What was the best book you read this year?

[debm55]

[Easterncedar]

1. A God in Ruins

By Kate Atkinson

The characters will live with me until I die, I believe.

[debm55]

2. Easternceder, thank you I will be writing that down for future reference.

[OLDMDDEM]

4. Night Fall by Nelson Demille

[debm55]

5. Thank you OLDMDDEM , will add to my list.

[OLDMDDEM]

8. It's an excellent read of fiction.

Without giving away the story, you will be able to relate to it.

[Diamond_Dog]

10. Nelson deMille is one of my favorite authors 🙂

[OLDMDDEM]

12. He is one of mine also.

This book stands out for me as his best. It's followed closely by Up Country.

[Diamond_Dog]

21. Up Country

I couldn’t put it down.

[OLDMDDEM]

25. Me either. My mother put me on to Demille. After she died I inherited all of her books.

[yellowdogintexas]

17. same here; added to my 'want to read' shelf on Goodreads

which is eventually going to collapse. Good thing the books are mere titles, right?
This is second in a series of 2 so I marked them both. The first one is Life After Life

[Dulcinea]

3. Killers of the Flower Moon

I haven't seen the movie, but the book was superb.

[debm55]

7. Thank you, Dulcinea. I heard of the movie. But I like to read the books first.

[flying_wahini]

30. Didn't read the book but the movie is good.long but good.

[Bayard]

31. A big favorite

So was the movie.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. The Last Temptation

Val McDermid. Queen of British crimewriting.

[debm55]

9. Thank you bucolic_frolic, I like mysteries and crime.

[CrispyQ]

11. Best book this year was probably "The Unmaking of June Farrow" by Adrienne Young.

It's a combo time travel/family/romance story. Ha ha. I committed to read 36 books this year on Good Reads, but alas, I'll only make ten if I finish the book I'm on right now.

This is a great thread to let people know we have a FICTION forum, where we have weekly discussions on what we're reading, & threads on other titles.

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1193

[debm55]

13. CrispyQ , that sounds interesting, TY

[yellowdogintexas]

20. Definitely check out this group of devoted readers

I love finding out what we are all reading.

[Polly Hennessey]

14. Rereading A Canticle for Liebowitz. It's a 1959

Science Fiction classic.

[debm55]

15. It a must read then for me. Thank you, Polly.

[rsdsharp]

28. I've still got my copy from the science fiction class I took in 1981.

I haven’t read it in a long time, though.

[malthaussen]

38. "Pound pastrami, can kraut, six bagels--bring home for Emma."

The last known words of the Blessed Saint Leibowitz.

-- Mal

[yellowdogintexas]

16. I do the Goodreads challenge, so I at least know every book I've read this year

This year I managed 82 with a goal of 85. I tend to read series so there are a lot of books by a few people. (I would do a lot better with best series....) I think in 2024 I will try to read more non series books.

SO, of the few stand alones I would choose:

The Secret of Linden Court by Thomas Stinsom
This Kafkaesque mystery set in 1960's Eastern Europe blends Woody Allen’s romantic nostalgia with Coen Brothers style hilarious plot twists to keep you guessing until the very end.

How far would you go to keep a secret? Stuck in the back corner of an ancient file cabinet, tax clerk Andre Kosowicz finds an old, faded street record and discovers evidence of a neighborhood he has never heard of: Linden Court. With no taxes paid by residents since before the Nazi invasion, he believes Linden Court has long since been paved over or bombed out of existence. To satisfy his curiosity, Andre heads to Olde Towne where, with a little snooping a lot of luck, he finds a bustling cul-de-sac of homes and shops in the shadow of an ancient linden tree.

Postcard from Italy by Angela Petch
This one stayed with me the most so it's the best, I think.
Italy, 1945. ‘Where am I?’ The young man wakes, bewildered. He sees olive trees against a bright blue sky. A soft voice soothes him. ‘We saw you fall from your plane. The parachute saved you.’ He remembers nothing of his life, or the war that has torn the world apart… but where does he belong?

England, present day. Antique-shop-owner Susannah wipes away a tear as she tidies her grandmother’s belongings. Elsie’s memories are fading, and every day Susannah feels further away from her only remaining family. But everything changes when she stumbles across a yellowed postcard of a beautiful Italian stone farmhouse, tucked away in Elsie’s dressing table. A message dated from World War 2 speaks of a secret love. Could her grandmother, who never talked about the past, have fallen for someone in Italy all those years ago?

