Well, 2015’s reading list didn’t go quite as I planned. My goal was to catch up on some series so I could move on and try some new authors. I do some of my best reading on my lunch break but I tend to get interrupted so I read some fluff books then and some new ones on the weekend.
Despite the repetitiveness, there were some standout books I read in 2015.
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
This was such a tough book to choose because I read it immediately after the partner book by Kate Atkinson, Life After Life. Without spoiling too much, Life After Life is the tale of one woman and her Groundhog Day-like reality but set during WWII and a big family that you’ll fall in love with. A God in Ruins is the story of one of the family members and how his life goes after the danger of WWII has passed but without life necessarily getting any easier. I really liked Life After Life with its touch of mystery and magic but A God in Ruins manages to have some magic and more reality too.
In The Woods by Tana French
There’s something you should know about me: I like mystery, crime, and all things Ireland + Scotland + England. This book ties to much of that together. I avoided Tana French because I did not need to start another series and I knew she had one called “The Dublin Murder Squad” which sounded a bit too cheesy for me. In The Woods had me hooked by the end of the first chapter. It had an unresolved mystery immediately and then jumps into the present solving a current mystery. It gets deep and gritty and doesn’t stop along the way. It was so hard to pick a Tana French book I liked best but this is the one that starts them all.
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
I think this is the most out there book I’ve recommended and also one I couldn’t put down. The book starts with a family history for you can’t appreciate the main character(s) without knowing the women behind them. It’s not a spoiler to tell you Ava Lavender was born with the wings of a bird and obviously that makes her different. What surprised me is how much that didn’t matter. This book was a fairy tale of a different kind full of the ugly parts of the world and the most beautiful.
I’m doing a different kind of book list for 2016 and I’ll share that later. If you are looking for other good book recommendations, check out my 2014 list, my 2013 list, or my 2012 list.
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