2016 Reads

I usually post my top ten reads of the year but 2016 begs a little annotation. This past year especially each read was not an 'everybody should read this book' book. 

A Stolen Life is not the most literary memoir but it is poignant and heartbreaking and in the end hopeful that one human being can be so cruel to another and yet that abused soul can survive and regain her life. 

Several YA books are in my top reads of the year of course. Books like Cinder, Red Queen, Maus, and Challenger Deep. Cinder, a play on Cinderella but with cyborgs, and Red Queen are both dystopian fantasies. Good starts to series that make me want to continue reading. Maus is a graphic novel about the holocaust told by a man whose father suffered terribly. It is a refreshingly simple take on a topic that sometimes feels like we've heard all there is to tell. Speigelman reminds us that every story is unique and I love his honesty. Challenger Deep surprised me because I thought I knew what the book was going to be and it turned out to be something completely different. Its a story about mental illness told from the point of view of a young boy who isn't sure who he can trust, including himself. 

Be Frank is one of those mainstream books that everybody reads but then surprised me by being really good. I enjoyed getting to know Frank. It's funny and heartbreaking and entertaining and insightful. Sweet story.

Prodigal Summer is beautifully written. Barbara Kingsolver is one of my top five authors of all time and this one does not disappoint. I would recommend reading it in the summer. It intertwines people and wildlife and farming and family dynamics in a unique and entertaining way.  

Beautiful Disaster is a racy, edgy, gripping younger novel but not quite what I group as young adult. Recommended to me by an older student reader, this series feeds those of us who liked Twilight and other books with characters who make ridiculous choices. Apparently there is something that appeals to us about these characters!

The Farm is a self published book by the grandfather of one of my students. I loved it. It is based in my home town and so the stories of the places and people I know just spoke to me. It's funny, honest, and just a good, good book. 

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is this year's classic that took me by surprise. Incredibly easy to read and get into, this one was entertaining and suspenseful. I loved it!