After wading through my reading highs and lows, these 10 titles floated to the top. A weirdly eclectic mix, I gotta say, a byproduct of my reading co-challenge. Just for fun, I included my star ratings. *Note that I’m not the most generous 5-star giver, but three books this year captured my heart. I bumped two others up the list due to their powerful storytelling. Excited to see everyone’s lists today!
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl since January of 2018. Jana writes, “it was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” In that spirit, link up with your list at That Artsy Reader Girl and comment with your list, link, or thoughts below.
10. The Dream Thieves / Maggie Stiefvater. ★★★☆☆ Of the many sequels/2nds in series I’ve read this year, this I enjoyed the most.
9. All the President’s Men / Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward ★★★★☆
8. The Girl With All the Gifts / M.R. Carey ★★★★☆
7. Far From the Madding Crowd / Thomas Hardy ★★★★☆
6. What Made Maddy Run / Kate Fagan ★★★★☆
5. Beastie Boys Book / Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz ★★★★★
4. Blood, Water, Paint / Joy McCullough ★★★★☆
3. The Nickel Boys / Colson Whitehead (favorite book cover) ★★★★☆
2. The Name of the Wind / Patrick Rothfuss★★★★★
1. A Man Called Ove / Fredrick Backman ★★★★★
Season’s Readings book lovers, wishing everyone a year of juicy books ahead.
The Scented Library 
“All the President’s Men” is one I’ve heard of but never gotten to. It’s about the Watergate drama?
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It is! An up close account written by the reporters who broke the case and the battle the Post had in defending them against the President’s inner circle. It chronicled a real pound-the-pavement reporting that was fascinating and no longer practiced today. I read it for book from my birth decade for my reading challenge 😊
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I loved OVE! One of my favorites from 2013!
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Don’t know why I waited so long however, after reading, it felt like I’d always known it. I’ll keep Ove locked in my heart.
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I read The Girl with All the Gifts several years ago and loved it!
My TTT.
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That was my biggest surprise this year, creepy and haunting but memorable and human:)
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I loved Ove. He’s so prickly. I’m hopefully going to read Beartown this year.
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He is in the most endearingway:) I plan to read Beartown too!
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I plan to read Beartown too, I’ve been told to have my tissues handy:)
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I really liked The Dream Thieves and Far From the Madding Crowd. I haven’t read the rest yet.
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TDT had its flaws but carried an energy and quality too often lacking from 2nd’s in a series, whereas I was nervous about FFTMC, it was exceptional. Think I’ve found a new classic author to read in Hardy. Thanks for stopping by:)
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Love The Raven Cycle series. It took me two reads to really appreciate Dream Thieves. To me it was the hardest book to love in the series. 🙂
Happy New Year! My TTT
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That is interesting, I can see how a second read would benefit with all of the pieces coming together as they do. I still love the first book more, but enjoyed getting to know Ronan. He’s the best written character and I loved MS’s take on him.
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Great reading! I also loved The Nickel Boys. Backman also wrote my favourite international books for 2019 – Beartown/Us Against You and now sadly I have finished reading all his books. My favourite Aussie reads were Power of One (thanks for your rec) and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland. Favourite non fiction were Becoming and The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper.
I had a great reading year in 2019 and really looking forward to 2020.
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Backman has a special way with characters that allows them to reside in the heart. That is where I keep Ove, kind of like a touchstone💜 Looking forward to reading Beartown in 2020, guess I’m lucky to have more FB to read.
Courtenay is another special writer, I should seek out more of his books too, have you read any others? I dont think he was as prolific.
I had a pretty quality reading year too, always happy to see what you’re reading, Mari😁 thank you!
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I gave The Girl With All the Gifts to Will for Christmas (also the sequel or the prequel, IDK, The Boy on the Bridge) and he devoured it in a few days. So excellent recommendation, my friend!
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Cool. Twas’ a quick intense read. I’d love to know his thoughts on it, because there were definitely some plot questions…
Unsure if I’ll read the next one, it was a satisfying finish so I don’t feel I need to, yet.
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Yeah, he really liked them both, but said there were some pretty big differences between the movie and the first book. Solid recommendation from him, but only if you’re interested in diving back into that world again.
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I loved A Man Called Ove! I want to read it again at some point. Have you seen the movie production made of the novel?
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I *think” the movie may be on Amazon Prime.
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Nope. I just read the book. Is the movie good?
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Ooh, thank you! I’ll seek it out when I need a good cry💓
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I haven’t yet.
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Oh, and also I went to comment on your 2019 reading review post but it said comments are closed. I was going to say that I have The Bear and the Nightingale sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me. I heard it was really good and so when I saw the hardback on the clearance shelf at a local bookstore, I grabbed it and bought it! 🙂
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I did not know that about comments closed. I’ll check on that. Thanks for commenting here.
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Sorry bout that, I never changed my discussion pre-sets, but I have now. Should be open for business. I enjoyed B and N very much and need to own a copy too. Funnily enough I didn’t discover the glossary of Russian words till after reading, lol.
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