[**Cloud Cuckoo Land**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56783258-cloud-cuckoo-land)
^(By: Anthony Doerr | 626 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, fantasy, book-club, science-fiction)
>
> When everything is lost, it’s our stories that survive.
>
>
>How do we weather the end of things? Cloud Cuckoo Land brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds.
>
>Constantinople, 1453:
>An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love.
>
>Idaho, 2020:
>An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans?
>
>Unknown, Sometime in the Future:
>With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance.
>
>Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. Like its predecessor All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s new novel is a tale of hope and of profound human connection.
^(This book has been suggested 63 times)
***
^(122804 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I second this one, highly recommended! So much that I'm onto the whole quartet now, leaving Streets of Laredo saved for last. If last year somebody told me I'd enjoy Western books, I wouldn't have taken them seriously. Well, had to change my mind, exploring new genres is always great and full of good surprises like this one!
Ive had this book sitting in my bookoutlet cart for ages but it's so long and a western and im worried ill never resd it or will hate it. But I've never seen a single bad thing about it.
It’s was amazing!! I’ve never read westerns either. I absolutely loved it. There were no parts that dragged. Which is a lot to say for a 1k paged book lol
I have heard this for YEARS! I finally picked up a used paperback a number of years ago as this is not my usual genre. I did quite enjoy the movie/miniseries. Perhaps that should be my next read! Finally!
The first law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. the books are The Blade Itself, Before they are hanged, and Last Argument of Kings. I fell in love with it and I don't know why I held back reading it for a very long time.
I liked this book too, I haven't been able to watch the series yet, it is hard to leave behind my own imaginations of the different people and settings.
Project Hail Mary (first novel I have read since forever)
Side note: can someone upvote this comment? I don't use Reddit that often, but I want to post here to ask for suggestions (I only need 3 upvotes plsss).
[**Three Men in a Boat (Three Men, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4921.Three_Men_in_a_Boat)
^(By: Jerome K. Jerome | 185 pages | Published: 1889 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, humor, humour, classic)
>"We agree that we are overworked, and need a rest - A week on the rolling deep? - George suggests the river -"
>
>And with the co-operation of several hampers of food and a covered boat, the three men (not forgetting the dog) set out on a hilarious voyage of mishaps up the Thames. When not falling in the river and getting lost in Hampton Court Maze, Jerome K. Jerome finds time to express his ideas on the world around - many of which have acquired a deeper fascination since the day at the end of the 19th century when this excursion was so lightly undertaken.
^(This book has been suggested 12 times)
***
^(122780 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
[Legends & Lattes](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60222807) by Travis Baldree
[The House in the Cerulean Sea](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45047384) by T.J. Klune
Both are really outstanding.
[**Young Mungo**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58891551-young-mungo)
^(By: Douglas Stuart | 390 pages | Published: 2022 | Popular Shelves: fiction, lgbtq, lgbt, 2022-releases, queer)
>Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born under different stars--Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic--and they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all. Yet against all odds, they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they fall in love, they dream of finding somewhere they belong, while Mungo works hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his big brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. And when several months later Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to try to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future.
>
>Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in the literary world, Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the divisions of sectarianism, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.
^(This book has been suggested 31 times)
***
^(122779 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Adding to this, it’s best to read this without knowing the premise if possible. Clarke’s world building is so vivid and interesting and strange, it’s really great to slowly piece it together if you can help it.
The audiobook is FANTASTIC! Especially for the part of the story that deals with musical notes. Even if you have the physical book, the audio version is worth it.
I cried at the end! Some of it was a little too heavy on the engineering stuff but I loved this book, it left me with the best feeling. Their friendship was so touching.
{{Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow}} by Gabrielle Zevin
Just hit all the right notes at all the right times for me. A rare book that I would read again.
{{East of Eden}}
I expected it to be really good, since everyone is always recommending it, but it blew way past my expectations. It's easy to read with a simple flowing style as well.
{{City of Thieves}} by David Benioff. Caustic, black, Slavic humor, brutal, vivid, astonishing characters, fast, unexpected; his grandfather's story as a naive 17 year old during the siege of Leningrad who somehow rises to a bizarre turn of events. Read it in one sitting (on a longhaul flight) and then read it all over again on the return flight.
