Top Ten Tuesday | Best Books of 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Best Books I Read in 2015', and considering how wonderful this past reading year has been I had a lot of books to choose from. There were a few graphic novels I loved this year too, but to make things a little easier for myself I decided to leave them out and just talk about traditional novels instead.

I've put these in the order I read them because I couldn't possibly rank them, although there are one or two that have made it onto my all-time favourite books list!

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent: This is the very first book I read this year, and it started a year of fantastic reading for me. It's a brilliant read for the winter months, so now is a perfect time to pick it up! It'll break your heart, but it's beautifully written.

My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland: This book made my list because it took me by surprise. I expected to like it - it sounded fun, and I loved the cover - but I flew through it and just loved it. It's such a great urban fantasy read!

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Another one that took me completely by surprise and wrung me out so it could collect all of my emotions in a little tin bucket. This is my favourite book of 2015. There. I said it. It's also a book that I'm desperate for more people to read, because other than my friend Natalie @ A Sea Change I haven't seen any other bloggers talking about it and it's so good. Please read it!

How To Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis: I was really disappointed when this memoir ended. I just really enjoyed it, and if you're a fan of literary heroines I think you'd like it a lot, too. I know some people aren't keen on non-fiction, but I can promise you that this is a truly excellent memoir.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Yup. I finally read To Kill a Mockingbird this year and I loved it. It's such a shame that Harper Lee never wrote anything else. (Yes, I know there's Go Set a Watchman, but don't let publishers trick you - it's not a sequel, it's basically a manuscript of what To Kill a Mockingbird might have been if her editor hadn't told her to write more about Scout's childhood.) In Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear Elizabeth Gilbert talks a little bit about Harper Lee, and how the huge success that was To Kill a Mockingbird made Harper Lee afraid to write anything else because it could never be as good. I wish people didn't ask authors - or anyone in any sort of field - how they're going to 'top' their biggest success. You can't top your biggest success, that's why it's your biggest success, and I hope writers who do well continue to write for their own enjoyment like J.K. Rowling has done.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison: Another book that is one of the very best I've read this year. It's perfection. I've been wary of high fantasy for a couple of years, I found myself struggling to get into it as easily as I used to, but this I adored. I fell into this world and I was genuinely gutted when it was over. Maia is definitely my favourite character of the year.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters: I bloody loved The Little Stranger, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I read that final page. If you like ghost stories, particularly ghost stories set in old houses, you'll like this.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli: Definitely the best YA book I've read this year, and another one that took me completely by surprise. I knew people were rating it highly but, and I mean this with the greatest respect, I see a lot of readers on Goodreads rate every YA book they read 5 stars, so I was expecting this to be, well, like every other YA book out there. Boy was I wrong. It's so funny and realistic and just a genuinely good book. Loved it!

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton: Like Burial Rites, The Miniaturist is another gorgeous historical fiction debut. I loved it a lot, and I can't wait for Burton's next novel, The Muse.

Winter by Marissa Meyer: I couldn't not have this book on my list. It's not my favourite book in The Lunar Chronicles - that's probably Cress - but it did bring to an end one of my favourite series, so I had to include it!

Which books made your list this week?

My Non-Fiction TBR

I've really gotten into non-fiction this year, and though I've read more non-fiction this year than I ever thought I'd read there's still so much I'd like to read - the more I read, the more I discover! So, here are some of the non-fiction books I'd like to cross off my TBR soon.

The Creation of Anne Boleyn: In Search of the Tudors' Most Notorious Queen

by Susan Bordo

Part biography, part cultural history, The Creation of Anne Boleyn is a fascinating reconstruction of Anne's life and an illuminating look at her afterlife in the popular imagination.

Why is Anne so compelling? Why has she inspired such extreme reactions? What did she really even look like?! And perhaps the most provocative questions concern Anne's death more than her life. How could Henry order the execution of a once beloved wife? Drawing on scholarship and popular culture Bordo probes the complexities of one of history's most infamous relationships.

In her inimitable, straight-talking style Bordo dares to confront the established histories, stepping off the well-trodden paths of Tudoriana to expertly tease out the human being behind the myths.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales

ed. by Kate Bernheimer

Fairy tales are one of the most enduring forms of literature, their plots retold and characters reimagined for centuries. In this elegant and thought-provoking collection of original essays, Kate Bernheimer brings together twenty-eight leading women writers to discuss how these stories helped shape their imaginations, their craft, and our culture. In poetic narratives, personal histories, and penetrating commentary, the assembled authors bare their soul and challenge received wisdom. Eclectic and wide-ranging, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall is essential reading for anyone who has ever been bewitched by the strange and fanciful realm of fairy tales.

