More rain here in Central Minnesota. While I do have a few more yard things to attend to…. I am still thankful for the rain over snow. I am never ready for snow and even more so this year.
I don’t think I have ever felt more out of the loop on what are the best of the best when it comes to books for 2015. I have not stayed on top of reading the great blogs that I enjoy or following up on the It’s Monday meme to see what everyone is reading. I have tried looking up best of the best on line and you can find many on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, Publisher Weekly… etc, but interestingly enough… they all seem to have their own lists of what is considered the best.
Here are a few that I found to be showing up consistently….
The Girl On The Train was released in January 2015. It was said to be “The next Gone Girl” and for that reason my interest was peaked… the book has an interesting synopsis referring to a woman who witnesses something while riding on the train. I read it. To put it lightly… I was not a fan. I was a not a fan to such a degree…. I went on to rant about it a bit on a post I called Girl Fight! Where I discussed why Amy from Gone Girl could take Rachel from Girl On The Train in a fight. It was a passionate post and one I discovered reading it again now… it was fun to see that old passion in me.
Released in February of 2015, Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale has been a book I have heard much about but have not gone there myself. This aversion I seen to have about WWII reads has got to stop as I know I am mission out on several great titles that I have yet to read (Unbroken included).
The Wright Brothers became available in May of 2015. This is one that I would like to read. I love non fiction and seeing this one of best of the best lists keeps this one on my “hope to read” list.
Between The Worlds and Me released July 2015. Has anyone read this? It sounds interesting.
Dead Wake by Erik Larson released in March 2015. I really enjoyed this one and just discovered I never reviewed it. (I have a LOT of review to catch up on). I have enjoyed everything I have read by this author.
I know there are so many more.
Have you read any of these? If so do you agree that these books are the best of the best? What books of 2015 am I missing?
Today I am cleaning up around the house and working on a few projects. Tonight I have the City Library Board meeting but for the most part it is a quiet day here which I am thankful for the time to just be quiet in my spirit. Enjoy your day and I wish for you time as well to just…. BE.
Book Journey 
I can never pick a best…my mind changes all of the time…sigh! My husband is in the rain in Central Minnesota!
I like to know what the big reads are but this year…. nope. I have no idea.
Yes, The Nightingale. No, The Girl on the Train. Yes, Breathless in Love (Bella Andre & Jennifer Skully). Yes Be Careful What You Wish For (Jeffrey Archer – #5 of The Clifton Chronicles). Yes, The Stranger (Harlan Coben). Yes, We Never Asked for Wings (Vanessa Diffenbaugh). Yes, After You (JoJo Moyes)
Plus there are some that were written in other years (I think), but I’ve read them this year:
Goodnight June, Sarah Jio
Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin
The Given Day, Dennis Lehane
Edge of Eternity, Ken Follett (#3 in Century Trilogy)
Come Away with Me, Karma Brown
Thanks for this!
I would say yes on The Nightingale. I really think you’d like it Sheila, it’s less about the war than you think and more about relationships. And it’s got a strong female character! You like strong women! And I’d have to agree with The Book Sage, I’m finishing up We Never Asked For Wings and I love it! I’ve been putting off reading Between the World and me and I don’t know why because it’s a very short book. Maybe this will spur me on to read it knowing it’s one of the top books of the year. I really liked The Girl on the Train but I don’t know if I’d agree it was one of the best of the best.
Thanks Angie – I think I have the Nightingale… I will look. 🙂
I liked The Wright Brothers. I learned about them. I didn’t realize how little I actually knew before.
I love books like that!
I have some favorite marked this year but they’re not the big favorites around the book blogger world. I’ll have to start putting that post together.
They’re saying the S word in our weather reports. I’m not ready either…
Yes put that list together – my favs dont always match the big ones either…. but that is the beauty of being a reader 🙂
For me it is impossible to pick a best, It would be much easier to choose the worst of 2015 because they would be the ones that were so bad, I couldn’t review them. But that is my opinion of the book, whereas, someone else might think it is truly awesome.
Thinking of you. Hugs.
LOL….. ooh I kind of like that list too! 😀
I’ve only read The Girl on the Train. It’s very good but I’m not sure it’s one of the best of the year. I haven’t even thought of making my list yet.
I have no list to make – I will see what everyone else does 🙂 Maybe it will help me pick my first book of the year.
The best I can do is to choose one or two favorites each month, and then create a Top Ten list at the end of the year. And it’s hard to choose. I can really love a book one month, only to find another favorite the next month.
I did enjoy The Girl on the Train, and I know you didn’t like it very much…I think the big mistake they (the marketing people) made was comparing it to Gone Girl. IMO, the only commonality between them was…they were thrillers, and they both had unreliable narrators. Not much of a commonality, I’d say.
So I try to dismiss what the marketing people say in the blurbs and form my own reactions based solely on the book in front of me..
That said, I pick my favorites each month, and The Girl on the Train was not one of mine, which may or may not coincide with the favorites of anyone else…LOL.
I agree the Gone Girl comparison set my expectations for another crazy ride which I gladly signed up for. Not to say GOTT was not crazy – just not in the way I had hoped.
I haven’t read it yet, but Between the Worlds and Me just won the National Book Award last night, so that’s a great indication that it is one of the best of 2015.
I will need to add it then 🙂
I haven’t even thought of making best-of lists yet. I liked The Girl on the Train, but I’m not sure I’d call it one of the best of the year.
I will be interested in seeing your list Candice!
Between the World and Me will be on my ‘best of’ list this year. Definitely go for the audio version read by the author! It’s short, too… about 3 1/2 hrs. I posted a Book Brief about it on my blog today.
OOH thanks for that advice – I am in need of an audio pick.
I loved The Girl on the Train. Others that would go into my top books of 2015 would be:
1. The Uncommon Reader
2. A Curious Beginning
3. The Magician’s Lie
4. Dead Mountain
5. The Sleeper and the Spindle
No….I haven’t read any of the books you listed.
THANKS for the list.
Been a little down with a med readjustment, so sorry to show up so late. Have read over 200 book this year and am not quiet about the good or the bad. I just finished Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans and it does go up with the best along with Madamoiselle Chanel, All the Light We Cannot See and Boys in the Boat
I think Dead Wake will end up on my “best of 2015” list too. Erik Larson is great and I love knowing that he still has a backlist for me to tackle.
I enjoyed The Nightingale. It was one of the best books I’ve read this year. I haven’t read the others.
The only one of these that I’ve read is The Girl on the Train. It might very well end up on my best of 2015 list but I’m not sure yet. I really want to read Between the World and Me.
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