The Best Books of 2016.

First and foremost, I should mention that this is a list of the best books that I read in 2016, rather than books published in 2016. This is purely based on my enjoyment of them and whether or not I would recommend them.

The Best Book I Read in January.

2016 started out really, really well and I discovered several books that quickly took their place on my favourites list. Specifically, these were:

Room by Emma Donoghue
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Green
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

 Honorary mention: I also loved The Martian by Andy Weir that month, but I wouldn’t call that one a favourite.

 Even though I loved all of these so much, I think Room is probably my best book from Jan as it’s the one I’ve enjoyed re-reading the most.

---

The Best Book I Read in February.

Well, without a doubt the best book I read in Feb was Wonder by R. J. Palacio.

 I adored this book. The whole thing was so sweet and there were three separate scenes that made me cry, and if a book makes me cry even one time, that’s a surefire way to get a 5-star rating.

 Actually, two scenes made me cry. The third scene made me bawl my frigging eyes out. I swear I lost weight after that crying session.

Click here if you’d like to read my review.

---

The Best Book I Read in March.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I’m a big fan of dystopians anyway, but I found this one to be especially good because it deviated from the typical storyline that most YA dystopians follow. It was also very unique, at least for me, as I’ve not read any other books that focus so much on virtual realities.

Click here if you’d like to read my review.

---

The Best Book I Read in April.

April was a slower reading month, but I did discover The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, which I was surprised to find I really enjoyed. I’m always a bit unsure when I started reading classics, as they can often be quite slow, and this was slow in places but overall I really liked it.

I also read I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, but my personal best book for April was still The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as, even though I Am Malala was fascinating and triumphant, it’s not the sort of book that I would say I enjoyed as it was a very harrowing true account.

---

The Best Book I Read in May.

I discovered some fabulous books in May:

Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield

It was tough to choose an overall favourite for May but in the end I went for Faceless. I thought Paper Butterflies was more beautifully written but in terms of pure enjoyment I preferred Faceless. All three were great reads though.

---

The Best Book I Read in June.

The two best books I read in June were sequels:

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, the third and final book in the Chaos Walking series
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner, the second in the Maze Runner series.

 Despite really enjoying both of these and loving the entire Chaos Walking series, I’m not sure which I enjoyed more out of these two books. I remember being absolutely shocked that The Scorch Trials was actually better than The Maze Runner, as sequels so often fall short, whereas the second and third books in the Chaos Walking trilogy weren’t anywhere near as good as The Knife of Never Letting Go.

I think I’m going to go for The Scorch Trials. I enjoyed both books but I can’t remember much of what happened in either of them, but I do remember being very excited while reading The Scorch Trials so I think I must have enjoyed that one more at the time.

---

The Best Book I Read in July.

There weren’t any books that I really, REALLY enjoyed in July, despite finally getting around to some that I’d wanted to read forever. In the end, I chose Children of the Corn by Stephen King for my best book of July (it’s actually a short story). It was a good, creepy read, but not my favourite Stephen King work.

---

The Best Book I Read in August.

Obviously I have to mention Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, but I won’t be choosing that as my favourite book for August as I enjoyed seeing the play so much more than reading the book.

An honourable mention goes to Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella, which I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a quick, cute read. If you’re into contemporary/YA, you’d almost certainly love it. But my favourite book I read in August was Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, which I finally got around to about ten years after everyone else read it.

This was very lyrical, beautiful writing, and although the ending was a tiny bit of a disappointment, I really enjoyed the story.

---

The Best Book I Read in September.

My choices for the best book of September were Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty and Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine.

 Liane Moriarty is a great author; I’ve read all her books, enjoyed them all, and loved most of them. I didn’t find Truly Madly Deeply as good as some of her others but it wasn’t my least favourite.

 Madame Doubtfire was a fun book that I wish I had discovered as a child, as I feel like it would have been an instant favourite.

 Of the two, I think I would have to go for Truly Madly Deeply just for Moriarty’s fabulously acidic writing style that I absolutely love.

---

The Best Book I Read in October.

Without a doubt, my favourite this month was My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises by Fredrik Backman. It was a totally unique story and I loved the child protagonist who was a massive Harry Potter fan and such a little bookish nerd. I related to her – can you tell?

I also loved Nina Is Not OK by Shappi Khorsandi (click here if you’d like to read my review) and The Traveling Bag and Other Stories by Susan Hill.

---

The Best Book I Read in November.

It wasn’t hard to choose a favourite for November!

The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey was a fast-paced, frightening read that I really couldn’t put down. One of my favourite feelings associated with reading is when you have to stop reading – because, you know, you have a job which is obviously NOT as important as getting to that next chapter – and all you can think about is when you’re next going to be able to pick the book back up. I definitely had this with The Girl With All the Gifts.

---

The Best Book I Read in December.

I haven’t done my monthly wrap-up for December yet so won’t say much here, but the two books I liked best were Girl Up by Laura Bates and The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin.

 I’m honestly not sure which is my favourite out of these – they’re so different (although they do have similar themes!) so it’s hard to contest them against each other. I think I need a bit longer to reflect on these.

The Best Book I Read in 2016.

Well, I guess the books for each month above are my shortlist, so what’s gonna win?

Wonder by R. J. Palacio. Is anyone really shocked?

I know I’ve already said it (hundreds of times!) but I have to reiterate that this is one of the best books I have ever read. If you haven’t read it yet, please do. I promise it’s worth it. I finished reading and immediately read it all through again.

I will be posting my worst books of 2016 tomorrow so stay tuned for some ranting.

Thanks for stopping by!