I saw this meme over at The Bookworm Chronicles and decided this was the perfect way to showcase the books I read this year and loved or disappointed with.
In this meme, I catalog books in chunks of sixes like so:
Six new authors to me
- Abraham Verghese
- George R.R.Martin
- Alice Munro
- Jonathan Safran Foer
- Jo Nesbo
- Kishwar Desai
Six authors I have read before
- Neil Gaiman
- Helen Fielding
- Kathy Reichs
- Salman Rushdie
- F.Scott Fitzgerald
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Six authors I am looking forward to reading more of
- Haruki Murakami
- John le Carré
- Téa Obreht
- Gillian Flynn
- Alice Munro
- George R.R.Martin
Six books I have enjoyed the most
- Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World – Haruki Murakami
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John le Carré
- Night Film – Marisha Pessl
- The Tiger’s Wife – Téa Obreht
- TransAtlantic – Colum McCann
Six books I was disappointed with
- The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
- Polka Dots, Pony Tails and Purple Pouts – Amrita Anand Nayak
- Spying in High Heels – Gemma Halliday
- The House at Riverton – Kate Morton
- Wedding Night – Sophie Kinsella
- The Bat – Jo Nesbo
Six series of books read or started
- A Song of Ice and Fire – George R.R.Martin (read all the books in the series so far)
- The Harry Hole series – Jo Nesbo (read two books in this series)
- The Temperance Brennan series – Kathy Reichs (read the first book)
- Bridget Jones – Helen Fielding (read the final book in this trilogy)
- Private series – James Patterson and Mark Sullivan (read one of the books in this series)
- The Maddie Springer series – Gemma Halliday (read the first book)
Overall, though, I am very happy with the books I read this year. Even the dud books had something to recommend them. It was very very hard to come up with a top 6 and bottom 6 list this year.
What were your favorite books/authors this year? Which books were your reading disappointments?
That was a nice list. I discovered Martin too last year.
I may not be able to comment on your blog frequently. After you switched to disqus, I am having trouble commenting here. My office network blocks it and I am not able to comment from office.
@Ava: Oh no, your office blocks it? I moved to Disqus because some bloggers were complaining about the WordPress system. Sigh! Nothing is universal 🙁
This is a great way to sum it up! A best for me was The Orenda by Joseph Boyden. A disappointment was Transatlantic by Colum McCann. I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would.
@Naomi: TransAtlantic is a funny one. I know most people were disappointed by it. I’ve never read any book by Colum McCann before, and I was pleasantly surprised by his writing style.
This is a good one. I am also waiting for the year to end to put up something to sum up the year in books.
@reemasahay:disqus looking forward to reading your list 🙂
So Fun!
@veens:disqus thanks 🙂