Witches: A Tale of Sorcery, Scandal and Seduction

by Tracy Borman

September 1613.

In Belvoir Castle, the heir of one of England’s great noble families falls suddenly and dangerously ill. His body is ‘tormented’ with violent convulsions. Within a few short weeks he will suffer an excruciating death. Soon the whole family will be stricken with the same terrifying symptoms. The second son, the last male of the line, will not survive.

It is said witches are to blame. And so the Earl of Rutland’s sons will not be the last to die.

Witches traces the dramatic events which unfolded at one of England’s oldest and most spectacular castles four hundred years ago. The case is among those which constitute the European witch craze of the 15th-18th centuries, when suspected witches were burned, hanged, or tortured by the thousand. Like those other cases, it is a tale of superstition, the darkest limits of the human imagination and, ultimately, injustice – a reminder of how paranoia and hysteria can create an environment in which nonconformism spells death. But as Tracy Borman reveals here, it is not quite typical. The most powerful and Machiavellian figure of the Jacobean court had a vested interest in events at Belvoir.He would mastermind a conspiracy that has remained hidden for centuries.

The Bookshop Book

by Jen Campbell

Every bookshop has a story.

We’re not talking about rooms that are just full of books. We’re talking about bookshops in barns, disused factories, converted churches and underground car parks. Bookshops on boats, on buses, and in old run-down train stations. Fold-out bookshops, undercover bookshops, this-is-the-best-place-I’ve-ever-been-to-bookshops.

Meet Sarah and her Book Barge sailing across the sea to France; meet Sebastien, in Mongolia, who sells books to herders of the Altai mountains; meet the bookshop in Canada that’s invented the world’s first antiquarian book vending machine. 

And that’s just the beginning. 

From the oldest bookshop in the world, to the smallest you could imagine, The Bookshop Book examines the history of books, talks to authors about their favourite places, and looks at over three hundred weirdly wonderful bookshops across six continents (sadly, we’ve yet to build a bookshop down in the South Pole).

The Bookshop Book is a love letter to bookshops all around the world.

Losing Israel

by Jasmine Donahaye

During a phone call to her mother Jasmine Donahaye stumbled upon the collusion of her kibbutz family in the displacement of Palestinians in 1948 - and earlier, in the 1930s. She set out to learn the facts behind this revelation, and her discoveries challenged everything she thought she knew about the country and her family, transforming her understanding of Israel, and of herself.

In a moving and honest account that spans travel writing, nature writing and memoir, Losing Israel explores the powerful attachments people have to place and to contested national stories. Moving between Wales and Israel, and attempting to reconcile her conflicted feelings rooted in difficult family history and a love of Israel's birds, the author asks challenging questions about homeland and belonging, and the power of stories to shape a landscape.

Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation

by Judith Mackrell

Glamorized, mythologized and demonized - the women of the 1920s prefigured the 1960s in their determination to reinvent the way they lived. Flappers is in part a biography of that restless generation: starting with its first fashionable acts of rebellion just before the Great War, and continuing through to the end of the decade when the Wall Street crash signal led another cataclysmic world change. It focuses on six women who between them exemplified the range and daring of that generation’s spirit.

Diana Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Tamara de Lempicka were far from typical flappers. Although they danced the Charleston, wore fashionable clothes and partied with the rest of their peers, they made themselves prominent among the artists, icons, and heroines of their age. Talented, reckless and willful, with personalities that transcended their class and background, they re-wrote their destinies in remarkable, entertaining and tragic ways. And between them they blazed the trail of the New Woman around the world.

Reading Lolita in Tehran

by Azar Nafisi

Every Thursday morning in a living room in Iran, over tea and pastries, eight women meet in secret to discuss forbidden works of Western literature. As they lose themselves in the worlds of Lolita, The Great Gatsby andPride and Prejudice, gradually they come to share their own stories, dreams and hopes with each other, and, for a few hours, taste freedom. Azar Nafisi's bestselling memoir is a moving, passionate testament to the transforming power of books, the magic of words and the search for beauty in life's darkest moments.

Are there any non-fiction books you'd like to read soon?

