Do you have reading more on your list of resolutions this year? I actually read a lot but I realized recently that my kids don’t actually see me reading. This year one of my resolutions is to sit down while they have afternoon reading time and read along with them. I’d rather the kids remember Mom as always having a book in her hands and not an iphone in her hands 😉
I usually read about 2 books a month and I am obsessed with Audible- so I listen to another 2 or 3 books per month.
Here are a few I have enjoyed recently and a few that I want to read in 2016. Some of these will be movies in 2016 so you might get a jump start reading these now.
Here goes:
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
A young girl leaves Ireland in the 1950’s to seek more opportunities and a better life in New York. She returns to Ireland and finds herself torn between the old life and her new life.
I loved this book and read it in a matter of days. This was a movie in late 2015 and should be released to DVD in March.
House of Thieves by Charles Belfoure
I recommended the Paris Architect a few times last year by this same author and was very happy to see he came out with a second book. This is another highly engrossing story of a wealthy architect in the 1800’s that finds himself blackmailed into helping a gang of thugs rob the clients and friends in his upperclass circle. I couldn’t put this one down. If you like John Grisham, you’ll love these books too.
All the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigiani
This is one of my very favorite authors and I read everything she writes. This story is a little different as we are taken back to the glamour of old Hollywood and you learn the story of Loretta Young as she meets Clark Gable filming the Call of the Wild in 1935. This is a fascinating story of Hollywood’s golden age. A perfect beach read for the summer. (If you do like this one, go back through some of her other books. They are all beautifully written, complicated and totally compelling stories.)
After You by Jojo Moyes
Did you read Me Before You last year? It was a massive hit and this is the follow up to that book- so start with Me Before You for sure. Oh and that will be a movie in 2016 (I think March) starring Neville Longbottom (from Harry Potter) who is now an absolutely gorgeous leading man. Enough said. Must.read. the.book and you will be dying for the follow up story- here it is.
How to Be Single by Liz Tucillo
I haven’t read this one yet but it will be a movie released in February and looks like a good one! The story of Julie, a thirty something New Yorker that sets out on a quest around the world to discover how women handle being single. This looks like it might be something like a modern Sex in the City and the female cast of the movie looks promising!
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
I haven’t read this one yet either but it was a big bestseller in 2015 and will be adapted by Steven Spielberg sometime in 2016. This is the story of an Australian man returning from WWI who lives in isolation with his young wife. They find a baby and a dead man one day and the story follows the consequences after the decisions they make involving the baby.
A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers
This was one of the New York Times best books of the year last year and it will also be a movie starring Tom Hanks. (yeah!) This is the story of a businessman that travels to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to save his family from financial disaster and pay his daughter’s college tuition.
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
This story sounds crazy- “A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection.” But this is written by Gillian Flynn and if you read any of her prior bestsellers (Gone Girl, Dark Places or Sharp Objects) you will probably want to jump on this one. I have this on my list to read ASAP as Gillian Flynn is creepy, slightly scary but completely and totally original and so compelling to me.
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
This one will be released in March 2016 and it is the same author as Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. This sounds charming and interesting and I can’t wait to read it. “At once haunting and effervescent, The Summer Before the War demonstrates the sure hand of a master. Helen Simonson’s characters enchant us, her English countryside beguiles us, and her historical intelligence keeps us at the edge of our seats. This luminous story of a family, a town, and a world in their final moments of innocence is as lingering and lovely as a long summer sunset.”
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
This will be released in April and is the story about a real life heroine from WWII. “New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France.” Sounds so interesting!
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
This will be released this week and here is the short description: “Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.”
My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Changed My Life by Ruth Reichl
I love Ruth Reichl and I have read all her books. She is a famous food critic and former editor of Gourmet magazine. This book chronicles her life after the magazine very siddenly folded and she disappeared into the kitchen to piece her life back together. It sounds melodramatic but I really have enjoyed all her books.
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
This will be released in May and it is the follow up to the popular 2015 book The Vacationers. “Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring.”
Spark Joy by Marie Kondo
Did you read the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up? If not you might be the only one that hasn’t read it 😉 It is strategies to just get rid of all the junk and clutter in your life once and for all. This was a massive hit and Spark Joy is the follow up book that offers more diagrams, tips and additional questions that have poured in from the first book.
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
So Robert Galbraith is a pen name of JK Rowling. This is her new series of stories that follow Cormoran Strike, a private detective in London. These books are nothing at all like Harry Potter but JK Rowling just has a way of pulling you into a story and I found that to be the case with these books. This is the third book in the Cormoran Strike series and it is about a crazy serial killer on the loose. The killer is somehow linked back to Cormoran and he needs to uncover the killer’s identity before someone close to him becomes the next victim. This is a gross subject matter and parts of the book are a bit disturbing BUT I hope you still give it a chance. I do not like creepy or scary books in general but these I can get through nightmare free 😉
(I think you can pick this one up without reading the other two books and this was my favorite of the three. I think they are all worth reading though- check them out here.)
So there are some books that I have enjoyed and am looking forward to reading this year. I hope there is a little something for everyone!
If you have read these books or have other books you enjoyed recently, please leave a comment below! I’d love to hear your thoughts and recommendations too!
And here are a few more book related posts you might enjoy:
18 Summer Book Recommendations
100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
PS: One way I manage my book lists and remember recommendations from others is by creating a Pinterest board dedicated to books. This helps with keeping track of suggestions for the kids too. You can see my Pinterest board here.
Gina says
I really appreciate these lists. I’m a huge fan of audible too! Look up “A Man Called Ove”. It was a great listen. Cute, funny and heartwarming. Probably one of my favorites of the year. Oh I also loved your New Years post. Brilliant!
Charlene says
Ok I will. Thanks Gina!
Sarah@TheOrthodoxMama says
Thanks for the recommendations! I tend to read a lot of nonfiction and YA fiction, so I appreciate the fiction pics. I just put All the Stars in the Heavens on hold at my library.
Charlene says
Oh I hope you like it! If you do her other books are so lovely and are totally chic lit but with beautiful stories. Lucia Lucia is one of my favorites.
Amber says
I loved the light between the oceans. Also I just read “A Dog’s Purpose” and loved it. I hightly recommend.
Chanda says
I also loved “All the Light we can not See”. It was very engaging. “Night Music” by Jojo Moyer was also very good.
Charlene says
Thanks Chanda!