love them so if you need any guidance give me a shout ;)

Best fiction: Betty
Best NF: The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness and Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

It's close but probably

Madeline wrote: "My favorite book was The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner."

glad to hear as it's sitting on my tbr shelf :)

Ann_R wrote: "Since I couldn't narrow it down to one book:

[bookcover:A Boy Called Christmas..."

I have West with Giraffes on Kindle :)

These books were my most favorite for 2021The Death of Vivek Oji and

My favorite was The Round House but I also loved:
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
The Memory Police
Infinite Country: A Novel
Dominicana

I read a lot k of good books. I think my favorite was The vThe Vanishing Half.

It wasn't the book so much as the discussion my face to face group had

Vikki wrote: "Bill wrote: "Carolien wrote: "This is hard, but let's see:

The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
Doctor Thorne

I am only a third of the way through but I really think this one might beat all the others I listed as my favorites for this year!

I don't think I had any that really WOW'd me this year. If I had to pick, I would either pick The Sun Is Also a Star or Survive the Night.

I will say, even though I wouldn't classify them as 5 star reads, I'm really enjoying going through the Shopaholic series this month.

Veronica wrote: "These books were my most favorite for 2021The Death of Vivek Oji and "

This sounds so good, I just added it!

I'm going to say that my favorite book(s) of 2021 are two series that I've been wanting to read and finally started this past year. After reading the first, I was hooked!

A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell series)
Still Life (Inspector Armand Gamache series)

One that I really enjoyed was Billy Summers

I've had a really good reading year, the vast majority of my books rated 4 or 5 stars and hardly any duds.


As everyone else has said, picking a favourite is so tough, so I'll cheat :)


My favourite non-fiction was Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala, which intertwines his own experiences as growing up mixed race in Britain with a history of the effects of colonialism, and how it still affects us today - in a thoughtful, compassionate and deeply important way. He writes about how race and class and opportunity and advantage cannot be separated in the world as it is structured, and he writes beautifully.


I've had The Poisonwood Bible on my shelves for years and somehow never got around to reading it. I think what prompted me was hearing and interview with the author, Barbara Kingsolver on BBC radio - possibly on the wonderful programme The Verb with Ian McMillan (also available as a podcast and highly recommended). Hearing her talk about her writing process just pushed this to the top of my TBR, and I couldn't have been happier. Written from the POV of the wife and daughters of a Southern Baptist missionary to the Belgian Congo in 1959, this is an extraordinary novel. Each voice is perfect, each character fully realised, the writing simply superb.


Any other year, Susanna Clarke's Piranesi would probably have topped my list, so I want to give it a special mention. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I've had the fortune to come across and still haunts me. I'll undoubtedly read it again soon, and it is possible it will rise in still further in my estimation.



Here's to a wonderful year of reading - and everything else!

Zora wrote: "If it could be published before 2021, Small Spaces, MG horror that seriously scared me, and I'm seldom scared by adult horror."


I'm not a huge horror reader, although I like it occasionally - but having loved Katherine Arden's recent Winternight trilogy (fantasy set in medieval Russia) I am adding this to my wishlist! Thanks :)



This thread is pushing quite a few books up my TBR!

Paul wrote: "I've had The Poisonwood Bible on my shelves for years and somehow never got around to reading it.."

The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all time favorites, I am so glad you liked it too. I recommend it to everyone I know.

Piranesi is on my list for 2022, I'm excited!

For my favorite book of 2021 (when I read it, not when it was published), it would be a fictional hockey story that was also a Netflix movie - Indian Horse