Before it’s too late for her grandmother, can Susannah discover the truth behind a shocking wartime secret at the heart of her family? Or will it tear her apart?


The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
In this Newbery Medal-winning novel, Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place—he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their ghostly teachings—such as the ability to Fade so mere mortals cannot see him.

Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are beings such as ghouls that aren't really one thing or the other. I love Neil Gaiman!

The Commandant's Daughter 1933, Berlin. Ten-year-old Hanni Foss stands by her father’s side watching the torchlit procession to celebrate Adolf Hitler as Germany’s new leader. As the lights fade, she knows her safe and happy childhood is about to change forever. Practically overnight, the father she adores becomes unrecognisable, lost to his ruthless ambition to oversee an infamous concentration camp…
Twelve years later. As the Nazi regime crumbles, Hanni hides on the fringes of Berlin society in the small lodging house she’s been living in since running away from her father’s home. In stolen moments, she develops the photographs she took to record the atrocities in the camp – the empty food bowls and hungry eyes – and vows to get some measure of justice for the innocent people she couldn’t help as a child. (this one starts a very good series!!)

[debm55]

18. Thank you so much, yellowdogintexas, They sound interesting,

[yellowdogintexas]

19. Another poster upthread suggested the Fiction Forum. I second that suggestion

it is within the Culture Forums category.

If you are a reader, do check out this Forum, you will get lots of author and book suggestions

Each Sunday there is a "What Fiction Are You Reading This Week" thread.

[debm55]

23. Thank you , I will give it a visit.

[Coventina]

22. Mean by Myriam Gurba

True crime, memoir, and ghost story, Mean is the bold and hilarious tale of Myriam Gurba’s coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana. Blending radical formal fluidity and caustic humor, Gurba takes on sexual violence, small towns, and race, turning what might be tragic into piercing, revealing comedy. This is a confident, intoxicating, brassy book that takes the cost of sexual assault, racism, misogyny, and homophobia deadly seriously.

We act mean to defend ourselves from boredom and from those who would cut off our breasts. We act mean to defend our clubs and institutions. We act mean because we like to laugh. Being mean to boys is fun and a second-wave feminist duty. Being mean to men who deserve it is a holy mission. Sisterhood is powerful, but being mean is more exhilarating.

Being mean isn't for everybody.

Being mean is best practiced by those who understand it as an art form.

These virtuosos live closer to the divine than the rest of humanity. They're queers.

https://www.amazon.com/Mean-Myriam-Gurba/dp/1566894913/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2IYPGRJA4VL62&keywords=mean+book&qid=1703705293&sprefix=mean+book%2Caps%2C136&sr=8-1

[debm55]

24. Sounds very interesting. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Coventina]

29. My sister and I both enjoyed it tremendously.

It is a short book, but it is a heavy read.
She's been through some STUFF!!! Including surviving an attack by a serial rapist / murderer.
But, I don't want to give too much away....it's all in the book!!

[Mz Pip]

26. The North Woods

By Daniel Mason. It’s one of the NYT 10 best books of the year. Terrific story.

[Aristus]

27. Werner Herzog's recent memoir.

"Every Man Against Each Other, And God Against All."

The man has led a tumultuous life.

If his only claim to that appellation is that he made five films with the demented Klaus Kinski, that would have been enough. But he did so much more than that. Herzog has a riveting, highly poetic prose-style.

[drthais]

32. drthais

All the Light We Cannot See
(Towles)

[drthais]

33. best book by far

All the Light We Cannot See
(Towles)

[MOMFUDSKI]

34. Haven't finished it yet but

“Good Night, Irene” is fabulous so far. Author is Luis Alberto Urrea.

[MadLinguist]

35. The Ballad of Perilous Graves

Wild tale for which I enthusiastically suspended plausibility

[IcyPeas]

36. Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart

Very sad

[malthaussen]

37. "Port of Shadows" by Glen Cook.

A new novel in The Chronicles of the Black Company, which is in the genre of military fantasy (a genre he largely created).

Basically Swords and Sorcery without cutsie elves and hobbitses, written from the PoV of a grunt slogging through the mud.

-- Mal

[Elessar Zappa]

39. It by Stephen King.

It’s an old book, of course, but I’ve only recently started reading King’s novels. Otherwise, I read Lord of the Rings every year and enjoy it just as much as when I first read it in high school.

[Niagara]

40. I'm currently reading I'm Your Huckleberry A Memoir by

Val Kilmer.


So far, so good. 👍