My New Year's Honours List- My Review of Books 2016

There is no way I could narrow down my reads of 2016 to a list of ten or twenty. I'm too much of a bibliomaniac with too much love for too many books and too many authors. I have read 250 books this year and I am so grateful for all the writers who have provided me with entertainment, enjoyment, pause for thought, moments of spine tingling chills and down right brilliant books this year. I am extremely grateful to all the publishers who have made so many dreams come true with ARCs and the opportunities to take part in blog tours and Q&As with authors, and I am also exceptionally grateful to the book blogging community who are just such a lovely bunch of people and so tremendously supportive with their retweeting and sharing and general enthusiasm for anything bookish. Each and every one of you has made my 2016 brighter and more rewarding.

So, here goes. I'm Katherine and I am a Bibliomaniac. This is my review of 2016 in books.

The first book listed in each category is the winner, followed by either 1 or 2 runners up. 

Books I completely fell in love with:

Books with a character that completely crept under my skin:

Books that were literally a stunning work of fiction:

Books that were spine tinglingly chilling:

Books that made me laugh:

Books by authors I hadn't read before and then I went out and bought every single thing they'd ever written:

Books that were debut titles in 2016: 

Books that were a trilogy:

Hidden gems:

And some special shout outs for the following books which have also gained a special place in my heart this year:

Books I wanted to read this year and have not yet had a chance:

  

What's at the top of my wish list for 2017?

What should be at the top of your wish list for 2017?

Yes there are a lot of books in this post - too many I know - but I had a lot to choose from and it was agonising!!

You can find reviews of all of the books above (apart from the 8 listed towards the end) on my blog by using the search button. 

I hope you have read a fantastic selection of books over 2016 and I hope you continue to find more and more to read throughout 2017.

Look out for my blogs in January as I have lots of exciting posts lined up and a few changes! It's also getting towards my first anniversary for which there will be a giveaway so keep your eyes peeled and make sure you're following me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk) for more details! 

Happy New Year! 

"My Name is Leon" Kit De Waal

This is another one of those books which has been cropping up on my timeline with rave reviews for months and I seem to be the only person not yet to have read it, so I was absolutely thrilled when NetGalley granted my wish and I was able to squeeze it in to my 2016 reads!

For anyone else who has not yet come across this heartbreaking story, it is about 9 year old Leon and his baby brother Jake. They are neglected by their mother, Carol, and go to live with foster mother Maureen who immediately brings colour into their life - both literally with her red hair - and metaphorically with her warmth, love and nurture.

But Jake is taken away and given to a new family - he is a baby and he is white. Leon is not.

This is a very moving story of Leon as he tries to come to terms with who he is; tries to deal with his loss, grief, anger and unhappiness; tries to understand the complicated world of adults and of family relationships and then finally, just when all everything seems to lost, finds his place within it.

The story takes place in the 1980s and the era is brilliantly evoked through the references to gifts, treats, prices, belongings, food and music. The characters use of a public pay phone outside the building in which they lived really highlighted how much communication itself has changed. Popular culture references aside, De Waal must have really done her research for this novel as it occurred to me how much must have changed in terms of child protection, law, procedure, monitoring, paperwork and even hospitals since the 1980s.

The 1980s backdrop of social unrest and then conversely the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana also contribute to the underlying sense of uncertainty as well as the need for a fairy tale ending that Leon feels throughout the novel.

"My Name is Leon" is a very loved book by those who have already reviewed it with an outstanding average rating of 4/5 on Goodreads, but I wasn't prepared for just how overwhelming I found the opening chapters. De Waal manages to ensure that the true desperation of the boy's situation is not too harrowing by narrating it from Leon's view and as a nine year old child, his perception and description of what is happening around him allows us to feel sadness yet avoids a moral high ground or a gratuitous sensationalisation of events. It also allows us to stay firmly grounded with Leon and not become caught up in judgement and prejudice towards his mother.

The reader cannot help but fall in love with Leon. The opening of the book starts with him meeting his newborn brother and immediately being left to look after him. Unsure of what to do, he introduces himself and tells his brother all the things he thinks he needs to know.

"My name is Leon and my birthday is on the fifth of July nineteen seventy one. .....Mum's bought you a shopping basket with a cloth in it for your bed. She says it's the same basket Moses had but it looks new." 