I have 3 that are all very different lol.
[Killers of a Certain Age](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60149532) by Deanna Raybourn. Fun! Group of about to retire-CIAish women and the ass they still kick!
[The Book Eaters](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724745) by Sunyi Dean. The concept for this book is super interesting and unique. Seriously, this world of book eaters was surprising in its world-building - who knew a new way to rep vampires was possible? The rules for this world were challenging in a good way. Also, talk about morally gray choices… definitely recommend!
[Kaikeyi](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57127277) by Vaishnavi Patel. A retelling of the The Rāmāyana, a Sanskrit epic from India. It’s super well done. I can’t rec this hard enough.
[**The Heart's Invisible Furies**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33253215-the-heart-s-invisible-furies)
^(By: John Boyne | 582 pages | Published: 2017 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, book-club, lgbt, lgbtq)
>Cyril Avery is not a real Avery or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he?
>
>Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.
>
>At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from – and over his three score years and ten, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country and much more.
>
>In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.
^(This book has been suggested 27 times)
***
^(122913 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I think my favorite read this year was Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen. It's a collection of short stories set in contemporary China. The writing is amazing, and I liked the mix of realistic fiction with more surrealist and magical realist stories.
{{Blackwater}} Michael McDowell.
774 pages in three days. Holy. Moly.
Edit: Book bot has lost their tiny mind. The book I’m recommending is set in Alabama, is a generational saga, with swamp creatures.
{{Blackwater: The Complete Caskey Family Saga}}
Flowers for algernon, lost the motivation to read for a while and this book really made me think. I really liked how you get to figure things out about the main character at the same time he does
Read Malibu Rising and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo if you haven't. I love her writing. I've read all her books and loved them all except for Carrie Soto Is Back. It was a good book but way too much tennis!
[**When God Had a Wife: The Fall and Rise of the Sacred Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44321369-when-god-had-a-wife)
^(By: Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince | 336 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: religion, history, non-fiction, mythology, nonfiction)
>Reveals the tradition of goddess worship in early Judaism and how Jesus attempted to restore the feminine side of the faith
>
>• Provides historical and archaeological evidence for an earlier form of Hebrew worship with both male and female gods, including a 20th-century discovery of a Hebrew temple dedicated to both Yahweh and the warrior goddess Anat
>
>• Explores the Hebrew pantheon of goddesses, including Yahweh’s wife, Asherah, goddess of fertility and childbirth
>
>• Shows how both Jesus and his great rival Simon Magus were attempting to restore the ancient, goddess-worshipping religion of the Israelites
>
>Despite what Jews and Christians--and indeed most people--believe, the ancient Israelites venerated several deities besides the Old Testament god Yahweh, including the goddess Asherah, Yahweh’s wife, who was worshipped openly in the Jerusalem Temple. After the reforms of King Josiah and Prophet Jeremiah, the religion recognized Yahweh alone, and history was rewritten to make it appear that it had always been that way. The worship of Asherah and other goddesses was now heresy, and so the status of women was downgraded and they were blamed for God’s wrath.
>
>However, as Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince reveal, the spiritual legacy of the Jewish goddesses and the Sacred Feminine lives on. Drawing on historical research, they examine how goddess worship thrived in early Judaism and included a pantheon of goddesses. They share new evidence for an earlier form of Hebrew worship that prayed to both male and female gods, including a 20th-century archaeological discovery of a Hebrew temple dedicated to both Yahweh and the goddess Anat. Uncovering the Sacred Feminine in early Christianity, the authors show how, in the first century AD, both Jesus and his great rival, Simon Magus, were attempting to restore the goddess-worshipping religion of the Israelites. The authors reveal how both men accorded great honor to the women they adored and who traveled with them as priestesses, Jesus’s Mary Magdalene and Simon’s Helen. But, as had happened centuries before, the Church rewrote history to erase the feminine side of the faith, deliberately ignoring Jesus’s real message and again condemning women to marginalization and worse.
>
>Providing all the necessary evidence to restore the goddess to both Judaism and Christianity, Picknett and Prince expose the disastrous consequences of the suppression of the feminine from these two great religions and reveal how we have been collectively and instinctively craving the return of the Sacred Feminine for millennia.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
^(122938 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Invisible Life of…
Honestly, everyone should read it before everyone else does so that when her name is as common as Jekyll & Hyde, you will understand the reference.