Review | A Sister More Like Me by Barbara Jean Hicks and Brittney Lee

A Sister More Like Me

by Barbara Jean Hicks and Brittney Lee

My Rating: 

When they were very young, royal sisters Anna and Elsa were as close as could be. But then everything changed, and now they couldn't be more different. They agree on just one thing: they both wish they had a sister more like them....

Featuring the princesses of Disney's Frozen, this spirited look at sibling relationships is told in verse and features beautiful illustrations by an artist from the film.

I'm a humungous Disney fan - I know way too many songs by heart, and Beauty and the Beast will always be my favourite film of all time - but I have to admit to being one of those bitter people who wasn't all that impressed with Frozen. The art's stunning, but personally I don't think the music's all that great, it doesn't feel like Disney music to me, and the story is full of plotholes that I'm not going to bother getting into now.

If that's the case, Jess, then why on earth are you reviewing a Frozen children's picture book?

Well, reader, I have four nieces, two of whom are the ripe old ages of seven and four. This means they're the ideal age to be swept up in the Frozen frenzy, which means I've now had to listen to 'Let It Go' so many times in the car that I twitch whenever I hear it on the radio.

Earlier this year, the younger of those two nieces became a big sister to a little sister, and when I came across this book I couldn't resist picking it up for her for Christmas. She's a wonderful big sister, she loves her little sister to bits and she's always eager to help out, and I wanted to get her a little something that she can read, but that she and her little sister can also read together in a few years' time.

Despite not being a Frozen fanatic, this book is gorgeous. Too many people dismiss children's fiction, and in particular picture books like these, but so much effort goes into producing beautiful children's books, and this one is no exception. It's told entirely in rhyme, making it a lot of fun to read aloud which is perfect for bedtime, and both Elsa and Anna are given the chance to have their say, with alternating fonts so smaller children will always be able to figure out who's saying what.

What I love most about this little book, however, are Brittney Lee's stunning illustrations. Lee actually worked on the film itself, so this book is not only ideal for children, but also for anyone interested in illustration or animation, or anyone who just likes collecting Disney and/or Frozen art. I love the colours she uses - blues, purples and pinks - and how there isn't a single page devoid of some sort of colour or illustration. It's just a very beautiful book.

So whether you know a child who would love this, have a child you'd like to read this with, or you just happen to be or know someone who likes Disney art, this book is very cute and would make for a lovely gift under the Christmas tree!

Review | A Singular & Whimsical Problem by Rachel McMillan

A Singular & Whimsical Problem

by Rachel McMillan

My Rating: 

Christmas, 1910. Merinda Herringford and Jem Watts would be enjoying the season a lot more if they weren’t forced to do their own laundry and cooking. Just as they are adapting to their trusty housekeeper’s ill-timed vacation, they are confronted by the strangest mystery they’ve encountered since they started their private investigation firm.

In this bonus e-only novella, what begins as the search for a missing cat leads to a rabble-rousing suffragette and the disappearance of several young women from St. Jerome’s Reformatory for Incorrigible Females. From the women’s courts of City Hall to Toronto’s seedy docks and into the cold heart of the underground shipping industry, this will be the most exciting Christmas the girls have had yet…if they can stay alive long enough to enjoy it.

If you don't like to read bad reviews then I don't recommend you read this, but I'm not going to apologise for it; I can only be honest, and this is my honest opinion.

I recently added Rachel McMillan's debut novel, The Bachelor Girl's Guide to Murder, to my TBR. I love historical crime fiction, and love it even more so when the protagonist is a woman. The Bachelor Girl's Guide to Murder sounds like everything I enjoy in the books I read, so when I found out it had an e-novella prequel, and one that was set at Christmas time at that, I had to read it. I'm sad to report I was sorely disappointed.

Firstly, I don't think it's written well, nor do I think it's been edited particularly well. There was the odd spelling error - a case where 'gentleman' was used when it should have been 'gentlemen' - as well as inconsistencies such as the narrator, Jem, knowing another character's name despite the fact that she never shares it. Little things like that are easy to fix, and that's why it irritates me when they appear in published work.

The novella as a whole was told rather than shown; we're never really introduced to anyone beyond a brief, vague sentence. I didn't feel like I was in Edwardian Toronto at all - there was practically no description and no sense of place whatsoever, and the Christmas setting felt like an afterthought. Christmas was only mentioned once or twice, and though the cold was sometimes mentioned I never felt it, so the entire novella could have taken place at any time of the year.

