1. Milkman
2. Where the Crawdads Sing
3. Murder at McDonalds: Killers Next Door
4. A Conspiracy in Belgravia
5. Olive, Again
25 nonfiction: 112 fiction = 137 books
90 female 46 male; 1 collection of assorted; 1 husband and wife;
78 audiobooks 16 ebook 26 library
A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas (+ the other 2 in the Charlotte Holmes series from this year) What a fabulously fun series!
Honourable Mentions Best Mystery (because I read a lot of mysteries)
The Ruin, and The Scholar by Dervla MacTiernan
Well done mystery series set in Ireland, Cormac Reilly, is my new favourite police detective
Best Start to a Series
Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
I read the first four in the Ruth Galloway series
The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
I was glad the Flavia series ended, but it ended well after ten books
Best Historical Series
Irish Country Wedding by Patrick Taylor -
I'm still loving the Irish Country Doctor series (1960s Ireland)
Also Hugh de Singleton (1300s England) I read 3 more in this series this year
Best Recommended Book
Bad Blood by John Carryou and Educated by Tara Westover were both highly recommended during Nonfiction November the year before, and they lived up to their hype
Best Childrens
Al Capone Shines My Shoes, and Al Capone Does My Homework by Gennifer Choldenko
Best Young Adult
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Olivia Twist by Lorie Langdon
The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin
Truman Capote and the original housewives of New York, based on true events, and fabulous!
Favourite Characters
Lara Jean, Margot, and Kitty Song, the three sisters from the Jenny Han series, To All the Boys I've Loved Before.
I read PS I Still Love You, and Always and Forever, Lara Jean to complete the series.
Best Science Fiction/Fantasy
Saga by Brian K Vaughan
- I read Vol 8& 9, but these were the only sci-fi/fantasy books I read this year, clearly not a genre I read much of
The Chillbury Ladies Choir by Jennifer Ryan
The Gown by Jennifer Robson
- love some British mid-century fiction!
Best Book by a Tried and True Author
I didn't realize how reliable Ann Patchett was, but the two books I read this year: Commonwealth, and The Dutch House were excellent and are sending me on a hunt for her backlist, other than State of Wonder and Bel Canto which I've read.
Best Apocalyptic/Dystopian
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
Best Short Story Collection
I'll throw Olive, Again in this section because she has to go somewhere. I was a little worried to read this as I so loved Olive Kitteridge, but this collection of connected stories, all connected somehow to Olive was as excellent as this first one. I do love Olive.
Best Short Story
The only short story I listened to this year was from the Irish Country Doctor series, a short called Home is the Sailor by Patrick Taylor
Funniest
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde was probably the funniest book I read, although it was a ghost story.
Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova
The patriarch of a Boston family gets a terrible hereditary disease.
Creepiest Novel
You, by Charles Benoit
This was a YA Sync from the summer, and was a second-person POV, and dealt with disturbed teenagers. Creepy, but quick.
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
Lovely epistolary midlife crisis story told through letters between a British farm wife and a Danish museum curator.
Best Re-read
This one is easy - both The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery, and The Guernsey Literary and Pototo Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer were as good on rereads as they were the first times I've read them
Best Audiobook
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, and read by the author was a delightful experience. I'm not generally a poetry fan, but this was done in a blank verse style and was very moving
The Dutch House gets honourable mention for best audiobook because it had Tom Hanks narrating, and I'd listen to him read his grocery list
Milkman by Anna Burns
I hesitate to recommend this one, but you would know very early on if the writing style worked for you, and it really worked for me. I loved the voice of the main character, a twenty something girl, with a boyfriend, trying to survive the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Very Irish stream of consciousness style, with no proper names ever used. It could have been annoying, but I got caught up with the style and her voice, and how she tried to manage living and the circular style of story-telling.
Best Nonfiction (since I read so many nonfiction this year, I have broken this down a little more)
A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford by Richard Reeves
I really enjoyed this biography of the physics/chemistry famous scientist from the early 1900s.
Best Nonfiction: nature
Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Best Nonfiction: memoir/autobiography
Troublemaker: Surviving Scientology and Hollywood by Leah Remini
If you've watched the TV show Scientology, you should try this book. I liked hearing more of Leah's experience; she's a hoot.
Murder at McDonalds: Killers Next Door by Phonse Jessome
This was a local book, based on a murder in Cape Breton that was horrific over twenty years ago.
A few books I loved by couldn't find a category for!
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
Moriarty does great with large casts of how-are-they-related characters that have lots of twists and come together at the end
This could have been best mystery, best nature book, best book about loneliness, best audiobook (Cassandra Campbell was a narrator), best heartbreaking book and best book to live up to its hype. For all these reasons, it was one of my favourite books of the year.