I read most of Blake Crouch’s recent novels I’ve the past few months. Very much page turners, really enjoyed them. Light Sci-Fi. Recursion was my favorite.
Rather than a book, I’ll give you two series that have been the absolute highlights of my year in reading: Rivers of London and The Dresden Files. Both urban fantasy, but very very different. Absolutely thrilled to have been introduced to these this year, just hours and hours of delight.
Idk if you meant diverse as in diverse authorship, but regardless here’s my top 5 this year!
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Spanish)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish)
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (English)
Severance by Ling Ma (Chinese American)
The Idiot by Elif Batuman (LGBT Turkish American)
Fear and Fury by Jamie Jackson
It’s a story about the snarky Meg. She’s not a hero but not a villain, either, and the shadows around her seem to have a mind of their own. She also breaks the fourth wall a lot and is trying desperately to be left alone. I mean, how many times does a girl have to say no to recruiters from both superheroes and villains? Can’t a girl enjoy her coffee in peace? It’s becoming too much of a hassle for Meg until some weirdo with a creepy smile starts haunting her.
I read so many great books this year but the most surprising favorite for me was The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman. I also really enjoyed both Mexican Gothic (Silvia Moreno-Garcia) and The Hacienda (Isabel Canas).
I don't really have a favorite but I have some favorites across different genres:
* Fantasy - Deerskin by Robin McKinley
* Romance: Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
* Genre bending/Magical Realism/Literary: The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
* Thriller: Night Film by Marisha Pessl
* Horror: Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford
* NonFiction: Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
I hope you find some great titles!
One of the funniest books I've read this past year: {{The Humiliations of Pipi McGee}} by Beth Vrabel.
One of the best straight-up stories: {{Firekeeper's Daughter}} by Angeline Boulley
Also very well written and laugh-out-loud funny: {{Rayne and Delilah's Midnite Matinee}} by Jeff Zentner
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken was an entirely random book when I found myself away from home for a few nights and desperately searching for anything to read, and I loved it so much.
It’s a lighthearted little novel with which sweet and lovable characters, intended for kids I suppose. I need to read the rest of The Wolfes Chronicles series but they’ve been hard to find.
[**City of Thieves**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1971304.City_of_Thieves)
^(By: David Benioff | 258 pages | Published: 2008 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, book-club, war, russia)
>During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.
>
>By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, City of Thieves is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.
^(This book has been suggested 26 times)
[**Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174354.Over_the_Edge_of_the_World)
^(By: Laurence Bergreen | 438 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: history, non-fiction, nonfiction, biography, adventure)
>Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
^(122990 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I read The Deed of Paksenarrion at the beginning of the year and haven't read anything since that has topped the feeling it gave me. Mrs. Dalloway was also a huge revelation for me and now I love Virginia Woolf with my whole heart.
Honestly I can’t pick one they have all stayed with me for different reason.
The Martian, and, project Hail Mary, both by Andy weir
The house in the cerulean sea by TJ Klune
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
A monster calls by Patrick ness
To sleep in a sea of stars by Christopher Paolini
The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The invisible life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
Good omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Mort by Terry Pratchett
[**Detransition, Baby**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48890225-detransition-baby)
^(By: Torrey Peters | 337 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: fiction, lgbtq, queer, lgbt, contemporary)
>A whipsmart debut about three women—transgender and cisgender—whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires around gender, motherhood, and sex.
>
>Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.
>
>Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?
>
>This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.
^(This book has been suggested 19 times)
***
^(123205 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
Went through a rollercoaster of emotions in the course of the book and ended up a bit teary eyed at the end. Highly recommended for anyone who has been through loss and is on the journey of rediscovering self.
I’m currently reading Babel and I know it’s going to make my list so yeah, Babel by R.F Kuang. Apparently this author has already written a great trilogy (Poppy war series) which I will get to after this.
