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BEST OF THE YEAR > BEST OF 2016

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message 1: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 07:26AM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Dear friends in IR
Hope you all had a good reading year.

I am (like any other bookworm) always curious to peek in at others reading material, and I love to borrow books from other's virtual shelves.

It would be a great thing if each of us put down the best books we read this year.. in one post each...
So that we can pick and choose from others lists.

Thanks in advance :)

Idea courtesy - Indrani & Girish


message 2: by dely (new)
Dec 18, 2016 07:44AM

dely | 5488 comments Hey, there are still 13 days to go. This means, hopefully, several books yet to read!

I will update it the 31th December or the 1st January :D


message 4: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 08:04AM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
And please do vote here too
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...


message 5: by Meghana (last edited Dec 18, 2016 08:32AM) (new)
Dec 18, 2016 08:31AM

Meghana Sarathy | 3 comments I read a lot but I am the listing the best ones here..:
Love Connection
Love Reconnection
These two are the books written and are obviously my favourites :p
The rest are:
Author Anonymous
Pretty Stolen Dolls
Pretty Lost Dolls
Some Kind of Perfect
This is War, Baby
Whispers and the Roars
Solitary


message 7: by Nimy (new)
Dec 18, 2016 10:17AM

Nimy Sarah Alex (nsara) | 3 comments I am a book-dragon and I'll add few of my favorites...
Okay let me warn you that all these books that I would list would be either romances or might have few elements of romance.

1. Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Mederios
2. Battle for Bittora by Anuja Chauhan
3. Those Pricey Thakur Girls by Anuja Chauhan
4. Absolutely anything by Karen Rose.

Karen Rose is one author who I trust to get me out of my book slump. She writes crime thrillers and she writes well. No matter what the plot she gets her facts right and every book is a mail biting page-turner.


message 8: by Shoa, @TheCupboardUnderTheStairs (new)
Dec 18, 2016 03:18PM

Shoa Khan (shoathekhan) | 10173 comments Mod
Awesome Idea!

My top 5 picks from this year's reading are:

1. Holes by Louis Sachar
Book review 5/5

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Book review 5/5

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Book review 5/5

4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Book review 5/5

5. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Book review 5/5


message 10: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 07:02PM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Manju... we have 2 in common _/\_


message 11: by Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game (new)
Dec 18, 2016 07:07PM

Em Lost In Books (emlostinbooks) | 24795 comments Mod
Em wrote: "Manju... we have 2 in common _/\_"

WoR and Good Earth?


message 12: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 07:11PM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Yes.. and am going to put up my best 5 too... underneath my awesome 17 :D


message 13: by Ankit (new)
Dec 18, 2016 08:05PM

Ankit | 644 comments Sorry the list is so long. I couldn't muster the strength to leave any of these out!

1. Cosmos by Carl Sagan

2. The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

3. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

4. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

5. The Martian by Andy Weir

6. Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower #5) by Stephen King

7. The Guardians of the Halahala by Shatrujeet Nath

8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

9. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

10. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

11. Godan by Premchand

12. The Stand by Stephen King

13. What If? by Randall Munroe

14. Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman

15. Black Friday by S. Hussain Zaidi

16. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne


message 14: by Vimal (new)
Dec 18, 2016 08:16PM

Vimal Thiagarajan (veeti) | 646 comments Great idea this.. Will update this post next week.


message 15: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 08:24PM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Ankit wrote: "Sorry the list is so long. I couldn't muster the strength to leave any of these out!

1. Cosmos by Carl Sagan

2. The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

3. [book:..."

Lengthier the better :D


message 16: by Siva (new)
Dec 18, 2016 08:44PM

Siva (sivacarunagiri) | 59 comments Em wrote: "EM's BEST of 2016 (in the order of reading last to first)
The Believers by Zoë Heller - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
World Without Endhttps://www.goodreads.com..."

Sea of Poppies is an amazing book. I am reading the second one in the Trilogy, River of Smoke and it's even better.


message 18: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 08:46PM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Siva wrote: "Em wrote: "EM's BEST of 2016 (in the order of reading last to first)
The Believers by Zoë Heller - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
World Without Endhttps://www.go..."

Read all 3 in 2016.. and I liked 1>2>3


message 19: by Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game (new)
Dec 18, 2016 08:54PM

Em Lost In Books (emlostinbooks) | 24795 comments Mod
Aparna wrote: "Nice idea :)
My top 5 picks for this year are :-
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
A Man Called Ove
The Good Earth
[book:The Curious Incid..."

tigana!<3 gave four stars to guernsey and good earth. very good books. :D


message 20: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 09:00PM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Guernsey is a mass favorite here... many of us read it this year it seems. :)


message 21: by Arpit (new)
Dec 18, 2016 09:16PM

Arpit (arpitjoshi) | 1332 comments Great inititative ! This way we get to know the best of the best books.

