I'm sure you haven't forgotten (I had) which books we have read this year but in case you just want to see them all in one place -This year we have reviewed:
January
Did anyone remember that the first book we kicked off WAY back in January was Vanity Fair by William Makepeace? Nope I didn't. I developed a 30 day habit during the reading of this door-stopper which was awarded 6.2 by the group and was much more enjoyable than steamed kale.
February
A reworking (or should that be a follow on?) of Alice In Wonderland was next up. Alice by Christina Henry was a mish mash of very violent scenes followed by periods of time where not much happened. Not quite a young adult book, not quite adult fiction. We had little empathy for the main character (Alice, unsurprisingly) and awarded it a 6.
March
A venture into non fiction, Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss was March's Book of The Month that had us all reaching for the Skyr yoghurt. Recounting the year Sarah and her family spent in Iceland we scored it an 8 and search results for 'Trips to Iceland' were on everyone's Google history.
April
The Dry by Jane Harper, a thriller set in the drought riddled Australian outback was our choice for April. We scored it a 9 for its excellent plot, setting and lack of cliches. It proves a cop thriller can be successful with a main character who isn't a functioning alcoholic, gets along with his superiors and may, just may be marriage material.
May
Women and Power by Mary Beard was another one I had completely forgotten we had read. A fantastic cover gave way to a very thin book that I read in an hour. Feeling more like a first draft or a coffee table book, it's prettiness and briefness will no doubt reach a far wider audience than other books in the same genre. We awarded the full range of scores (1-10) with an average of 5.4
June
Set around 5 different people who each take a DNA test to 'Match' with the love of their life, The One by John Marrs was an interesting concept of a book. However there were far too many characters and VERY unbelievable twists which resulted in the now famous quote 'It's like a half past three channel 5 movie'. We gave it a 4.5
July
One of our most popular books that anyone and everyone seems to have read this year was This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay. Another venture into non fiction, this time following the life of a trainee doctor in the NHS. It was equally humorous and heart breaking. We awarded it 8.5
August
An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim was August's read after I won a competition and received five beautiful hardback copies through my letterbox. For a book that featured a deadly virus and time travel it was surprisingly not the post apocolypse read I thought I was in for with the term anti romance being more appropriate. We struggled with the main character however and with a range of scores it ended up with 4 out of 10.
September
After declaring I was a virgin (well an Agatha Christie one) the group settled on The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah for September. Writing in the style of Christie her depiction of Poirot was spot on. The plot however became unbelievable and most of us found the big reveal at the end to be, well, too big! We awarded it 5.
October
October saw the group taking a second literary trip to Iceland in less than 7 months. Snare by Lilja Sigurdardottir saw single mum Sonja negotiate life as a drugs mule in an effort to save enough money to regain custody of her son. With both an ex husband and an on again/off again, banker/crook girlfriend to deal with, life got even tougher when customs officer Bragi singled her out at the airport. It had some brilliant supporting characters, posed some excellent moral questions and was tenser than a stress-heads neck pre-massage. We awarded it 7.
November
Winning the title of 'most beautiful book of the year' was Uncommon Type by Hollywood Actor Tom Hanks. A collection of short stories all featuring in some way a typewriter. The group was divided, finding it a tad over indulgent and gave it a 6.5 overall.
December (#OneRuleOfBookClub)
Which just left us with December where we chose Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year by Laurie Lee. Beautiful descriptive writing from a slightly grumpy old man musing about his garden, his local pub and his childhood. Very evocative of time gone by we awarded it a very precise 7.1.
Book of the year?
Well scoring wise our highest was The Dry by Jane Harper, closely followed by This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay and Names For The Sea by Sarah Moss. Interesting that two of our top three were non fiction, a first for the group! It's a well worthy top three in what has been a good reading year for the book club - a very broad range of books covered with I think all of us having read something we had either never heard of or never would have read. When scores are so wide ranging you may find your favourite hasn't quite made it. If that applies to you let us know which was your favourite out of this lot.