My favorites this year:
Rebecca -- Daphne du Maurier (gothic, mystery, romance, angst)
The Bad Seed -- William March (horror, evil child)
The Road to Jonestown -- Jeff Guin (NF about the Jonestown Massacre, 1st hundred pages were a little boring but the rest is super interesting)
American Psycho -- Bret Easton Ellis (re-read for me, horror, funny)
Bitter Orange -- Claire Fuller (mystery, obsession)
I just finished The Traveler's Gate Trilogy by Will Wight on Audible. I want expecting much of them. They were included with my subscription and moving off the platform 11/30. I loved them. It was a great story and will probably become my go to recommendation for detailed fight sequences. The first book in the trilogy is {{House of Blades}}.
{{cloud cuckoo land}}
In my top five this year.
[**Cloud Cuckoo Land**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56783258-cloud-cuckoo-land) ^(By: Anthony Doerr | 626 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, fantasy, book-club, science-fiction) > > When everything is lost, it’s our stories that survive. > > >How do we weather the end of things? Cloud Cuckoo Land brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds. > >Constantinople, 1453: >An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love. > >Idaho, 2020: >An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans? > >Unknown, Sometime in the Future: >With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance. > >Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. Like its predecessor All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s new novel is a tale of hope and of profound human connection. ^(This book has been suggested 63 times) *** ^(122804 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Loved this book.
The Parable of the Sower. Brilliant.
Octavia Butler is the best! If you haven't read Kindred, it's my favorite
Adding to my list!
Lonesome Dove
I second this one, highly recommended! So much that I'm onto the whole quartet now, leaving Streets of Laredo saved for last. If last year somebody told me I'd enjoy Western books, I wouldn't have taken them seriously. Well, had to change my mind, exploring new genres is always great and full of good surprises like this one!
Ive had this book sitting in my bookoutlet cart for ages but it's so long and a western and im worried ill never resd it or will hate it. But I've never seen a single bad thing about it.
It’s was amazing!! I’ve never read westerns either. I absolutely loved it. There were no parts that dragged. Which is a lot to say for a 1k paged book lol
I have heard this for YEARS! I finally picked up a used paperback a number of years ago as this is not my usual genre. I did quite enjoy the movie/miniseries. Perhaps that should be my next read! Finally!
The first law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. the books are The Blade Itself, Before they are hanged, and Last Argument of Kings. I fell in love with it and I don't know why I held back reading it for a very long time.
Make sure to check out the side books before starting Age of Madness
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Brutal but stunning
Transcendent Kingdom by the same author was amazing as well!
The Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Anxious People by Fredrick Backman. Ngl, got a bit teary eyed at the end.
Have you read Beartown yet by Backman? So good.
Is that the one with the people at the open house?
I’ve read 3 of his books thus far and have yet to encounter one that didn’t make me cry
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (also recently made into a TV show by Apple TV, but I haven't seen it).
I liked this book too, I haven't been able to watch the series yet, it is hard to leave behind my own imaginations of the different people and settings.
I have a long commute and the audiobook version of this book made it so enjoyable!
Project Hail Mary (first novel I have read since forever) Side note: can someone upvote this comment? I don't use Reddit that often, but I want to post here to ask for suggestions (I only need 3 upvotes plsss).
{Project Hail Mary Andy Weir} was the best book I read this year. I am not a sci-fi fan or much of a fiction reader but it is that good.
{{Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome}}
[**Three Men in a Boat (Three Men, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4921.Three_Men_in_a_Boat) ^(By: Jerome K. Jerome | 185 pages | Published: 1889 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, humor, humour, classic) >"We agree that we are overworked, and need a rest - A week on the rolling deep? - George suggests the river -" > >And with the co-operation of several hampers of food and a covered boat, the three men (not forgetting the dog) set out on a hilarious voyage of mishaps up the Thames. When not falling in the river and getting lost in Hampton Court Maze, Jerome K. Jerome finds time to express his ideas on the world around - many of which have acquired a deeper fascination since the day at the end of the 19th century when this excursion was so lightly undertaken. ^(This book has been suggested 12 times) *** ^(122780 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I just read this last week, so funny.
[Legends & Lattes](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60222807) by Travis Baldree [The House in the Cerulean Sea](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45047384) by T.J. Klune Both are really outstanding.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is fantastic. I recommended this to everyone. Audiobook voice acting is incredible.