I also don't think there was very much in terms of realism. As I mentioned above I didn't feel like I was in Edwardian Toronto, and parts of the story felt rather juvenile; Jem and Merinda sneak into what is effectively a sinister rehabilitation centre far too easily, and they seemed to take ages to come to what I thought were fairly obvious conclusions.

There's a clear love for Sherlock Holmes here, and while I'm all for a female equivalent to Holmes and Watson I don't think Jem and Merinda are it.

I really wanted to like this, and given the ratings on Goodreads so far I think I'm in a severe minority here, but I just didn't think it was very good. I hope McMillan's debut novel is better, though if it's anything like this I'm afraid I won't be reading it.

Monthly Wrap-Up | November 2015

November was a fairly mixed month for me. I can't believe it's December already!

Bitch Planet, Vol.1: Extraordinary Machine

by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro

Demon Road

by Derek Landy

Winter

by Marissa Meyer

A Guinea Pig Pride & Prejudice

by Jane Austen and Alex Goodwin

Sky Goddesses of Dryden, Vols. I-IV

by Laura Konrad and Danielle Evert

Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale

by Catherine Orenstein

Copperhead, Vol.2

by Jay Faerber, Scott Godlewski and Ron Riley

Disturbance
by Ivy Alvarez

The Falconer
by Elizabeth May

The Grownup
by Gillian Fynn

The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is still a Boys' Club
by Eileen Pollack

I read ten books in October, and somehow I managed to read eleven in November. Don't ask me how! The Lunar Chronicles finally came to an end with the arrival of my most anticipated release of this year, Winter, and I ended up reading a lot of good books this month - there were no books I didn't like, which is always nice!

My sister, brother-in-law and I went to see Mockingjay Part 2 together in November, and I enjoyed it! I really like what Francis Lawrence has done with the series, and given how sceptical I was about Mockingjay being divided into two I actually think it was done really well and the cast were superb. As with all adaptations there were parts of it that I didn't like as much as others, but as a whole I think it was a very good adaptation!

I was pleasantly surprised by a new period drama in November. Whenever I see the word 'Frankenstein' in the title of a drama I'm immediately wary - there has never been a decent adaptation of Frankenstein - but The Frankenstein Chronicles isn't an adaptation of the book, in fact one of the characters is Mary Shelley, played by the wonderful Anna Maxwell Martin.

The Frankenstein Chronicles is set around nine years after the publication of Frankenstein, and children, sewn together from various body parts, are being found dumped around London. At a time when science and religion are constantly butting heads, it's up to John Marlott, played by Sean Bean, to find out who's committing these monstrosities before all of London discovers what's happening.

If you're in the UK it's on ITV Encore on Wednesday nights t 9pm, and Thursday nights at 10pm. Those of you outside the UK, I have no idea if the drama's already out there or if it's going to be, but if you have the chance to watch it then do - it's surprisingly good!

Winter

by Marissa Meyer

Demon Road

by Derek Landy

The Falconer

by Elizabeth May

The Grownup

by Gillian Flynn

The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is still a Boys' Club

by Eileen Pollack

Sci-Fi Month | Is Alien Gothic?

Book vs. Adaptation | Carrie by Stephen King

Sci-Fi Month | Do the Undead Breathe New Life into our Classics?

Film Recommendations for Austen Fans

Adult Fiction for YA Readers

November has been a month of highs and lows for me. Earlier in the month my sister and I went to see Imagine Dragons in Cardiff, and they were amazing. I bought tickets for us for my sister's birthday, so we'd been waiting to go and see them since February.

They were so good live and they put on an excellent show - I definitely want to see them again in future, and I'm glad my sister liked her birthday present. It was nice to spend an evening with her; she's ten years older than me, so she's married and has two daughters of her own, so I don't get her all to myself that often.

Throughout November I took part in Rinn @ Rinn Reads' Sci-Fi Month. I didn't read as much as I hoped I would, but I wrote a couple of blog posts I really enjoyed writing and I managed to get a couple of reviews up. I even took a picture of my Lunar Chronicles books on Instagram, and it ended up getting used in an article on Bustle!

November was also my last month at work as my contract came to an end. I was hired as an Administration and Marketing Assistant at the independent publishers, Seren Books, for a year to help organise the centenary celebrations of WW2 writer, Alun Lewis.

