Still lots of books I didn’t get to, and I am ashamed to say some of them I have wanted to read since at least 2015!
Zero K by Don DeLillo
It’s sitting on my phone waiting to be read. I should probably get myself a paperback. An unread ebook is one way to immortality, I guess.
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Victorian England, Naturalism. I don’t know much about this book yet, but it popped up on lots of favourite lists at the end of 2016, and those two keywords are enough to pique my interest.
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
This seems like a logical next read after The Last Painting of Sara de Vos for anyone who wants more of the Dutch Golden Age. I am hoping for Dorothy Dunnett meets A. S. Byatt.
The Girls by Emma Cline
Much anticipated in 2016, but didn’t really cross my radar or catch my interest at the time. Now that I have read and loved Commonwealth, a dangerously edged tale of adolescence at the violent end of the 1960s sounds perfect.
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
To tie me over until The Mirror and the Light comes out, an epic French Revolution tale from a Booker Prize winner sounds wonderful. Nobody makes historical figures quite so human or vulnerable as Hilary Mantel.
And the ones from last year that I didn’t make it to, but that are still high on my list…
The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall
A fictional account of the reintroduction of wild wolves in the UK? Wolves, English Gentry and Country Estates, Female Scientist Protagonist, Returning home to family ghosts? What’s still not to love? I don’t know why I haven’t got to this yet, but did make sure I set it for Book Clubs in 2017 (just to make sure I finally read it)
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
One of the most popular science fiction novels in China, and increasingly hyped now that it has been published and widely read in English. I still hope that the Cultural Revolution background story for this novel will be the driver for some really serious political science fiction.
The Wolf Border is really fascinating, but I found The Girls and The Essex Serpent pretty middling – interested to see what you think of them!
I finally managed to grab myself a copy of The Wolf Border today at work, so am hoping to tear through it this weekend!