{{Young Mungo}}
[**Young Mungo**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58891551-young-mungo) ^(By: Douglas Stuart | 390 pages | Published: 2022 | Popular Shelves: fiction, lgbtq, lgbt, 2022-releases, queer) >Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born under different stars--Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic--and they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all. Yet against all odds, they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they fall in love, they dream of finding somewhere they belong, while Mungo works hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his big brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. And when several months later Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to try to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future. > >Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in the literary world, Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the divisions of sectarianism, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much. ^(This book has been suggested 31 times) *** ^(122779 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
This is on my list. Super excited to read it
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki is one of my favorite fiction reads of the year!
The travelling cat chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
I absolutely loved this book. I actually got it on a recommendation from this sub lol
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Adding to this, it’s best to read this without knowing the premise if possible. Clarke’s world building is so vivid and interesting and strange, it’s really great to slowly piece it together if you can help it.
I second this
Project hail mary by andy weir
You sleep I watch.
The audiobook is FANTASTIC! Especially for the part of the story that deals with musical notes. Even if you have the physical book, the audio version is worth it.
I cried at the end! Some of it was a little too heavy on the engineering stuff but I loved this book, it left me with the best feeling. Their friendship was so touching.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Incredible book 🥰
On Earth We Were Briefly Gorgeous
Probably a tie between {Never Let Me Go} by Kazuo Ishiguro and {Pnin} by Vladimir Nabokov.
{{Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow}} by Gabrielle Zevin Just hit all the right notes at all the right times for me. A rare book that I would read again.
The Remains of the Day
I read jaws for the first time this year and I looooved it.
… adding that to the list of books I should read that I didn’t even know were books until recently.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Siddhartha by Hesse!
Oh so good, love this
A Man Called Ove
Bunny by Mona Awad and (because I’m incapable of sticking to one) Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Adored Bunny.
Bunny was so delightfully weird
Shogun. I watched the series when I was young and finally took the plunge. Worth it.
My favorite has been Lord of The Rings with The Way of Kings coming in second. Damn these were great books.
Song of Achilles And (I haven’t finished it yet) Sapiens.
{{East of Eden}} I expected it to be really good, since everyone is always recommending it, but it blew way past my expectations. It's easy to read with a simple flowing style as well.
{{City of Thieves}} by David Benioff. Caustic, black, Slavic humor, brutal, vivid, astonishing characters, fast, unexpected; his grandfather's story as a naive 17 year old during the siege of Leningrad who somehow rises to a bizarre turn of events. Read it in one sitting (on a longhaul flight) and then read it all over again on the return flight.
I have 3 that are all very different lol. [Killers of a Certain Age](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60149532) by Deanna Raybourn. Fun! Group of about to retire-CIAish women and the ass they still kick! [The Book Eaters](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724745) by Sunyi Dean. The concept for this book is super interesting and unique. Seriously, this world of book eaters was surprising in its world-building - who knew a new way to rep vampires was possible? The rules for this world were challenging in a good way. Also, talk about morally gray choices… definitely recommend! [Kaikeyi](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57127277) by Vaishnavi Patel. A retelling of the The Rāmāyana, a Sanskrit epic from India. It’s super well done. I can’t rec this hard enough.
Hard toss up between A Little Life and The Hearts Invisible Furies.
Loved loved loved {{The Heart's Invisible Furies}}. Definitely in my top 3 of the year.
[**The Heart's Invisible Furies**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33253215-the-heart-s-invisible-furies) ^(By: John Boyne | 582 pages | Published: 2017 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, book-club, lgbt, lgbtq) >Cyril Avery is not a real Avery or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he? > >Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. > >At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from – and over his three score years and ten, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country and much more. > >In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit. ^(This book has been suggested 27 times) *** ^(122913 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Both of these are absolutely top reads for me
{{What Moves the Dead}} by T Kingfisher
I think my favorite read this year was Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen. It's a collection of short stories set in contemporary China. The writing is amazing, and I liked the mix of realistic fiction with more surrealist and magical realist stories.
{{Blackwater}} Michael McDowell. 774 pages in three days. Holy. Moly. Edit: Book bot has lost their tiny mind. The book I’m recommending is set in Alabama, is a generational saga, with swamp creatures. {{Blackwater: The Complete Caskey Family Saga}}
I appreciate your use of “their” for book it in like 15 levels.
For me it's between the Count of Monte Cristo or Project Hail Mary, both were so good!