There are hints from the beginning that Carol struggles to look after Leon. Tina, her friend and neighbour, often looks after them but the exchanges Leon catches between Tina and her boyfriend reveal that this happens more often than it really should.

"when he sees Leon he always says 'Again?' and Tina says, 'I know.'"

And as Leon is only 9, he will accept Carol's word rather than realising that perhaps her decisions are more selfish, irrational or from someone who is slipping into depression.

"After a few weeks, Carol says Leon can't go to school because it's too wet and rainy."

Leon is emotionally intelligent. He is sensitive. He loves his mum and he wants to look after her. His observations capture an innocence and naivety and Waal's ability to report events through the eyes of young boy are really poignant and resonate with the reader.

"Leon has begun to notice the things that make his mum cry: when Jake makes a lot of noise, when she hasn't got any money, when she comes back from the phone box, when Leon asks too many questions; and when she's staring at Jake."

The fact that Leon knows the best routine for Jake rather than Carol is really heartbreaking and the effort he puts into looking after Jake really shows the bond between the boys - a bond that will leave Leon completely broken when Jake is taken away from him. But it's not just Jake he has to look after, it's Carol herself. And these scenes are upsetting. I had a flashback to the first time I read "Goodnight Mr Tom" to a room full of 12 year olds and that heavy silence which fell across the room as everyone realised the extent of neglect that had taken place.

I really enjoyed Leon's candid comments about the social workers.

"Social workers have two pretend faces. Pretend Happy and Pretend Sad. They're not supposed to get angry so they make angry into sad. This time, they're pretending to care about him and Jake and his mum."

But social services do move the boys to live with Maureen. And Maureen is an absolute fairy godmother. She is all that the boys need. She is gentle, caring, warm and shows intuition, initiative and sincerity when dealing with them. The mentions of touch, hand holding, hand squeezing and love suddenly crept into the pages. My favourite part of the book was in Chapter 8, Christmas Day. I was as excited as Leon as he experienced his first ever real Christmas and I was as caught up in all the magic as he was!

However, things continue to remain uncertain. There are still conversations behind closed door, on phone calls, fraught visits from officials and Leon's growing awareness that unlike Jake, he is unwanted, unloved, inconvenient and likely to be moved on or left behind. There are appearances from Carol and Leon always attempts to read so much more into their meetings than is actually there. He continues to suffer rages and outburst of anger that he tries to contain, tries to conceal but they reflect his deep frustration and unhappiness.

The story continues and although Leon is only ten by the end of the book, there is an element of coming of age to the story. The acquaintances he makes, the things with which he becomes embroiled, the conversations he overhears, all lead up to a climatic ending with plenty of moments of drama and tension. The book ends seeing Leon settled, happy and preparing to plant new seeds and sow new beginnings -both literally and metaphorically. The ending that Leon deserves and all the readers want.

This is an interesting read. De Waal explores a lot of themes, ideas and emotions. She raises questions about nature and nurture, parenthood, siblings, marriage, adoption and fostering. She raises broader social questions. I liked the fact it was told through Leon's nine year old eyes and not those of an adult as it does keep the tone lighter despite the subject matter and does keep things slightly more simplified and hinted at rather than laboured. I did wonder a few times whether it might have worked better had it been in the first person? Although writing convincingly as a nine year old is very difficult and in the close third person that she has chosen, Waal has successfully created a believable voice and Leon feels authentic in his thoughts and dialogue.

I'm glad I have read "My Name is Leon". It will stay with me. There is a lot to think about and I'm unlikely to forget Leon for a long while.

"My Name is Leon" is available on Kindle and in Hardback and will be published in paperback on April 6th 2017.

For more recommendations and reviews you can follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"The Trouble with Goats and Sheep" Joanna Cannon

This book has been on my wish list for a long time and I am so glad that I eventually got to read it. As soon as I mentioned I was reading it, my timeline was flooded with other bloggers and tweeters telling me how much I would enjoy it - and they were not wrong! This book seems to be greeted universally with words like "lovely", "beautiful" and "delightful" and I think there are very few books that ever succeed in creating that warmth of response and a sense of yearning from readers who want to discover it again for the first time. So although I may be late, I can now join my fellow book bloggers in their fondness for this book and proudly say I have joined the herd!

The story is set in 1976 during the heatwave and this is immediately evocative of long, hot, summer days. We are immediately transported back to a time we can all picture through its sepia filter and many of us can see ourselves once again in the throws of childhood and immersed in our Jackie magazines.

