Monday, January 22, 2018

The Books of 2017


Late to the gate on this one. It was a year of illness, discombobulation and moving. All very stressful. But I managed 59 books of various interests and genres.

There were many goodies, some dreck, some re-reads, but over all some stellar reads. Now I must start on listing 2018 so far. You can click on the sidebar for updates.

Here's the list:

(1)Leaving Earth - Helen Humphries *****
(2)Commonwealth - Ann Patchett *****
(3)The Last Half of the Year - Paul Rowe *
(4)A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara *
(5)Single Mothers Speak on Patriarchy - Anthology *****
(6)212 - Alafair Burke ****
(7)More than a Mountain - T.A. Loeffler **
(8)The Bridge Ladies - Betsy Lerner ****
(9)Vinegar Hill - Manette Ansay *****
(10)The Couple Next Door - Shari Lapena ****
(11)Picture Perfect - JOdi Picoult ** done with Jodi.
(12)Booked to Die - John Dunning ****
(13)Did you Ever Have a Family - Bill Clegg ****
(14)A Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews {BC} 2nd time reading. Fabulouos book.*****
(15)The End of the Line - Clayton D. Cook ***
(16)The Nest - Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney *****
(17)The Bookman's Wake - John Dunning** (off him now)
(18)Things I overheard when talking to myself - Alan Alda***
(19)Unholy Orders - Michael Harris
(20)Saving Grace - Jane Green 0
(21)When the Moon is Low - Nadia Hashimi*****
(22)Red Bay Labrador - Tuck & Grenier *****
(23)Come Thou Tortoise - Jessica Grant ***** 3rd Re-read {BC}
(24)The Girls in the Garden - Lisa Jewel * {BC}
(24)The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Attwood *****(again)
(25)Racket - Anthology - Various *****
(26)The Condition - Jennifer Haigh*****
(27)The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway*****{BC}
(28)In the Cold Night Wind - Owen Hiscock**(terrible editing)
(29)Wolf - Mo Hayden*****
(30)The Humans - Matt Honig****
(31)The Necklace of Occasional Dreams - Kathleen Winter*****
(32)The Wonder - Emma Donoghue*****
(33)The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski (1/2 thru realized I'd read it before)***
(34)Poppet - Mo Hayden****
(35)Iron House - John Hart - Dropped at page 272, violence and predictability was too tiresome**
(36)Wild Life - Molly Gloss
(37)The Girl in the Red Coat - Kate Hamer*****
(38)The Labrador Fiasco - Margaret Attwood*****
(39) Song of the Humpback Whale - Jodi Picoult
(40)The Gate to Women's Country - Sheri S. Tepper
(41)Annie Freeman's Fabulous Travelling Funeral - Kris Radish *{BC}
(42)Behind Closed Doors - B.A. Paris*****
(43)Baker Towers - Jennifer Haigh*****
(44)Medicine Walk - Richard Wagamese*****
(45)The Day I died - Lore Rader-Day**
(45)Creaking in their Skins - Michael Winter **
(46)Swim Back to Me - Ann Packer*****
(47)Crying for the Moon - Mary Walsh*
(48)Don't Say we have Nothing - Madeleine Thien***{BC}
(49)Please Look After Mom - Kyung-Sook Shin****
(50)The Heart Goes Last - Margaret Attwood**
(51)First Snow, Last Light - Wayne Johnston*****
(52)Dear Everybody - Anne Budgell*****{BC}
(53)The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne*****
(54)Songs Without Words - Anne Packer*****
(55)Salt to the Sea - Rita Sepetys****
(56)Away From Everywhere - Chad Pelley**{BC}
(57)It Never Made Sense - Ross Morton - a friend, not rating.
(58)The Art of Mending - Elizabeth Berg*****
(59)On Dublin Street - Samantha Young 0




TOTAL TO DATE: 59 {BC}=Book Club}
Ratings:0(awful) *(poor)**(fair)***(good)****(very good)*****(excellent)

9 comments:

  1. Thank you for compiling this list. I've been waiting to spend some birthday money, and this list will inform my search for books.

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  2. The only two I've read are The Handmaid's Tale and Commonwealth. I totally agree with your five stars for the latter. And I'm looking forward to the second TV series of the former. I read about 40 books last year. I can't keep up with you, I'm a slowish reader....

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  3. The only two I've read are The Handmaid's Tale and Commonwealth. I totally agree with your five stars for the latter. And I'm looking forward to the second TV series of the former. I read about 40 books last year. I can't keep up with you, I'm a slowish reader....

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  4. I too will go through your list for recommendations.

    Just finished Priestdaddy. Highly recommend. I found the author's writing to be breathtaking in spots. Some will be put off by her "reputation" (of which I was unaware and wouldn't have cared anyway) and will miss the beauty of her writing. That would be a shame.

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  5. Reading is my one great pleasure remaining. Luckily it’s something I can do now, I can concentrate in spite of my thoughts frequently being walkabout. So your list will come in very handily.

    I am sorry about your many trials and tribulations, I will catch up fully, just scrolled back to see that you have left your former abode to go live in town. But of luck, may it all come right in the end.

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  6. Very impressive WWW. I read mostly Indian authors and books on Religion and Spiritualism last year. I have started off this year with Taleb's Antifragile which is tough going to say the least but interesting nevertheless.

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  7. Always enjoy seeing your annual book list and ratings

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  8. WOW! I hang my head in shame, WWW! I've been watching far too much Netflix to get around to doing much reading. I have read "Handmaid's Tale" though, and enjoyed it - though 'enjoy' doesn't seem quite right bearing in mind its theme. Great writing though.

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  9. Do you do Goodreads? I take their challenge over year. The last few years I've set it at 52 books, thinking that averaging a book a week is respectable. In 2018 I ended up reading 70 books all told. I'm already ten in this year, so I'm way ahead of schedule. I often read more in the winter, though.

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