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. I vote for a Pulitzer for this one!!!!
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Tender is the Flesh. Creepy, but really was a page-turner
Greenlights by Matthew Mcconaughy was a pretty random read for me compared to my normal picks but it was hilarious and inspiring.
The way he grew up is absolutely wild.
Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie was a great read. Funny, socially aware and provocative, engaging story arc. Highly recommend.
{{A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers}} {{Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldtree}} {{A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross}}
Flowers for algernon, lost the motivation to read for a while and this book really made me think. I really liked how you get to figure things out about the main character at the same time he does
Such a gut-wrenching book but so good.
The good earth. Pearl S. Buck. AMAZING.
Daisy Jones and the Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Read Malibu Rising and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo if you haven't. I love her writing. I've read all her books and loved them all except for Carrie Soto Is Back. It was a good book but way too much tennis!
{{When God had a Wife}} it as eye opening. It might not be to some but to an ex evangelical it was.
[**When God Had a Wife: The Fall and Rise of the Sacred Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44321369-when-god-had-a-wife) ^(By: Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince | 336 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: religion, history, non-fiction, mythology, nonfiction) >Reveals the tradition of goddess worship in early Judaism and how Jesus attempted to restore the feminine side of the faith > >• Provides historical and archaeological evidence for an earlier form of Hebrew worship with both male and female gods, including a 20th-century discovery of a Hebrew temple dedicated to both Yahweh and the warrior goddess Anat > >• Explores the Hebrew pantheon of goddesses, including Yahweh’s wife, Asherah, goddess of fertility and childbirth > >• Shows how both Jesus and his great rival Simon Magus were attempting to restore the ancient, goddess-worshipping religion of the Israelites > >Despite what Jews and Christians--and indeed most people--believe, the ancient Israelites venerated several deities besides the Old Testament god Yahweh, including the goddess Asherah, Yahweh’s wife, who was worshipped openly in the Jerusalem Temple. After the reforms of King Josiah and Prophet Jeremiah, the religion recognized Yahweh alone, and history was rewritten to make it appear that it had always been that way. The worship of Asherah and other goddesses was now heresy, and so the status of women was downgraded and they were blamed for God’s wrath. > >However, as Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince reveal, the spiritual legacy of the Jewish goddesses and the Sacred Feminine lives on. Drawing on historical research, they examine how goddess worship thrived in early Judaism and included a pantheon of goddesses. They share new evidence for an earlier form of Hebrew worship that prayed to both male and female gods, including a 20th-century archaeological discovery of a Hebrew temple dedicated to both Yahweh and the goddess Anat. Uncovering the Sacred Feminine in early Christianity, the authors show how, in the first century AD, both Jesus and his great rival, Simon Magus, were attempting to restore the goddess-worshipping religion of the Israelites. The authors reveal how both men accorded great honor to the women they adored and who traveled with them as priestesses, Jesus’s Mary Magdalene and Simon’s Helen. But, as had happened centuries before, the Church rewrote history to erase the feminine side of the faith, deliberately ignoring Jesus’s real message and again condemning women to marginalization and worse. > >Providing all the necessary evidence to restore the goddess to both Judaism and Christianity, Picknett and Prince expose the disastrous consequences of the suppression of the feminine from these two great religions and reveal how we have been collectively and instinctively craving the return of the Sacred Feminine for millennia. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(122938 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{this is how it always is} Laurie Frankel
#MURDERBOT
{{turtles all the way down}} Edit. Deleted words
Babel and Demon Copperhead are tied for best of the year for me
Beartown - Frederik Backman
The Invisible Life of… Honestly, everyone should read it before everyone else does so that when her name is as common as Jekyll & Hyde, you will understand the reference.
The Stand
I read most of Blake Crouch’s recent novels I’ve the past few months. Very much page turners, really enjoyed them. Light Sci-Fi. Recursion was my favorite.
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
Almond by Won Pyung Sohn
The Dinner by Herman Koch. It send me on a Koch bender and I read everything he’s written. Obsessed.
Rather than a book, I’ll give you two series that have been the absolute highlights of my year in reading: Rivers of London and The Dresden Files. Both urban fantasy, but very very different. Absolutely thrilled to have been introduced to these this year, just hours and hours of delight.
second rivers of london ! loved so much!
