It’s still time for round-ups; 2015 was not a fantastic year for me on the reading front but I did read some books I really enjoyed. Here are my top five with my review at the time and any comment in italics:
“A God in Ruins†by Kate Atkinson
I think Kate Atkinson is a wonderful writer. This book is superb. The ending is really clever and stays with you. Slightly too much information about flying planes in the war for me, but that is a minor quibble.
“Faithful Place†by Tana French
I read four Tana French novels last year and they were all superb. I would read any of her books and, alas, I have read all of her published novels to date. They were all equally good, really but I just picked this one as representative as I came across it first when searching the archive.
Tana French writes detective stories which are not normally my cup of tea but I love the way she writes and I find the plots really clever also. This one is about a detective from the wrong side of the tracks whose past comes back to haunt him.
“Sisterhood†by Curtis Sittenfeld
This is very good. Not a lot of plot but the writing and characters are brilliant enough to get you over that. And even though it features psychic twins it is not at all clichéd. Truly.
“We are all Completely Beside Ourselves†by Karen Joy Fowler
Nicely written with clever interesting ideas. Better if you don’t know the twist, which I didn’t.
“Being Mortal†by Atul Gawande
This is a bit depressing, if you have elderly or sick relatives. Atul Gawande is a doctor who thinks a lot. He is very interesting and always writes beautifully. Bits of this book originally appeared elsewhere and it doesn’t hang together as well as it might but overall it is very good.
