Best Books in 2016

It’s early 2017 and time to look back on last year’s best reads, which is something I’ve done before (for 2015 and 2014).

Goodreads says I read 63 books in 2016. Seeing that I didn’t enter all books in there, the total number would be a little higher, perhaps by 10 or so. Anyway, it is more than in 2015, when I listed 43 books in Goodreads. Why? I have no idea! I don’t think I’ve spent that much more time reading, but perhaps I have. Oh, and in early 2016, I seem to have made a New Year’s resolution to read more books! I had actually forgotten all about that... but it means I actually managed to find a resolution I could stick to. ;)

In terms of ratings, only a handful of books received 5 stars. However, there was quite a big bunch of four star books, many three star books, and only a few two star books. So, overall, I read pretty good books last year. My average rating was 3.4 (but it must be said that there were many books I didn’t rate at all). Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

One of the few five-star ratings went, as expected, to “Children of Earth and Sky” by Guy Gavriel Kay. I’ll try to write a review at some point; right now I feel too close to the book still (it was one of my holiday reads this year, after all) to be able to say much except that I loved it.

Another one of the top books was “Haukka, minun rakkaani” by Kaari Utrio. The novel is set in Medieval Finland; while not Utrio’s best, there’s still plenty of historical detail, humour and adventure. A newly built Raseborg Castle is threatened by enemies. In the midst of battles and power struggles, Lady Blanka is pursued by a gorgeous knight... and a battle-axe-wielding, huge and hairy pagan. Do I need to say more? 😋 Yes, this sort of thing does work for me, but it must be done right. Utrio knows how.

Another five-star rating went to “The Paris Wife” by Paula McLain about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife – you can read my review here.

This was actually one of my trends in 2016: I seem to have been into books about authors and/or writing. In addition to ”The Paris Wife”, there was “Possession” by A. S. Byatt about fictional 19^th century poets and literary analysis (my thoughts here), “Mistress Shakespeare” by Karen Harper about Shakespeare and the love of his life (which I enjoyed a great deal but never managed to review) and “Mrs. Poe” by Lynn Cullen about Edgar Allan Poe and Frances Osgood, who was also a writer, and their affair. “The Shakespeare Secret” would also go into this category... and perhaps ”The Hours” by Michael Cunningham which I was also going to review but didn’t. ”The Hours”, however, made me want to read something by Virginia Woolf – and I picked ”Orlando”, which, of course, also deals with writing! Then there was “Reader, I Married him”, a collection of short stories inspired by “Jane Eyre” (I might write a review later).

Just to mention a few others... Cyrano de Bergerac – I’ve seen film adaptations, but finally got around to reading the ”real thing” - funny, sweet but so tragic!

Phil Rickman’s “The Man in the Moss” and “The Chalice” were both very enjoyable. Again, a good combination of history, myth and mystery – and great writing; I wish I could set the mood the way Rickman does.

I must also mention the anthology “Dangerous Women” (I even wrote a review).

I feel like I should say something smart in conclusion, but I can’t think of anything (this seems to happen to me with every post). I had not even set myself a reading challenge (nor will I) – but, looking at my year in books in Goodreads, it is obvious that I read a variety of very different kinds of books from different genres, eras, themes and topics. Therefore, I guess I can say that 2016 was another adventurous year – at least in terms of books!