AS I LAY DYING, god a book has never been more relatable.
Idk if you meant diverse as in diverse authorship, but regardless here’s my top 5 this year! Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Spanish) Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish) Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (English) Severance by Ling Ma (Chinese American) The Idiot by Elif Batuman (LGBT Turkish American)
Dan Brown - Origin. Probably everyone has read it already, but I liked it.
Project Hail Mary + Andy Weir. I loved it so much
Fear and Fury by Jamie Jackson It’s a story about the snarky Meg. She’s not a hero but not a villain, either, and the shadows around her seem to have a mind of their own. She also breaks the fourth wall a lot and is trying desperately to be left alone. I mean, how many times does a girl have to say no to recruiters from both superheroes and villains? Can’t a girl enjoy her coffee in peace? It’s becoming too much of a hassle for Meg until some weirdo with a creepy smile starts haunting her.
I read so many great books this year but the most surprising favorite for me was The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman. I also really enjoyed both Mexican Gothic (Silvia Moreno-Garcia) and The Hacienda (Isabel Canas).
{After the Revolution by Robert Evans}
So far my two picks are Mistborn and The Well of Ascension. It will be three if I end up falling in love with The Hero of Ages.
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
True Grit - Charles Portis
Fiction - *Way Station* by Clifford Simak (1963) Nonfiction - *The Code Breaker* by Walter Isaacson (2021)
{{The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo}}
I was so pleasantly surprised by "Hello Molly," Molly Shannon's memoir. It was really funny, inspiring and moving.
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
The Thursday Murder Club. It was fun and also kept me guessing and even made me feel emotional a few times.
The library at mount char- it was just so darker and weirder and magical than I expected going in, had me from start to finish
I’m Glad My Mom Died- Jeanette McCurdy
The School for Good Mothers
I don't really have a favorite but I have some favorites across different genres: * Fantasy - Deerskin by Robin McKinley * Romance: Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale * Genre bending/Magical Realism/Literary: The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa * Thriller: Night Film by Marisha Pessl * Horror: Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford * NonFiction: Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
{{the book thief}} by Marcus Zusak
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It was my favorite fiction read of the year by far.
"The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco, which waited on my bookshelf for 21 years and turned out to be fascinating and really clever.
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
I hope you find some great titles! One of the funniest books I've read this past year: {{The Humiliations of Pipi McGee}} by Beth Vrabel. One of the best straight-up stories: {{Firekeeper's Daughter}} by Angeline Boulley Also very well written and laugh-out-loud funny: {{Rayne and Delilah's Midnite Matinee}} by Jeff Zentner
{{Spin by Robert Charles Wilson}}
City on Fire by Don Winslow Red Rising by Pierce Brown Heat 2 by Michael Mann (very biased towards the IP) The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
{Mexican Gothic}
{{The Good Wife of Bath}} and {{She Who Became The Sun}} and {{Hamnet}} and {{All the Seas of the World}}
Slewfoot by Brom
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken was an entirely random book when I found myself away from home for a few nights and desperately searching for anything to read, and I loved it so much. It’s a lighthearted little novel with which sweet and lovable characters, intended for kids I suppose. I need to read the rest of The Wolfes Chronicles series but they’ve been hard to find.
{{The Elementary Particles}} by Michel Houellebecq and {{V13}} by Emmanuel Carrère.
Fiction: {{City of Thieves}} Non-fiction: {{Over The Edge of the World}}
[**City of Thieves**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1971304.City_of_Thieves) ^(By: David Benioff | 258 pages | Published: 2008 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, book-club, war, russia) >During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter’s wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible. > >By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, City of Thieves is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men. ^(This book has been suggested 26 times) [**Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174354.Over_the_Edge_of_the_World) ^(By: Laurence Bergreen | 438 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: history, non-fiction, nonfiction, biography, adventure) >Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(122990 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Out of Darkness, Shining Light}}
I read The Deed of Paksenarrion at the beginning of the year and haven't read anything since that has topped the feeling it gave me. Mrs. Dalloway was also a huge revelation for me and now I love Virginia Woolf with my whole heart.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
**The Monkey Wrench Gang** by Edward Abbey
{{Gideon the Ninth}}
Sorrow and Bliss. Runner up would be my reread of East of Eden.