This year had been very good for me in terms of quality of books that I read. My top 7 picks would be :

1. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
2. Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide
3. Shantaram
4. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
5. The Complete Persepolis
6. Wonder
7. The Illicit Happiness of Other People


message 22: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 09:18PM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Yes, and we get to add many more books to the TBR pile..
Now my ToBeRead count is approaching 2000!


message 23: by Aadhithya (new)
Dec 18, 2016 09:27PM

Aadhithya MS Here is mine from 2016
1. Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami
2. Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki - Haruki Murakami
3. Illicit Happiness of other people - Manu Joseph
4. The Great Gatsby - Scott Fitzgerald
5. After Dark - Haruki Murakami
6. Factotum - Charles Bukowski


message 24: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 10:08PM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Have read first five, loved all, except perhaps Gatsby.
Factotum... will check out.


message 25: by Rags (last edited Dec 18, 2016 10:51PM) (new)
Dec 18, 2016 10:50PM

Rags | 805 comments Awesome initiative Em. Though I started to read again around month of October. Below are my top picks.

1.A Fine Balance
Rating :5/5

2.Slaughterhouse-Five
One of the best anti-war number.
Rating: 4/5

3.Aavarana - The Veil
Highly controversial book dealing with Muslim rule in India and also the view of the early Indian government. Not for the faint hearted. It made me squirm many times.
Rating: 3.5/5

4. Chowringhee
Fab 5/5

5.Cloud Atlas
Rating : 5/5

6.The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Rating : 5/5

7.Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way

A fantastic book on grit and bulldog determination.
Rating: 5/5

8.Nemesis
If you like fabulous writing which is not difficult to read.
Rating: 4/5

As the loony toons say at the end "That's all folks" :)


message 26: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 18, 2016 11:02PM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Good ones, Rags. Welcome back to Reading. :)


message 28: by Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game (new)
Dec 18, 2016 11:10PM

Em Lost In Books (emlostinbooks) | 24795 comments Mod
Shrikanth wrote: "My favorite book this years are:
Mumbai Avengers
The Cuckoo's Calling
The Silkworm
Career of Evil
The Seeker
[book:Th..."

am yet to read any of those. -_-


message 29: by books_dogs_coffee (new)
Dec 18, 2016 11:30PM

books_dogs_coffee (booksdogscoffee) I guess its been a good year because I've picked 10 out of the 20 books that I'll have read by the end of this year!

Fahrenheit 451
Unbelievably good! My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/510891255?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Toba Tek Singh: Stories
Sad but insightful.

The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag
This is one highly underrated book. It is non-fiction that reads like fiction. Best of both worlds. I'm in love with Corbett! <3

The Help
Don't need to say anything about this one.

South of the Border, West of the Sun
My first Murakami!

Burnt Shadows
Loved the journey across so many places.

Disgrace

The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam
Sad and miserable, but an experience.

On Balance, an Autobiography

One book that I couldn't get myself to rate but is still worth a read for the newness/exposure/experience: The Vegetarian


message 30: by E.T. (new)
Dec 18, 2016 11:37PM

E.T. | 549 comments I m listing books which I enjoyed but might have slipped others' noice.
1) On reading in Indian English - The Girl Who Ate Books: Adventures in Reading
2) On the indomitable West Indies cricket team under Lloyd - Fire in Babylon: How the West Indies Cricket Team Brought a People to its Feet
3) A philosophical digest of the Mahabharata - The Mahabharata: An Inquiry in the Human Condition
4) Book of the year for me - Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
5) Politics and Islam - Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World
6) The autobiography of the anti-extremist Maajid Nawaz - Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism
7) The road to prosperity - Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
8) Super fiction - The Treasure of Kafur
9) Reading science could be so delightful - A Short History of Nearly Everything
10) The best historical fiction I have ever read. Thank u for relieving the white man's burden. Sea of Poppies


message 31: by E.T. (new)
Dec 18, 2016 11:42PM

E.T. | 549 comments I read a dozen books on Bollywood this year. A special mention for Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Nasreen Munni Kabir- loved her book-length interviews on Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Ar Rahman and Waheeda Rehman.


message 33: by Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game (new)
Dec 19, 2016 12:54AM

Em Lost In Books (emlostinbooks) | 24795 comments Mod
Aditi wrote: "I guess its been a good year because I've picked 10 out of the 20 books that I'll have read by the end of this year!

Fahrenheit 451
Unbelievably good! My review: https://www.goodr..."

have read help only and it just didn't work for me.


message 34: by Pankaj (last edited Dec 19, 2016 01:13AM) (new)
Dec 19, 2016 01:13AM

Pankaj Giri | 82 comments The Forgotten Daughter
Sister of My Heart
The Kite Runner


message 35: by Ankit (new)
Dec 19, 2016 02:28AM

Ankit | 644 comments Arvind wrote: "I read a dozen books on Bollywood this year. A special mention for Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Nasreen Munni Kabir- loved her book-length interviews on Javed Akhtar, Gulza..."

I have Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Written by Salim-Javed on Kindle library and am going to start with the latter one very soon.

