“A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read”- A. Lincoln
It’s that time of year again — when I request you share with other readers of MillersTime your most favorite books read over the past 12 months.
Here are a few guidelines that may help in drawing your list and in making my compilation easier:
*When I ask for your Most Favorite Reads of 2016, I’m seeking fiction and/or nonfiction books that stood out for you above all you’ve read in the past year. What have been the most enjoyable, the most important, the most thought provoking, the best written, the ones you may go back and read again, the ones you reread this year, and/or the ones you have suggested others read?
* You are welcome to send just one title or up to a half dozen. (Please limit your contributions to six as it takes me many hours to compile the list. For some of you this request may be difficult, but remember the request — MOST Favorite Reads of 2016.)
* Update: At the request of some of you, I’m adding a new category this year. If you have listened to a book(s) in one of the various audio formats, Books on Tape, CDs, Audible, etc., you may add up to three of those if they meet your definition of books “you’ve enjoyed the most in 2016.” This is in addition to the six you (may) have listed. Be sure to identify which ‘books’ on your list were ones you enjoyed audibly.
* List the title, the author, and indicate whether it is fiction (F) or nonfiction (NF).
* If you are willing, please write a sentence or two about why each particular book made it to your list for this year. If you prefer not to add this, no problem, but I’ve found readers enjoy the comments and use them in choosing books to read for the coming year.
* Don’t be concerned about whether others will have the same book(s) on their lists. If we get a number of similar titles, that’s just an indication of the power of a particular book/author.
* Your books do not have to be ones that were written and/or published in 2016, just ones that you read over the past year. If you participated this year in sending titles of books you enjoyed in the first half of 2016, feel free to include one or more of those if they make it to your list of most favorites in 2016.
* Send me your list in an email (Samesty84@gmail.com) by Dec. 18th so I will be able to post the entire list at the end of the year. (If you send me your list soon, you may be able to avoid my constant email reminders to do so.)
To see previous years’ lists, click on any of these links: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
Jim Kilby said:
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albon
Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade & Don Yeager
This Town by Mark Leibovich
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Lies My Teacher told Me by James W. Loewen
There’s No Toilet Paper–travel stories
Dave k said:
Almost all my reading this year was via audiobook. It’s just easier that way.
The best book I read this year was A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara. Just brutal. I saw it referred to as “The first great gay novel”, but really notable for just putting the protagonist through the wringer. Not for people who want happy endings.
The Sellout by Paul Beatty. I read this for being the first American author to win the Man Booker prize, and came away unimpressed. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t hook me.
The Vegetarian by Kan Hang. Another award winner, similiarly not impressed.
The Kingdom Of Speech by Tom Wolfe. I hadn’t read Wolfe before, but picked it up because it was supposed to be about linguistics. It was, in the second half. The first half is some great storytelling about Darwin. The linguistics part focuses on Chomsky and Dan Everett, whose son did grad school with me, and who was astonishingly bright. I will take Everett’s word over Chomsky’s any day.
Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire. A YA novel, kind of like a darker wrinkle in time. Recommended by a fellow avid reader. Was actually pretty happy with it.
Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance. I’m only about a third of the way through it. Everyone compares it to Between The World and Me, and frankly there’s no comparison. Vance’s analysis is not nearly as complete, nor as substantive as Coates’. It’s supposed to be a story about why we should help, or care about, rural white america. Vance is unflinching in his retelling of his family history, which is commendable, but it’s just not grabbing me like BTWAM. The insights I was hoping to find have thus far eluded me.
carol board said:
Hi, I have not done much reading this past year….However, I did read a few somewhat older books.
The President’s Wife by Sue Miller….She is one of my favorite authors…Her books feel like a conversation to me, they are interesting, relaxing and not “too much work”.
I have also started The Girl Who Fell from the Sky…by Heidi W. Durrow. This is about a biracial girl who has many challanges. It also addresses social issues that we are still dealing with. It was published in 2010 and won the Bellwether Prize for fiction…
Bill Plitt said:
I have read a few:
“From Breath to Air” – NF -Paul Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon and a writer exemplar. He died in March 2015 and wrote about his experience as a patient with a critical disease. A good follow up to Being Mortal. I found his insights about dying particularly relevant for my current walk with my sister whose breast cancer has returned with a vengeance after 9 years of being “clean”.
Between the World and Me”NF -Ta-Nehisi Coates- A national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly who some have said is the new James Baldwin. His writing caused me to reflect on my white male privilege.
I am currently reading the epic: The Warmth of Other Suns”NF by Isabel Wilkerson and captivated by the vignettes, and developing a relationship between me as reader and the three main characters: Ida, George and Robert. Looking towards finishing the book (550 pp.) in the next year, though it reads quickly, even for me.