Happy New Year! Don't forget January's Book Of The Month is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (24 January).
January
Did anyone remember that the first book we kicked off WAY back in January was Vanity Fair by William Makepeace? Nope I didn't. I developed a 30 day habit during the reading of this door-stopper which was awarded 6.2 by the group and was much more enjoyable than steamed kale.
February
A reworking (or should that be a follow on?) of Alice In Wonderland was next up. Alice by Christina Henry was a mish mash of very violent scenes followed by periods of time where not much happened. Not quite a young adult book, not quite adult fiction. We had little empathy for the main character (Alice, unsurprisingly) and awarded it a 6.
March
A venture into non fiction, Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss was March's Book of The Month that had us all reaching for the Skyr yoghurt. Recounting the year Sarah and her family spent in Iceland we scored it an 8 and search results for 'Trips to Iceland' were on everyone's Google history.
April
The Dry by Jane Harper, a thriller set in the drought riddled Australian outback was our choice for April. We scored it a 9 for its excellent plot, setting and lack of cliches. It proves a cop thriller can be successful with a main character who isn't a functioning alcoholic, gets along with his superiors and may, just may be marriage material.
May
Women and Power by Mary Beard was another one I had completely forgotten we had read. A fantastic cover gave way to a very thin book that I read in an hour. Feeling more like a first draft or a coffee table book, it's prettiness and briefness will no doubt reach a far wider audience than other books in the same genre. We awarded the full range of scores (1-10) with an average of 5.4
June
Set around 5 different people who each take a DNA test to 'Match' with the love of their life, The One by John Marrs was an interesting concept of a book. However there were far too many characters and VERY unbelievable twists which resulted in the now famous quote 'It's like a half past three channel 5 movie'. We gave it a 4.5
July
One of our most popular books that anyone and everyone seems to have read this year was This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay. Another venture into non fiction, this time following the life of a trainee doctor in the NHS. It was equally humorous and heart breaking. We awarded it 8.5
August
An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim was August's read after I won a competition and received five beautiful hardback copies through my letterbox. For a book that featured a deadly virus and time travel it was surprisingly not the post apocolypse read I thought I was in for with the term anti romance being more appropriate. We struggled with the main character however and with a range of scores it ended up with 4 out of 10.
September
After declaring I was a virgin (well an Agatha Christie one) the group settled on The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah for September. Writing in the style of Christie her depiction of Poirot was spot on. The plot however became unbelievable and most of us found the big reveal at the end to be, well, too big! We awarded it 5.
October
October saw the group taking a second literary trip to Iceland in less than 7 months. Snare by Lilja Sigurdardottir saw single mum Sonja negotiate life as a drugs mule in an effort to save enough money to regain custody of her son. With both an ex husband and an on again/off again, banker/crook girlfriend to deal with, life got even tougher when customs officer Bragi singled her out at the airport. It had some brilliant supporting characters, posed some excellent moral questions and was tenser than a stress-heads neck pre-massage. We awarded it 7.
November
Winning the title of 'most beautiful book of the year' was Uncommon Type by Hollywood Actor Tom Hanks. A collection of short stories all featuring in some way a typewriter. The group was divided, finding it a tad over indulgent and gave it a 6.5 overall.
December (#OneRuleOfBookClub)
Which just left us with December where we chose Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year by Laurie Lee. Beautiful descriptive writing from a slightly grumpy old man musing about his garden, his local pub and his childhood. Very evocative of time gone by we awarded it a very precise 7.1.
Book of the year?
Well scoring wise our highest was The Dry by Jane Harper, closely followed by This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay and Names For The Sea by Sarah Moss. Interesting that two of our top three were non fiction, a first for the group! It's a well worthy top three in what has been a good reading year for the book club - a very broad range of books covered with I think all of us having read something we had either never heard of or never would have read. When scores are so wide ranging you may find your favourite hasn't quite made it. If that applies to you let us know which was your favourite out of this lot.
Happy New Year! Don't forget January's Book Of The Month is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (24 January).
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