Book Recommendations 2015

Reading enjoyment is such a personal thing and books shine for a plethora of reasons. When I was asked to name a favourite, or even a top three from my recent reads, I struggled. This has been an outstanding year for new releases, plus I have delved deep into my TBR pile.

What I list here are the contenders for my own personal top slot. I have grouped them under headings to enable readers who like or dislike particular genres to add their own filter. Sometimes it is good to be challenged, other times more gently entertained.

Of the 118 books that I have read so far in 2015, plus the 8 that I read after compiling my recommendations list last year, these are the ones that particularly stood out. If interested you may click on the title to read my review.

Beautiful stories:

After the Bombing by Clare Morrall

A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Shtum by Jem Lester

Yellow Room by Shelan Rodger

Thrilling thrillers:

Hotel Arcadia by Sunny Singh

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

Rebound by Aga Lesiewicz

The Abrupt Physics of Dying by Paul E. Hardisty

The Widow by Fiona Barton

Deliciously chilling:

The Blackheath Séance Parlour by Alan Williams

The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley

Compelling crime fiction:

No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary

Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson

Retelling history:

Into the Fire by Manda Scott

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Stories that linger:

Being Someone by Adrian Harvey

Leaves by John Simmons

Light From Other Windows by Chris Chalmers

Lillian on Life by Alison Jean Lester

Feel good, with that something extra: 

A Man Called Ove  by Fredrik Backman (translated by Henning Koch)

A Robot in the Garden by Deborah Install

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Genre defying but fabulous:

Beauty Tips for Girls by Margaret Montgomery

Playthings by Alex Pheby

The Weightless World by Anthony Trevelyan

Short story collections:

Wrote for Luck by D.J. Taylor

Honeydew by Edith Pearlman

For the children, and the child in us all:

A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig

Fleabag and the Fire Cat by Beth Webb

Young adult fiction:

Asking For It by Louise O’Neill

Outstanding non fiction:

Imaginary Cities by Darran Anderson

Place Waste Dissent by Paul Hawkins

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And finally, a book that I am reluctant to recommend because I know that it will not appeal to large swathes of my reading friends, but which I cannot leave out because it is, quite possibly, the best work of fiction I have ever read:

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara