Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

 

 

“You can’t stop the future. You can’t rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.”

The Story:

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah’s voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out why.
Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah’s pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.

Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

The Story:

“Am I not merciful?”

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Fellow book lovers, I apologize for the spotty posting. You know the deal. Grad school. Two jobs. It leaves with very little free time, and what’s most unfortunate, is that I’ve been in a reading slump for about a month. Yes, it’s a book lover’s worst nightmare, but I can feel it quickly going anyway.

Yet, without further adieu, here’s a list of my top 10 books in 2016.

They are in no particular order, except for The Book Thief as my number 1. No exceptions.

This is one of those books that has truly affected me. I feel that this book is now the epitome of what literary fiction should look and read like. It was creative, insightful, emotional, and raw. I cannot remember the last time I truly cried for hours because of a book. This book changed me as a reader.

Read my review is order to see more details about my thoughts.

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

This book surprised me. At first, I was intrigued because a book tuber that I trust recommended it, but then I read it. Let me say that I almost DNF’d this book at the beginning. It was inscrutable and slow, but when I forced myself to keep going, I fell quickly in love. The writing is poetic, dark, and mesmerizing. The story and characters are complex, but they reflect a realistic picture of life. The moral of the story is that sometimes, like life, books will surprise you.

Read my review in order to see more details about my thoughts.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

This book comes with a small backstory. I indirectly met the author at The National Book Festival, and I was intrigued because it was a panel for his new movie, A Monster Calls. I have never read a Patrick Ness book before, but this book was an amazing glance into Ness’ work. It broke my heart into tiny little pieces because it was so meaningful and raw. I feel like I am saying “raw” a lot in these recaps, but it couldn’t be any more true.

Read my review in order to see more details about my thoughts.

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

Can I just say how great of a high fantasy series this is? I don’t have much experience reading dense novels like this one, but I now set my standards high because of this series. It’s both action-packed and character-driven? Usually, books are either or, but Sanderson is a true man who balances plot and characters effectively. I highly recommend this series to anyone and everyone. It looks intimidating, but you will just fly through it.

Read my review in order to see more details about my thoughts.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Before my YA literature class, I have never heard of Yang. I am so glad that this was a required read, one of the few that I can now call a favorite. The book dealt with tough, but important topics about identity, culture, and acceptance. It’s a perfect representation of diversity, as well. Also, I met the author and gushed so much I’m pretty sure I scared him.

Read my review in order to see more details about my thoughts.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Very rarely have I ever read more than one book by the same author. I like to usually look more outwards than inwards, but Mr. Gaiman is an exception to this rule. This was the second, and I am currently reading a third, of Gaiman’s book that I have read. Thus far, this is my favorite of his. I might even argue that the book is better than the movie, which is a defeat because I LOVE the movie. It was plenty creepy, and I definitely got chills reading this. Perfect for a Halloween, or really any other time.

Sorry, no review for this book. Might be coming soon, though, before I forget.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Another book-surprise this year. I tried to keep an open, open, open-mind for this book. The reason? A friend recommended this to me, and I didn’t want to disappoint her if I hated it. Yet, this book blew me out of the water. It is a speculative, apocalyptic fiction, which will make you think about the life you live NOW. How would humanity survive without Internet or gasoline? That is only a small part of it, though. There is so so much more within these pages.

Read my review in order to see more details about my thoughts.

Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

Yes, I’m a dumb-dumb and I only NOW finished this series in 2016. Do I really need to give you a recap? I’m sure you know what this is about and how amazing it is.

Read my review in order to see more details about my thoughts.

The Raven Cycle Series by Maggie Stiefvater

I’m including the whole series in this 2016 top ten list, because I read half of it this year. That counts, right? After the Harry Potter series, this series is one of my favorites. It’s depth and complexity made me fall in love with it. The characters actually matter to me, as seen by my tears that I shed during the finale. It was so magical too. I felt completely entrenched and in awe. Thank Stiefvater for creating this masterpiece of a series.

Read my review in order to see more details about my thoughts.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Formally, I had another book on this list. I JUST finished this book, and I could not leave it behind. This book was a slow-burning flame that was totally worthwhile. I loved the magic system and its rules. It was completely creative, and her descriptions of the circus made me feel as if I were actually there. Why Morgenstern have you not written any more books? Clearly, you have a knack for it.

Review coming soon!

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Story:

“Life isn’t fair, it’s just fairer than death, that’s all.”

As Florin and Guilder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchmen, rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this dazzling adventure, she’ll meet Vizzini – the criminal philosopher who’ll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik – the gentle giant; Inigo – the Spaniard whose steel thirsts for revenge; and Count Rugen – the evil mastermind behind it all. Foiling all their plans and jumping into their stories is Westley, Princess Buttercup’s one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

 

The Story: 

“You do not write your life with words…You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.”

Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don’t quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there’s a visitor at his window. It’s ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.
Patrick Ness takes the final idea of the late, award-winning writer Siobhan Dowd and weaves an extraordinary and heartbreaking tale of mischief, healing and above all, the courage it takes to survive.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

The Story:

“Why is straight the default? Everyone should have to declare one way or another, and it shouldn’t be this big awkward thing whether you’re straight, gay, bi, or whatever. I’m just saying.”

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

The Story:

“Seem like God didn’t see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams -but He did give us children to make them dreams seem worth while.”

“Never before, the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of black people’s lives been seen on the stage,” observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959.

Indeed Lorraine Hansberry’s award-winning drama about the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of black America–and changed American theater forever.  The play’s title comes from a line in Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem,” which warns that a dream deferred might “dry up/like a raisin in the sun.”

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, #1) by Michelle Hodkin

 

The Story: 

“You could start a fire with the heat between you two.”
“You’re mistaking bitter animosity for heartfelt affection.”

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.
She’s wrong.

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

 

The Story 

“The trees speak Latin”

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them–until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.

His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn’t believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) by Sarah J Maas

 

The Story 

“You could rattle the stars,” she whispered. “You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.”

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her … but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

The Assassin’s Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.5) by Sarah J Maas

The Story

“She was fire, she was darkness, she was dust and blood and shadow.”

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan’s most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin’s Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas – together in one edition for the first time – Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn’s orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

The Complete Maus (Maus #1-2) by Art Spiegelman

 

The Story

“No, darling! To die it’s easy… But you have to struggle for life!”

Combined for the first time here are Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale and Maus II – the complete story of Vladek Spiegelman and his wife, living and surviving in Hitler’s Europe. By addressing the horror of the Holocaust through cartoons, the author captures the everyday reality of fear and is able to explore the guilt, relief and extraordinary sensation of survival – and how the children of survivors are in their own way affected by the trials of their parents. A contemporary classic of immeasurable significance.