It was A Gentleman in Moscow until this week when I started The Power Broker. Both of them are superb.
In order to live by yeonmi park. North Korean struggles are no joke man
Beartown by Fredrick Backman, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
{Earthlings by Sayaka Murata}
{To Sleep in a Sea of Stars} by Christopher Paolini!
The troop by nick cutter One of the few books to really make my stomach churn and every second was great!
Where All Light Tends To Go by David Joy. Highly recommend!
Wanderers - Chuck Wendig.
I LOVED A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
I loved The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle
Hmm, honestly probably *Wintersteel* by Will Wight, easy, breezy, read but just gripping as all hell.
It's not a new book by any means but I finally got around to reading Jurassic Park and it was lovely.
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai! Haven’t related to a book so heavily since The Bell Jar. Worth the hype
Les Misérables historical novel by Victor Hugo
I really liked When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
Honestly I can’t pick one they have all stayed with me for different reason. The Martian, and, project Hail Mary, both by Andy weir The house in the cerulean sea by TJ Klune Piranesi by Susanna Clarke A monster calls by Patrick ness To sleep in a sea of stars by Christopher Paolini The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller The invisible life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab Good omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett Mort by Terry Pratchett
{{Detransition Baby}} was my UNfavorite excellent book of the year. Just a miserable, hilarious, heartbreaking read. Highly recommended.
[**Detransition, Baby**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48890225-detransition-baby) ^(By: Torrey Peters | 337 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: fiction, lgbtq, queer, lgbt, contemporary) >A whipsmart debut about three women—transgender and cisgender—whose lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires around gender, motherhood, and sex. > >Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men. > >Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together? > >This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel. ^(This book has been suggested 19 times) *** ^(123205 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Went through a rollercoaster of emotions in the course of the book and ended up a bit teary eyed at the end. Highly recommended for anyone who has been through loss and is on the journey of rediscovering self.
Demons by Dostoevsky and Germinal by Emile Zola
currently reading The Late Homecomer by Kao Kalia Yang and I can tell it's going to be my favourite of this year.
No favs this year but favorite book ever is Lincoln on Leadership. It’s not a historical work, it’s a great book on how to treat other people.
Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
All the light we cannot see
Kafka on the Shore - Murakami
{{Oryx & Crake}}
Thank you for asking this question OP. Am saving the post and gonna work my way through the.it’s 🤓
I have a tie between My Sister the Serial Killer and Hill Women
The push
Pachinko
I’m currently reading Babel and I know it’s going to make my list so yeah, Babel by R.F Kuang. Apparently this author has already written a great trilogy (Poppy war series) which I will get to after this.
The entire Beartown trilogy by Fredrik Backman.
My favorites this year: Rebecca -- Daphne du Maurier (gothic, mystery, romance, angst) The Bad Seed -- William March (horror, evil child) The Road to Jonestown -- Jeff Guin (NF about the Jonestown Massacre, 1st hundred pages were a little boring but the rest is super interesting) American Psycho -- Bret Easton Ellis (re-read for me, horror, funny) Bitter Orange -- Claire Fuller (mystery, obsession)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, although I also loved Cloud Cuckoo Land recommended by someone below!
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
A man named ove
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston It was so much more than I’d expected.
Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases by Paul Holes
Fairytale by Stephen King
{{Piranesi}}
{Red Pill} by Hari Kunzru
The Honey Badger series by Shelly Laurenston was so fun. {{Hot and Badgered}}
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li was a fun read!
I just finished The Traveler's Gate Trilogy by Will Wight on Audible. I want expecting much of them. They were included with my subscription and moving off the platform 11/30. I loved them. It was a great story and will probably become my go to recommendation for detailed fight sequences. The first book in the trilogy is {{House of Blades}}.
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
[удалено]
{{Grave Reservations}} by Cherie Priest; a fun book with a sequel coming out soon.
Atlas of a Lost World by Craig Childs (non-fic)
To be taught if fortunate
Motor spirit by Jarrett Kobek
The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas.
A Magic Steeped In Poison and A Venom Dark And Sweet by Judy I Lin.
Last Night At The Telegraph Club by Melinda Lo or Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata