Book Club

[sunala]

So, my friends, it's that time of year. Time to rate our favorite books, the ones we want to share with each other.

Here are some of mine that I gave 5 star ratings:

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride by Joe Siple

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland.

A Good Neighborhood by Theresa Ann Fowler

The Falling Woman by Richard Farrell

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Monogamy by Sue Miller

I read very few books this crazy year. I had a problem concentrating, and only read 30-something books. But, I enjoyed several of them. These were the best.

Happy and healthy New Year!!

[grandma r]

@sunala. I read a number of books especially during the summer.  I always enjoy books by Timothy Snyder.  As an historian he has such insight into relevant issues.  However, my 2 favorites were "Before We Were Yours" and "Where The Crawdads Sing".  I really got caught up in both.

[Mellyg]

Thank you for sharing @sunala . And I'm glad you mentioned that you didn't read much this year due to lack of concentration. Not that I'm glad you experienced that, but that's exactly how I was this year (I'm glad it's not just me)!

[feline groovy]

A few faves I read this year:

* All The Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood 

* The Shape of Family by Shilpi Somoya Gowda

* Christodora by Tim Murphy

* The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

* The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood

[FindingMyJoy]

I always enjoy reading this topic each year! You all give such good suggestions that I keep adding to my future reading lists. Thank you all for the recommendations!

This year, I finally read the mystery series by Louise Penny!! I still don't know why I kept putting it off since I had heard of her books for years. But I'm really glad this year that I just kept putting them on hold at my library and I got thru the entire series up to the very last one. I'm on the hold list for that one. This was the best series of the year! I'm a bit sad that I did read all of them and now I have to wait. 

My favorite individual books of 2020 that I loved and the characters stuck in my head long after the book was over:

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Ordinary Grace by WIlliam Kent Krueger

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

[SWEET]

I'm very picky about giving 5 stars/favorites on GR but everyone is different in their ratings and there have been many good books that I have given 3 or 4 stars to too.

My favorites for 2020 are:

1.  Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland, which was my last book in 2020.  I cried, I laughed, and loved it. 

2. Me by Elton John

3.  Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

4.  Nine Tenths of The Law by Claudia Long*

5.  Royal by Danielle Steel

6.  The Wedding Dress by Danielle Steel.

*SUNALA, you need to check out this book.  It was wonderful Jewish fiction that you might enjoy.

[sandy53]

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

The Matt Royal mystery series by H Terrell Griffin

[Judaline]

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@Mellyg wrote:

Thank you for sharing @sunala . And I'm glad you mentioned that you didn't read much this year due to lack of concentration. Not that I'm glad you experienced that, but that's exactly how I was this year (I'm glad it's not just me)!

---

It's not.

[tobe]

5 Star books for me this year:

Killing Crazy Horse by Bill O'Reilly    (this is not a political book, it is a well-researched history book and a real page-turner).

THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larson  (I love his books).

HELL IN THE HEARTLAND by Jax Miller

THE BOOK OF LOST FRIENDS by Lisa Wingate

[icezeus]

I enjoyed most of the books that I read in 2020, but the two that stand out for me would be the following:

The Return by Nicholas Sparks

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

What was sort of amusing was that these were books that I would not have expected to enjoy as much as I did. The Return, I thought would be a sappy love story and it was so much more.  When it comes to Jodi Picoult, I find her books depressing, and her book was my top rated for this year.