Top Five Books of the Year
1. The Innocents - Michael Crummy
2. The Causeway: A Passage from Innocence - Linden MacIntyre
3. The Pull of the Stars - Emma Donoghue
4. Queenie - Candice Carty-Williams
5. Easy Prey - Catherine Lo
142 books read
13 nonfiction
83 audiobooks
24 ebooks
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
It's not even the mystery - it's Cormoran and Robin's relationship
Honourable Mentions Best Mystery (because I read a lot of mysteries)
IQ by Joe Ide
The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
Best Start to a Series - Alex Morrow series
Still Midnight - Denise Mina (also read The End of the Wasp Season)
Still Midnight - Denise Mina (also read The End of the Wasp Season)
Best Historical Series
Lady Charlotte Holmes by Sherry Thomas
Best Graphic Novel
American Gods part 1 and 2
Easy Prey by Catherine Lo
This was a free YA Sync listen, and I just loved how it all came together, and that is was Canadian.
Best Recommended Book (won the Booker Prize and was on the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist)
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Evered and Ada, the orphaned brother and sister from The Innocents living on the outports of Newfoundland
Best Book by a Tried and True Author
Both The Last Anniversay and The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty were classic Moriarty - multiple views, a mystery and Australian. I can't even decide which I liked best.
Both The Last Anniversay and The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty were classic Moriarty - multiple views, a mystery and Australian. I can't even decide which I liked best.
Best Historical Fiction
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue andHamnet & Judith by Maggie O'Farrell
Two plague books by two of my favourite authors. Hey, Tracy Chevalier (another great historical fiction writer - Where's your plague book?
Best Apocalyptic/Dystopian
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Best Book by a New to Me Author
Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy
Best Science Fiction/Fantasy
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Best Short Story Collection
The Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
The Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
Funniest
How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
Most Heartbreaking
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Creepiest Novel
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Best Re-read
In May, during lockdown times, my library offered Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone all the time to whoever wanted to read it with no waiting. It was excellent, and I was hoping they would offer the rest of the series like that as well, but alas, no. And then because so many people were re-reading the HP series, the line-ups were long for the next books.
In May, during lockdown times, my library offered Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone all the time to whoever wanted to read it with no waiting. It was excellent, and I was hoping they would offer the rest of the series like that as well, but alas, no. And then because so many people were re-reading the HP series, the line-ups were long for the next books.
Best Audiobook/ Rec for a Book Club
Such a Fun Age by Kiley
Such a Fun Age by Kiley
Most Unique Book
This is How You Lose the Time War- Max Gladstone
Best Nonfiction : I have broken this down a little more because I can't pick one
Best Nonfiction: science/history
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Changed the Modern World - Steven Johnson
I count Johnson as a go-to NF author now. I like his connections, and writing, and topics. This isn't as fascinating as The Ghost Map, but it was still really good.
(cold -refrigeration, time-clocks, glass- eyeglass lenses, light-lightbulbs, clean- sewer systems, sound)
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Changed the Modern World - Steven Johnson
I count Johnson as a go-to NF author now. I like his connections, and writing, and topics. This isn't as fascinating as The Ghost Map, but it was still really good.
(cold -refrigeration, time-clocks, glass- eyeglass lenses, light-lightbulbs, clean- sewer systems, sound)
Best Nonfiction: true crime
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow
Causeway by Linden MacIntyre
My husband also read this book, and then we gave it to both our parents for Christmas after reading it. MacIntyre is a CBC reporter, and has written novels as well. This memoir was exactly what I like in a memoir - takes his personal memories and growth and sets it against a historical event and blends the two perfectly. The causeway in question is the connection between Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. Having lived through our own 'fixed link' in 1997 as PEI was connected to the mainland and the ferry done away with, it really is a turning point in memories of life.
(Whew! Getting this posted and it is still January with 15 minutes to spare!)