The heroes of the story are Tilly and Grace, our ten year old detectives who set out to discover what has happened to neighbour Mrs Creasy who has mysteriously disappeared. The Avenues are alive with whispers and gossip and it is up to Tilly and Grace to dig behind the secrets, piece together information from the adult conversations and actions around them until they can discover the truth - something which will turn out to be much more than they anticipated .......

Narratives told from the point of view of a ten year old are tricky to get right, but when the author does, they are immensely effective and enjoyable. Cannon gets it right. I really enjoyed the chapters from Grace's point of view. I loved her voice, her observations, the connections she made, the conclusions she drew and that refreshing bluntness, naivety and innocence all at the same time which made me smile and chuckle to myself a lot. Through Grace and Tilly, Cannon is able to pose quite complex questions about human nature and reveal information about characters in the neighbourhood that is actually quite heartbreaking or unpleasant but the children's interpretation and responses bring a lightness of touch which prevent the novel from becoming too overwhelming.

For example, the throwaway comments like, "My mother spent most of 1974 having a little lie-down" actually reveal much more to the reader but to Grace, she's simply stating a fact and the wry humour is all in our heads rather than hers. Grace is brilliant at transferring any comments that could be derisory in that way only children can:

"My mother said I was at an awkward age. I didn't feel especially awkward, so I presumed she meant that it was awkward for them."

Grace and Tilly spend their summer in and out of the neighbours' houses as they set about investigating the disappearance of Mrs Creasy. Cannon captures the essence of a neighbourhood well and particularly an era when children would run between houses happily and play out for the whole day. One of my favourite characters was Mrs Morton.

"Mrs Morton was always trying to force chocolate on to us. She had a tin-full in the pantry and no children of her own. The pantry was cavernous and heaved with custard creams and fingers of fudge, and I often had wild fantasies in which I would find myself trapped in there overnight and be forced to gorge myself to death on Angel Delight."

But there are undertones and implications from the beginning that all is not as it seems and that actually, despite it's gentle humour and summer setting, this book is going to probe at more meaningful themes. And at times, Grace's observations are extremely accurate and perceptive.

"Why do people blame everything on the heat?" asked Tilly
"It's easier," I said
"Easier that what?"
"Easier than telling everyone the real reasons."

This continues as Cannon gradually brings in chapters from other households. Her prose is beautiful and her use of language creates images and characters effortlessly. It's possible to become immersed in her characters' homes and relationships and Cannon creates a perfect balance between telling a story that entertains and engages us as well as peppering it with moments of sadness, tragedy and comments that cause you to pause and reflect.

"[Brian] knew she would have pulled the blanket over her legs, and the Milk Tray box would be massacred and left to the carpet, and the television would be playing out a conversation with itself in the corner. He knew that she would not have risked moving from the edges of her crocheted existence. A world within a world, a life she had embroidered herself over the past few years, which seemed to shrink and tighten with each passing month."

Cannon's novel is about a close community with a hidden past. It is about the dangers of gossip and assumptions - not just for the obvious reasons, but I also liked how some characters use it to define themselves - for example, Brian reflects how his mother uses overheard snippets of conversation:

"It was as though she used hearsay as a web to trap people's attention, that she didn't believe she was interesting enough to hold on to them any other way."

The metaphor of goats and sheep is very clever and I really enjoyed how Cannon applied the analogy to the character's in the book. Tilly and Grace's search for God to help protect them all is charming and again highlights their innocence and simplistic view of a complex, dark adult world.

There are so many little comments or sentences that are slipped unassumingly into the prose or dialogue yet carry much more significance, weight or meaning. Also, there are many descriptions, images and moments caught briefly yet deserving of more consideration and thought. I really enjoy a story that has this kind of double layer to it; the writing is so polished and controlled it really deserves to be savoured so that all the nuances and details dropped gently on to the pages are really absorbed and appreciated. Cannon manages to make you smile and then want to cry all at the same time with her pertinent insights into human nature and the whole emotional reckoning of a coming of age story.

I recommend this book. It's a very enjoyable novel with much to savour and discuss. It is sure to become quite a classic. There is so much praise for it from so many acclaimed authors that I'm sure it will gain the success it deserves and it's great to see it in the Richard and Judy Book Club list for 2017.

