I did it. I read and wrote a review of one book each week for the past 52 weeks. Some week’s it was a challenge, but other weeks I had finished more than one. So it usually evened out.
Since returning to the USA in May (for a four month visit) it’s been a struggle to get a book done a week. We have been so incredibly busy with family, friends and our villa remodel. Not much time to read.
At one point over the past several weeks I found I had three books going at one time – one paperback, one kindle and one on audible!
Yes I am a bit obsessed with reading – I love what it does to my brain!!! And I love that our Reading Wednesday feature on this blog is one of the most popular things about My Fab Fifties Life.
So since late July 2018 I have read 52 books, and I have written about each one. You can find the entire book review collection in the Reading Wednesday section of this blog (just click).
Although I gave five stars to many of the books I read, below is a list of my most favorite of the 52. In fact in the list below are five that I can say are some of the best books I have ever read…and that is saying a lot.
I’ve put those five at the top, and then below that the rest are listed randomly. I hope you can find a favorite of your own amongst this list and I thank you for your continuing support of Reading Wednesday and My Fab Fifties Life.
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Top Five of the Year
- The Dovekeepers: A Novel by Alice Hoffman – my favorite read of the year. Not everyone is going to love this book as much as I did but I found it to be a beautifully written book of historical fiction about a time period and real life events I knew nothing about. Based on the siege of Masada in 73AD I could not put this book down. I loved the strong female characters, the mix of fact and fiction, the mystical and the esoteric. I loved this book.
- Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund – this book is twenty years old but I had never heard of it. It’s a very long book and it took me a long time to read it but I fell hard into this remarkable story and couldn’t put it down. I loved the fictional tale of this remarkable woman and how the author weaves real life characters and other fictional characters into the plot. I loved this book.
- Educated by Tara Westover – this book is amazing, for it’s writing but also for the fact that it is a remarkable true story about a young girl’s desire to go to school in a family of radical isolationist and anarchist. Her survival and perseverance makes a compelling novel that I could not put down. I loved this book.
- Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett – just go read this book if you haven’t. It’s been around since 1989 but it holds up and it is a spectacular saga historical novel. Fictional but with many historical facts Follett is a brilliant storyteller and I was captivated cover to cover despite the length of this book. Not only is the story brilliant but I learned so much about historical architecture and it opened my eyes to some of the incredible ancient cathedrals and buildings we see in our travels. I have just purchased Fall of the Giants by Ken Follett to start soon. I loved this book.
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. This is the third book I have read by Hosseini. His masterpiece The Kite Runner is my favorite and this work A Thousand Splendid Suns comes in a close second. He writes in a hauntingly beautiful style that brings his characters alive, in a country few of us have or will ever visit. I loved the brave female characters in this story, the strength and endurance and the message that family is not always from blood. I loved this book.
And 12 More I Really Enjoyed;
Murmur of Bees by Sofia Sergovia
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa Lee
Five Presidents by Clint Hill
The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhader
Thanks for reading, sharing and loving these books! Pin it for future reference!
