Favorite books you read last year

So as my personal "get the literature section rolling again" campaign I decides to make this thread.

Your just put what your favorite book was that you read last year. It didn't have to be published last year or whatever just as long as you read it.

 

My favorite of last year has to be "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer.
It's pretty much fairy tales meeting science fiction.
This is the first book of the series and it's focused on Cinderella, but she's actually an android, as well.
It became my favorite since fairy tales and science fiction are two of my favorite genres, and I fell in love
once I completed it. ♥

Just recently bought the sequel, so hopefully that one's as good as the first one ~

 

Oh! You read that one?! I've been really wanting to read the series but I want them all in hard cover. Since the bookstore by my house only has the last one in hardcover I have to wait until they get the rest in.

 

Yeee, I totally recommend it! It was so much better
than I expected, honestly. I actually thought I'd have
a lot to complain about, but thankfully I didn't. 8D
Let me know what you think about it once you do ~

Ahh, I understand that completely.
I tried finding it in hardcover, but no luck,
and I don't have a card right now to buy them online. ;;
But it's managed to survive a year with no damage
bless

 

Ever read Ice Station by Matthew Reilly? I did, last year around November. It kickstarted my interest in Matthew Reilly's work, and I've never looked back. Ice Station was such a compelling story, and he made a very interesting lead character. God damn Scarecrow is badass. If anybody ever needs something to read I recommend reading that book, wholeheartedly.

 

I read a lot last year, but the one that sticks out the most for me is Inferno by Dan Brown. Conspiracies and the like are some of my favs. I like how he incorporates real life history, myths, legends and conspiracies and weaves it into a fun to read fictional story.

 

Haven't read much in the last year, but I did read Great Expectations on a whim, and I rather liked it.

 

Sadly I don't remember reading anything new last year. I just reread twilight and the hungar games. :c My reading list is actually growing this year, so far very well.

 

One of my favorite books I read last year had to be For One More Day by Mitch Albom. It's transcendent. It exceeded all my expectations from when I first picked it up and I certainly recommend others read it.

 

I don't think I can pick one. I read so many books last year. If I had to had to choose, probably Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan.
However, I read a good number of series last year:
The House of Night
The Mortal Instruments
The Infernal Devices

All I did was powerhouse through books.

 

I have to say my favorite book that I recall reading off the top of my head has to be Control by Lydia Kang. When I first bought it I didn't expect it to be that good when I read it, but it was amazing and I finished it the same day. It's kind of hard to describe what the book is about so don't just read the synopsis because it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface, it's one of those books you just have to read.

 

A Memory of Light - Brandon Sanderson & Robert Jordan.

I absolutely loved everything about this book, I had been reading the series since 2003 and to finally get my hands on the last book was everything I hoped it would be.

For all those who don't know this book series started out being written by Jordan but unfortunately he passed away before he could complete the series, fortunately he made preparations to see his lifes work come to fruition via his wife and Sanderson.

The books themselves go through a hit and miss from book 8 (due to his failing health at the time) and he passed away with the release of book 11 Knife of Dreams, having fully prepared for this and written out the basis for the rest of his works Sanderson wrote out 3 additional books which came to an end with the final book A Memory of Light.

Audio Book - The books have been recorded by some of the most talented audio book readers and the final release aMoL is just about the very best audio book I have ever listened to, they have 2 people reading the chapters depending on whether the chapter was about a male or a female perspective. I highly recommend listening to these books as they provide such a rich experience of emersion to these fantastic books.

 

Since 2014 is almost over I guess we can start posting the ones we read this year, if you guys even read (you heathens). And I changed the title to books instead of book so we can post more than one. Yay!!!

My favorites this year were
- Cress by Marissa Meyer
- Reborn by C.C. Hunter
- Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan (obviously)
- Jane's Melody by Ryan Winfield
- The Maze Runner Series (my fave charcter died o-o)

 

I read Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 this past year and I positively loved it. I previously read Norwegian Wood, which I also enjoyed, but I knew that Murakami's other works were much more surreal. I'm not sure why I bought 1Q84 -- it's been on my shelf for some time -- but I was intimidated by the size for a long time. I'm so glad I hunkered down and committed to it. I'm not sure if I'll be eager to pick up more Murakami in the future, as I'm pretty sure 1Q84 is his only book with a female protagonist (there are two in 1Q84, one male one female), and Aomame was such a special character to me.

