These are ‘awards’ in the loosest sense, as there are no actual prizes! And ‘2016/the year’ is also used loosely here, because these are not so much the Books of the Year as the Books of my year – they are my favourites of the books I read in 2016, though some were published ages ago and some have yet to be published. Anyway, here goes:
MEMOIR OF THE YEAR AWARD:
Small Pieces: a Book of Lamentations by Joanne Limburg
A riveting and moving memoir about family disintegration, and the harm we do to those we love. This book isn’t out until next year but I strongly advise anyone interested in family dynamics to add this to their list for 2017. Limburg’s memoir The Woman Who Thought Too Much is also excellent.
ENLIGHTENED/NEW-AGE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD:
The Essence of Enlightenment by James Swartz
Everything you need to know about Vedanta – an Eastern philosophy/spiritual thingie. I’ve been reading this book very slowly – I started it in 2014, I think – and I finally finished it this year. It’s too full of wisdom to be read quickly. If you loved The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, you will love this book too. I am still not enlightened, and suspect I never will be, but this brilliant book is full of fascinating insights. For example: you and I might not always get what we want/need, but the dharma field certainly will. What is the dharma field? Read this book and you will find out! You’ll also meet the Subtle Body, the Gross Body and the Causal Body. You’ll find out why your mind and ego are not to be trusted. (Nor, obviously, are anyone else’s.)
TRUE CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD:
Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony by Jeff Ashton
I’ve been obsessed for years with the Casey Anthony story. Anthony was tried for the murder of her daughter Caylee Marie, and the result of her trial was…surprising, to say the least. This book is by the prosecutor in Anthony’s case and is the most gripping true crime book I’ve ever read, as well as being one of the most gripping books I’ve ever read of any kind. I could not turn those pages fast enough, and yet I didn’t want to miss a single word.
SELF-HELP BOOK OF THE YEAR:
The Joy of Burnout by Dina Glouberman
This is the perfect book for anyone who feels that, if one more person asks them to do one more thing – even something perfectly reasonable like ‘pass the salt, please’ – they will start sobbing immediately and disintegrate shortly thereafter. Glouberman’s analysis of burn-out is brilliant, and she explains that it is not as simple as a combination of overwork and exhaustion. It’s also a very positive book about how to turn burn-out to your advantage and use it as the basis for a fresh start. I will probably reread this book every year!
OTHER SELF-HELP BOOK OF THE YEAR:
The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck by Sarah Knight
An extremely funny book about how to avoid doing things you don’t want to do, and how to stop caring about what others think when you stop doing those things. Another one I’ll probably reread several times, because I don’t think I’ve fully learned how to balance my ‘f*ck budget’ yet, and Knight’s book contains full details of how to do exactly that. She’s got a new book out very soon called Get Your Sh*t Together, which I intend to buy the second it comes out.
CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD:
Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin
A beautifully written, gripping, intelligent, unpredictable crime novel that obsessed me from start to finish. It has a totally original feel to it, and a dream-like quality that casts a powerful spell. Its atmosphere sticks in your mind for a long time afterwards, and it really stands out from the crowd, which is something I find I value more and more these days. What I’m looking for are the true originals, and Heaberlin is undoubtedly one of them. This book, whose protagonist is the sole survivor of a serial killer, is something special.
OTHER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD:
Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris
A gripping woman-in-peril thriller that I couldn’t put down, it wins this award because it does something bold and original very early on in the story that made me think, ‘Wow – no other psychological thriller I can think of does this thing’ – and it does it brilliantly. Paris could so easily have jumped on all the usual bandwagons of this sub-genre, but she notably chose not to, which made me want to shout, ‘Bravo!’ To find out what the strikingly original feature of the story is, you must of course read the book!
NOT-YET-PUBLISHED CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD:
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton – I am properly, injuction-provokingly obsessed with this novel, which will be published by Raven (Bloomsbury) in (I think?) early 2018. The narrator – whose name I cannot tell you because it’s not as simple as that – realises that he is doomed to re-live the same day over and over until he solves the murder of a young woman. There’s an atmospheric country house, many suspects, and a narrative device so brilliant that I’m annoyed I can’t say what it is – but I can’t, because it’s a surprise I don’t want to spoil. One might say this book is And Then There Were None meets Groundhog Day, and in a way that would be true, but that ‘meets’ form of description for novels is too often used to mean ‘promiscuously derivative’ – when in fact this novel is awesomeness-meets-amazingness, and totally and utterly original.
RE-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD:
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie. One of the Queen of Crime’s very best. It has everything: perfect plot, perfect setting, perfect characters, and the ever-perfect Poirot. Also, it contains sea-swimming and having a bath – two of my favourite activities – and a strong contender for Agatha’s best ever husband-and-wife combination. I knew this was going to be in my all-time top 5 Agathas as soon as Poirot explained that it’s so much easier to get close enough to someone to murder them on holiday – because you don’t need a reason for being there, where they are; you can simply be one of the other holiday makers. He has many other equally delightful insights in this wonderful novel, which I urge you to put right at the top of your Christie Re-Read list.
