Top 10: Books of 2016
I’m back! What do you mean, you didn’t notice I was gone? Are these posts not the highlight of your week?! Truth be told, after six weeks of three blog posts a week, I stumbled up against my first writer’s block. It’s a thing! Who knew?!
I have SO many books I want to share with you that I became almost paralysed by the choice. This brain-freeze coincided with a busy week in my Real Life, but also with a couple of twinges of frustration at the capriciousness of social media algorithmic behaviour. I’m not kidding myself that thousands of people are sitting just waiting to read what I’m sharing, but posts on FB and Insta are being seen by barely a handful. I know that’s just capitalism and They want me to pay to have the posts boosted - but stick that for a game of soldiers. I shall continue to believe in the power of good reads and excellent literature, and will keep putting out content that others may or may not see, and may or may not choose to read. I’m enjoying myself so stick that in yer pipe and smoke it, capitalism.
So, 2016 huh? As I alluded to in the 2015 Top Ten post, this was the year when the news cycle began to pick up pace to the dizzying circuitousness we are now so familiar with. Revelation on top of referendum on top of presidential election. Calais jungle clearances, Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the Euros in France. In June we were asking what had happened. In November we were wondering if life would ever be the same. Now, in hindsight, we know it won’t be.
The one constant, though, is that there were good books read. Perhaps less than most years; this was the summer of Twitter pull-and-refresh, in perpetual horror at what might be revealed each time (pigs heads, is all I’m saying). Through the fog, though, I have managed to delve deep to find the ten books I noted as my favourites of the year.
Fiona’s Top 10 Books of 2016
Pretty Honest – Sali Hughes
Furiously Happy – Jenny Lawson
Mr Mercedes – Stephen King
Crooked Heart – Lissa Evans
Someone Else’s Love Story – Joshilyn Jackson
The First Phone Call From Heaven – Mitch Albom
Station Eleven – Emily St John Mandel
Papillon – Henri Charriere
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
A Man Called Ove – Frederik Backman
Pretty Honest - Sali Hughes
Straight in there with some non-fiction, Pretty Honest is the book that every face-haver should own. Sali is a journalist and beauty editor, and is on a mission to cut through the nonsense that we are sold daily about must-have skin-care and make-up. Although a few years old, the book doesn’t date; she covers everything from what order to put on your skincare, to why SPF is the bare minimum we should all be wearing. For those of us who feel like we missed the ‘being a girl’ classes, to the chicest catwalk star, Sali Hughes has something for you to learn. The hardback is a beaut, too, and makes for an excellent gift.
Buy Pretty Honest from bookshop.org
Furiously Happy – Jenny Lawson
The most bonkers and eccentric book I read in 2016, and possibly ever. Penned by Jenni Lawson, also known as The Bloggess (knock, knock). A journalist, writer, mother, wife, depression-survivor, cat-whisperer: Lawson is brutally honest about the pain and pleasures of life. Including sections on The time I lost both my arms in a sleeping accident and The neighbourhood swans that tried to eat me, I would strongly advise you not to read this book in public if you don’t want people looking at you with concerned expressions on their faces.
Buy Furiously Happy from Amazon
Buy Furiously Happy from bookshop.org
Mr Mercedes – Stephen King
The first in a trilogy, Mr Mercedes starts with a vicious attack on people queuing overnight for a state job fair. We meet survivors of the attack and others who are drawn unwillingly into the net of the mysterious assailant. The titular Mercedes is violently anthropomorphised, and the sense of menace is taught and sustained throughout. We meet Bill Hodges, a private investigator who is launched into the search for the perp. Mr Mercedes is different to King’s usual books, but is an incredible thriller and well worth your time.
Buy Mr Mercedes from bookshop.org
Crooked Heart – Lissa Evans
A new perspective on London evacuees tells the story of young Noel, who ends up living with Vera - a thirty-something who is up to her ears in debt and who senses an opportunity in this new young boy. The genius of this book is that every character is significantly flawed; there’s none that are easy to like or who fit a good-or-evil dichotomy. Instead, opportunism and people making the best of a bad situation shine a light on the things we like to think we wouldn’t do, but probably would if no-one were looking.
Buy Crooked Heart from bookshop.org
Someone Else’s Love Story – Joshilyn Jackson
Joshilyn Jackson specialises in difficult stories, which turn expectations upside down and look at life from a new angle. In Someone Else’s Love Story, we meet Shandi who is on her way to start a new life with her 3 year old son in tow. Caught up in an armed robbery, we see the power of pressurised situations to bring people together and to force emotions which otherwise would have passed us by. Love, life, consequence and humour - it’s all here.
Buy Someone Else’s Love Story from Amazon
Buy Someone Else’s Love Story from bookshop.org
The First Phone Call From Heaven – Mitch Albom
I reviewed another Mitch Albom book, Tuesdays With Morrie, a few weeks ago for The Gumption Initiative. The First Phone Call From Heaven is well in keeping with Albom’s typical prose style - spare and leaving much to the reader’s imagination, but with a gentle wonder at the emotion of life. In small-town Michigan, grieving families begin receiving phone calls from the afterlife. In the rush to ascertain the truth and to break the story, people’s weaknesses and deepest desires are brought to the fore.
Buy The First Phone Call From Heaven from Amazon
Buy The First Phone Call From Heaven from bookshop.org
Station Eleven – Emily St John Mandel
We all love a bit of post-apocalyptic dystopian fiction, and 2016 was the perfect backdrop for reading Station Eleven. In the midst of a growing global pandemic, the world’s infrastructure is crumbling and society is falling apart. The normal rules no longer apply. Mandel introduces a range of characters and traces their individual stories, interweaving them as the book moves forward and backwards through time. A well-paced and descriptive book, you are drawn in and reminded that nothing in life is guaranteed.
Buy Station Eleven from Amazon
Buy Station Eleven from bookshop.org
Papillon – Henri Charriere
Papillon is one of those books that I thought I’d read - until I realised I’d only seen the film. As usual, the book is a million times better. Charriere was convicted of a murder he did not commit, and has been transported to an overseas penal colony. Papillon is his nickname, and the book tells the story of his subsequent escapes and re-captures. How many of each I will leave you to discover for yourself. I absolutely loved the perpetual optimism of this tale in the face of some pretty bleak circumstances.
Buy Papillon from bookshop.org
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
The first of the seven volumes of Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings tells of her early life, having been left with her grandparents in the American South. The full set of books is powerfully vivid, and speaks to power, abuse, race and gender. If you only read one autobiography this year, make it this one.
Buy I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings from Amazon
Buy I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings from bookshop.org
A Man Called Ove – Frederik Backman
Ove is the quintessential grumpy old man, trailing people who park outside the marked residents’ bays and intolerant of every person and behaviour. His wife has died and he wants nothing more than to join her; she was his link to normal society and he is lost without her. He is foiled in his suicide attempt and reluctantly becomes embroiled in the lives of some of his annoying neighbours. A few people hate this book, but most absolutely love it. It’s a reminder of the good and the beautiful things in life.
I hope you’ve been able to find something in this list that appeals to you. Or maybe you’ve read one or more of them already and would like to share your thoughts? Opinions and chat welcomed, either in the comments below, or on social media.
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