Really, really recommend it. It's puzzling and mysterious and suspenseful and romantic. I've had trouble picking up another book since I've finished it because I fear it won't captivate me the way 1Q84 did. Beautiful packaging too.

 

Did not read AS near as much as i would have liked but ok, my favorites probably were the first 2 Hunger Game books (on #3 now), I read life of a sales man, it was rather sad but it had a good message, ive also read cloud street which talks about 2 families moving into a haunted house together and having to deal with the angst of its past ghosts.

 

I barely read books nowadays, I don' t remember reading any book since The Deathly Hallows got released.
The one book I bought last year was Stephen King' s Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining. The real deal, not a translation.
I haven' t finished it yet (I bought it late December), I' m just a quarter in but so far so good.

 

I honestly have not read that much recently, and most of the books I started last year remain unfinished (Ender's Game, The Silkworm). And a lot I did finish I ended up not liking (The Fault in our Stars).

All that being said, the best book I read last year was Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. It's said to be a spiritual successor to The Giver (and apparently is linked to that world in further books I have not read), so that was my main interest. I honestly fell in love with it early on. It told a really gripping story, had a really good disabled lead, and captured a lot of great imagery.

 

Hmmm, thats a difficult question... I read a TON of books, and fanfictions last year... OK, I'll tell you all my top 5 books, and top 5 fanfictions from last year.

Books first:

5) Age of Ultron (I know, this counts more as a comic book, but I consider it, as well as all manga, a book.)
4) Sword Art Online
3) Psych: Mind Over Magic
2) The Eyre Affair
1) Heroes of Olympus: The Blood of Olympus

Now for my top 5 fanfictions:

5) Genma's Daughter (Ranma 1/2)
4) Fairy Moon (Fairy Tail/Sailor Moon crossover)
3) Sailor Ranko: Tunnel Vission (Ranma 1/2/Sailor Moon/Terminator crossover)
2) Persona EG (My Little Pony/Persona crossover)
1) Sailor Ranko (Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2 crossover)

 

Easily "A million Little pieces" by James Frey. It has become one of my favourite books of all time. It's thought to be a true story of the author's life after he got addicted to drugs and alcohol and it's his story of being in rehab. Now, this in itself is a topic I love because it follows James who then falls in love with a girl trying to get over her crack addiction but it's not written in a gushy lovey manner, it's realistic, it's frank and it isn't afraid to hit you were it hurts. A lot of stuff goes down, but it shows these people for all their weaknesses- these fully grown men sit there crying in their rooms crying and finding ways of solace. It's heartbreaking and beautiful and could never recommend it enough. I feel like this description doesn't sell it but if you ever want to understand addiction more, go read it.

 

1. Les Misérables - Finishing this brick... I mean, book, was like losing a friend. I remember it as though all the tales of the characters therein were merged into one palpable face, whom I'd like to embrace. Fond, fond, fond. It's easy to lose oneself to Hugo's descriptions for the most part, 200 pages on the Parisian sewer system notwithstanding. I've always enjoyed classic authors' plain third-person narratives however, and I read primary historical texts on my own time so my opinions should be taken with a pinch of salt.
2. Orlando - Disclaimer: I enjoyed the movie feat. Tilda Swinton over the source material. The book serves as an experiment in Magic Realism (see: Orlando's abrupt fairy godmother gender change). It was... interesting, I know this book is acclaimed as being a "love letter" to Virginia Woolf's girlfriend and noteworthy in trans-related discourse besides, but I felt my appreciation for Woolf's "progressive" approach to the issue diminish in light of her obvious classism/racism. An enjoyable read all in all, if problematic.
3. Maurice - Remember when E.M. Forster wrote a gay love story? I'd suppose not, it was published posthumously and most high school students remember him for A Passage to India. Maurice is very intimate without being explicit. One of his characters, Clive, reminds me of Cecil from his other novel (A Room with a View): the high-class non-intimate aesthetic-appreciative English man plays the foil (both Maurice and Lucy end up leaving their SOs behind). Forster has a way of describing his character's flaws without expressly condoning them, which is refreshing. Forster is that author I like to before bedtime; I feel grounded to reality when I read him.