10 Favorite Books from 2016

I am an avid reader and I’m always excited to share my favorite books. I set a goal for myself each year to read 50 books. This year I reached 75 (so far…still have a few days left!).

Goodreads.com is what I use to keep track of what I’ve read, how much I liked it, and what I want to read next. If you haven’t joined Goodreads, I highly recommend it. I’ve been a member for 10 years now. You can share recommendations with your friends, read reviews from other readers, and even enter book giveaways. Who doesn’t love a free book?

My reading tastes run the gamut. I enjoy historical fiction, history, mystery, fiction, and travel stories. I love children’s literature (I did teach elementary school reading after all). Here is a list is of 10 books I read this year that I gave a minimum of 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. If you love discovering a good book, read on.

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Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

 

One day while I was substituting for another teacher, the lesson plan called for reading this book aloud to the class. They were already half way into the book and I only got to read two chapters, but I was hooked. As soon as I got home, I added Fish in a Tree to my “to read” list. It’s the story of a girl struggling with a reading disorder (right up my alley), a new school, and some mean girls. In her plus column, she makes some great new friends, has an amazing teacher, and a big brother who has her back.

 

Take Me With You by Catherine Ryan Hyde

 

This beautiful story takes the reader on the journey of August Schroeder, a burnt out, recovering alcoholic teacher who plans on spending his summer travelling to Yellowstone to spread his teenage son’s ashes. August and his son often camped in the summer, and after losing him in a tragic accident, he wants to take the trip they always planned on together. Before August makes it to his destination, his camper breaks down and he picks up some unexpected passengers. What follows changes August and his new found friends in ways they could never imagine.

 

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

Arthur Pepper is a widower struggling to get along without his beloved wife, Miriam. On the one-year anniversary of her death, he begins to clear out her closet and finds a charm bracelet he has never seen before.  He begins to investigate each charm, and his journey into his wife’s past takes him from London to Paris and India. The story has some wonderful characters and is sad and funny and heart-warming all at the same time.

 

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

I read several of Susan Meissner’s books this year, but A Fall of Marigolds was my first. It led me to the others which I also recommend. Meissner writes historical fiction and is a master at tying different periods together. In this story, she uses a scarf to tell the stories of two women who suffer great tragedies. One loses her love in the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911. The other is a survivor (and widow) of September 11, 2001.

 

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

 

I finished this book two weeks ago and I am still thinking about it.. The book begins at a wedding rehearsal dinner.  Josef, the grandfather of the groom, meets the grandmother of the bride for the first time. He recognizes Lenka. She is the wife he thought he lost more than 50 years before in the Holocaust. The book goes on to tell their love story and  the great losses they both endured because of the Nazis. The chapters alternate between Josef’s experiences and Lenka’s. They both remarried, thinking the other was dead, but never forgot their first love.

 

Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler

 

Another piece of historical fiction, see a trend here? Isabelle McAllister is eighty-nine years-old when this story opens.  She is an elderly white widow living in Texas. She asks her African American hairdresser, Dorie Curtis, for a big favor. Isabelle needs a ride to Cincinnati. Dorie has troubles of her own, but agrees to act as chauffeur. As these two mismatched ladies make their way north, Isabelle tells Dorie her story. As a young woman, she fell deeply in love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the son of her family’s black housekeeper. The forbidden romance leads to heartbreak and danger in her small town where blacks are not allowed after dark. Isabelle is headed for a reunion of sorts and the lessons she learned the hard way in life may just be what Dorie needs to know.

 

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

Erik Larson  makes history read like a novel. I have enjoyed many of his books, and Dead Wake:The Last Crossing of the Lusitania is no exception. In 1915, WWI was in full gear and notorious German u-boats were sinking enemy ships with alarming regularity. The Lusitania was a luxury ocean liner sailing from New York to Liverpool and was well-known as one of the fastest ships of its kind. Larson alternates between describing the German hunt for targets, the debate on whether or not the United States should enter the war, and the comfortable surroundings and glamorous lives of passengers unaware of their danger. Larson includes details that I had never known about this famous moment in history.

 

When Breath Becomes Air by Pail Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese

 

When Breath Becomes Air is the true story of a brilliant young neurosurgeon who is diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at the age of 36. Questions that come up during his journey include: what makes life worth living  and when you know your time is limited, what do you do with it? Paul  Kalanithi spent most of his adult life in the highly competitive realm of medicine and academia. He was on the verge of completing his neurosurgery training at Stanford when he got the diagnosis. Sadly, he died before completing the book, but what he leaves behind is a beautiful and definitely worth the time to read. It is a story that stays with you.

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

If you love The Mysterious Benedict Society or Chasing Vermeer, you’ll love this book too. Greenglass House is classified as juvenile fiction, but I’m not so young anymore and I loved it. You could read it with your kids or on your own. And it appears to be the beginning of a series, so I expect more good things in the future. The setting is a snowbound smuggler’s inn. Milo is the adopted son of the innkeepers. He quietly investigates the group of strange characters who join his family under mysterious circumstances. Hidden treasure, revenge, and maybe even a ghost or two are all present for your reading enjoyment.

 

Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew’d by Alan Bradley

 

This is the 8th book in the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. For anyone who hasn’t read this series, Flavia is a 12-year-old girl living in a large manor house in post WWII England. She has two older sisters who delight in putting her down. There is also the typical warm, loving, but not so bright housekeeper, Flavia’s beloved, but distant father, and Dodger, who served with Mr. de Luce in WWI and is a fixture in all their lives. There is a shock at the end of this story that I didn’t really see coming. I can’t wait to see what happens next (but I will have to seeing as the next book won’t be out for at least a year). If you haven’t read the series, start with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

 

I could easily add another ten books to the list, but this should be enough to get you started. I am always looking for a good story (fact or fiction) so please leave a recommendation for me in the comments below. And please share this post to all your reading buddies.