My colleagues and I went for lunch and they got me a lovely card and some unicorn-themed gifts; I think of everything it's the other people at Seren I'm going to miss most. I really enjoyed my year in publishing - I basically ended up single-handedly updating the blog, which I really enjoyed doing - and I spent a lot of November applying for new jobs.

I ended up getting an interview for a writing job that I really wanted in the city I went to university, where I still have a lot of friends, but unfortunately I didn't get the job and I'm pretty bummed about it. So right now I'm feeling a little down and a little lost, but I'm sure I'll feel more optimistic when I've stopped feeling sorry for myself. For now, though, I'm going to allow myself a couple of days to just be sad.

Vlora @ Reviews and Cake talked about Why She Doesn't Go to the Library

Jamie @ The Perpetual Page-Turner talked about her Insecurities Then Vs. Now

Kaja @ Of Dragons and Hearts talked about giving authors Second Chances

Amanda @ Of Spectacles and Books talked about Cinderella and the Marginalized

What did you get up to in November?

This Week in Books | 02/12/15

This week I'm joining in with Lipsy @ Lipsyy Lost & Found to talk about the books I've been reading recently!

NOW: I'm making my way through my eARCs, which means I'm finally reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I already love it. It really does have a Firefly feel to it, and I'm really excited to read the rest of it!

THEN: The last book I finished, The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is still a Boys' Club, was also a NetGalley read. I enjoyed it, but sadly not as much as I thought I would - you can check out my review here if you want to see more of my thoughts about it!

NEXT: Speaking of eARCs, I have a handful of Christmas contemporaries to read and review this December, and I think the first one I'm going to tackle is Holly Martin's Christmas at Lilac Cottage, which sounds adorable.

What are you reading?

Top Ten Tuesday | My Winter TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten 2016 Debuts Novels We Are Looking Forward To' but I'm very bad at keeping on top of new debuts before they've been published. I thought about searching for some debuts, but I didn't want to talk about books I'd only just discovered because the likelihood is I won't actually be that excited for all of them, and I'm sure that after looking at other people's lists I'll have plenty of 2016 debuts to add to my TBR. 

So instead of talking about 2016 debuts, today I'm going to share with you my Winter TBR!

Christmas at Lilac Cottage and Snowflakes on Silver Cove by Holly Martin: I received eARCs of both of these from NetGalley, and they sound adorable. Last year I read a bunch of Christmassy contemporaries in December and I really enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to doing the same this year. Plus these covers are lovely!

The Little Christmas Kitchen by Jenny Oliver: Again, I love my Christmassy contemporaries. I found a little copy of this for just £4, and it sounds very cute; I love stories about sisters and I love Greece, so I'm looking forward to this one!

The Christmas Joy Ride by Melody Carlson: This is another eARC from NetGalley, and one that sounds so much fun. I feel like this is the kind of book that could be a brilliant feel-good, Christmas movie, and I hope I enjoy it.

Christmas at the Vicarage by Rebecca Boxall: This is another eARC, and one that sounds a little more serious than the others. I have no idea if I'm going to enjoy this one or not, but every now and then I do enjoy a family story and for some reason I'm always interested in stories starring families who work in the church.

The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston: This was on my Winter TBR last year and I still haven't gotten to it. I don't know if I'll read it before the New Year, but I think it'd make a pretty good January or February read, too. Plus I think it has a gorgeous cover.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney: Some more historical fiction, and another book I think will make a really good January read if I don't get to it before the New Year. I started this book ages ago and ended up having to put it down because I just wasn't feeling it, but it has a lot of great reviews on Goodreads so I'd like to give it another try.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: I still haven't read any Maggie Stiefvater - I will read The Raven Boys one day, I will - and while I know The Wolves of Mercy Falls series doesn't have the best reviews I still want to check it out. I think it'll be a great read for this time of year!

Dracula by Bram Stoker: Considering I grew up near Whitby it's pretty shocking that I still haven't read this classic, even more so when you take into account that I studied it for my Victorian Gothic module at university. Whenever I've tried to read it I've ended up giving up, but I'm determined to cross this classic off my list even if I have to force my way through it, and for some reason I just think winter will be a really good time to read this.

The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan: I've heard some wonderful things about Kirsty Logan's writing, so I'd really like to cross her debut off my TBR this year if I can. This book has a stunning cover, too, so if you're deliberating between the hardback and the paperback, please treat yourself to the hardback.

Which books made your list this week?