Will also check out those interview books. They seem interesting.


message 36: by Bookish Veenita (new)
Dec 19, 2016 04:20AM

Bookish Veenita (bookishveenita) Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones Currently reading it.
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

These books are top on my list.


message 37: by Rebecca (new)
Dec 19, 2016 09:09PM

Rebecca | 878 comments My top ones are

The Chequer Board Loved it. It was my type of book full of Hope

The House at Riverton A historical fiction with strong Female characters and a mystery..

Tigana A fantasy that appeared more real than life
.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Surprised me and bought tears to my eyes at places

The Housekeeper and the Professor A lyrical read, Short and sweet.


message 38: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 19, 2016 09:56PM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Chequer board and Housekeeper in my TBR :)


message 39: by Ameena (new)
Dec 19, 2016 10:04PM

Ameena Mohamed | 2 comments The Kite Runner- Khalid Hosseini
How to fall in love- Cecelia Ahern
Storm and Silence- Robert Thier
In the Eye of the Storm(S&S-2)- Robert Their
Goat days-Benyamin


message 42: by Gorab, TheGunman (new)
Dec 20, 2016 03:44AM

Gorab (itsgorab) | 3765 comments Mod
Surely more than 15 but I'll try to limit top 5 and why I loved them...

1. A Suitable Boy - Read it for the first three months and enjoyed indulging in the lives of each and every character.
2. गोरा - Rich and thoughtful altercations of Brahmo Samaj and Hindu.
3. Kafka on the Shore - Strongest hangover. Read a lot "about" this book after reading and that made it much more enjoyable.
4. गुनाहों का देवता / Gunahon Ka Devta - Conflicting thoughts with the dilemmas of love, lust, friendship, trust, honour and code of conduct. Loved thinking from each character's perspective.
5. Would have been Dozakhnama : Jab Manto Hue Ghalib se RuBuRu for its brilliant writing. But have read only 50% and want to continue over the next year :)

Not surprisingly, the common element among them - buddy reads with lively and enriching discussions on each!


message 43: by Rebecca (new)
Dec 20, 2016 03:54AM

Rebecca | 878 comments Gorab wrote: "Surely more than 15 but I'll try to limit top 5 and why I loved them...

1. A Suitable Boy - Read it for the first three months and enjoyed indulging in the lives of each and every cha..."

Wow! Quite a list and good sum up of each book.


message 44: by Rebecca (new)
Dec 20, 2016 03:55AM

Rebecca | 878 comments Nishith wrote: "Still Alice
Savithri's Special Room and Other Stories
Revenge by Yōko Ogawa
Sister of My Heart
[book:Before We Visit the G..."

Savithris special room in my TBR. waiting for the price to drop..


message 45: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 20, 2016 04:34AM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
Have to check out how special Savitris room is ;-)


message 46: by Girish, The Good cop (last edited Dec 20, 2016 05:31AM) (new)
Dec 20, 2016 04:53AM

Girish (kaapipaste) | 2837 comments Mod
I'm still not done with 2016 (and this book I am reading might feature - recency effect).

These are my picks so far
1. Em and The Big Hoom - Easily my best read of this year among some really good books!
2. Invisible Cities - The magical mad genius of Calvino!
3. Possession - Absolutely fascinating literary gem and worthy booker winner.
4. Slaughterhouse-Five - Mad genius - powerful book - mind blowing!
5. The Reader - Haunting book. Not a 5 starrer and yet I had to mention.

Honourable Mention (Had to forcefully keep them out at Number 5):
1. Cloud Atlas
2. Ghachar Ghochar


message 48: by Rathi (last edited Dec 20, 2016 10:05PM) (new)
Dec 20, 2016 10:01PM

Rathi Menon | 2 comments My nominations for best of 2016:
1. One Indian Girl

2. The Coming of Noah's 2nd Ark: Apocalypse & Hyperspace Jumping
The Coming of Noah's 2nd Ark Apocalypse & Hyperspace Jumping by Matthew Ilayathu


message 49: by Niveditha (new)
Dec 21, 2016 08:21AM

Niveditha Ravindra (nivedithar) | 155 comments This is a great idea! It was a special year for me on the reading front as I managed to complete 100 books for the first time in a calendar year (108 and still counting!) For the best books, I will include all the books that I rated 5/5 this year-

River of Smoke
The Invention of Wings
A Little Life
The Pillars of the Earth
Saving Fish from Drowning
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories
Quidditch Through the Ages
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Fowl Language: Welcome to Parenting
The Nix

Honourable mentions (4/5) are too many, so I will restrict myself to just 5 here-
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
The Casual Vacancy
The Bell Jar
Station Eleven

Unfortunately for 2017, the plan is to actually cut down on the reading as I need to focus on other commitments :(


message 50: by Ahtims (new)
Dec 21, 2016 08:24AM

Ahtims (embeddedinbooks) | 47125 comments Mod
A good list, Niveditha..
And sorry to know about your 2017 reading plans.. still, hoping that you will read some gems in 2017.


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