If you enjoyed this book you may also like "The Girls" by Lisa Jewell, "Instructions for a Heatwave" by Maggie O'Farrell and "The Girls" by Emma Cline.

For more recommendations and reviews from me you can follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)

"Unravelling Oliver" Liz Nugent

Oliver Ryan is a handsome and charismatic success story. He lives in the suburbs with his wife, Alice, who illustrates his award-winning children's books and gives him her unstinting devotion. Their life together is one of enviable privilege and ease - enviable until, one evening after supper, Oliver attacks Alice and beats her into a coma. 

In the aftermath, as everyone tries to make sense of his astonishing act of savagery, Oliver tells his story. So do those whose paths he has crossed over five decades. What unfolds is a story of shame, envy, breath-taking deception and masterful manipulation. Only Oliver knows the lengths to which he has had to go to get the life to which he felt entitled. But even he is in for a shock when the past catches up with him. 

This is a truly gripping and chilling tale which is absolutely fulfils the definition of psychological thriller. As the front cover says, this is a compelling "whydunnit" and I love that word- this is all about the why rather than the what. We know the crime, we know the villain and we know the victim. But what terrifies us the most is why Oliver did what he did.......It is a complex, exceptionally well written novel about a sociopath and its unbelievable this is Nugent's first novel as it has the accomplished feel of a much more established or classic author from this genre.

At only 230 pages it is a slim novel and really can be read in one sitting - preferably in bed, late at night, in the dark, on your own - not in the bath, as I did, which meant I suddenly realised I was sitting in stone cold water and very wrinkly! Although the bathroom acoustics were rather effective when I actually gasped out loud and whispered "wow" a few times - but for most of the time I was silent - so utterly enthralled and mesmerised by Nugent's haunting characterisation and beautiful prose. 

The opening is excellent. 

"I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her. She just lay on the floor holding her jaw. Staring at me. Silent. She didn't even seem to be surprised." 

You know when you pick up a book and just scan the first line and know immediately you are going to totally love it? Well, that's what "Unravelling Oliver" was like for me. And I did totally love it. All of it. Hugely. 

"I am aware that I am not the easiest of people. Alice has told me so. I have no friends, for example. I used to, many years ago, but that really didn't work out. We drifted apart and I let them go - voluntarily, I suppose. Friends are just people who remind you of your failings." 

Oliver is deeply unpleasant. He is so calm, matter of fact, ordinary, intelligent and articulate. He is so cold and unemotional. There is a real sense of underlying malevolence and evil lurking within him and he is immediately threatening. He is a loner, unfeeling and selfish. But completely fascinating. 

"It turns out that I am a violent man after all. It comes as a shock to me. I have been psychologically assessed. I decided to tell them almost everything. Apparently, I have been harbouring bitterness, resentment and frustration since my childhood. Now, there's a surprise." 

We also hear from several other voices over the course of the novel which effectively offers us further insight as the characters explain their relationship with Oliver, what they know of him and his marriage. This is a really good way of painting a more detailed picture as we cannot wholly trust Oliver. Also these characters are from different stages in Oliver's life so they offer valuable points of view as to how his past might have affected his current behaviour. Each of them have had a very different relationship with him, with varying degrees of intimacy and so the reader begins to build up a more rounded view which in turn reveals a much more unsettling portrait of Oliver.

Nugent is able to write each voice convincingly, creating an authentic character each time with a distinctive voice. The variety of voice and style helps release some of the intensity if we were only to hear from Oliver and also develops the themes and plot more effectively too. Stanley's voice did feel like a formal police statement or as if he was talking to a journalist but actually that is quite effective in itself as the reader really does want to interview these people and find out what they know about Oliver. And as Oliver has been apprehended and we know him to be guilty, it is authentic that some of these narratives have this feel to them. It also highlights how vivid and compelling Oliver's chapters are and to be honest, his was the voice I enjoyed the most and was always wanting to get back to.

However, that said, Eugene's character was very cleverly portrayed. Nugent's use of punctuation and sentence structure was very well done for this section and felt extremely authentic and convincing. I think she has real skill in creating memorable, distinctive characters through monologues which is due to her careful choice of vocabulary, punctuation and structure.

Nugent uses some fantastic imagery. This was one of my favourite sentences:

"There was a pregnant silence that threatened to give birth any minute. Eventually I broke its waters." 

There really is depth, weight and resonance to her writing and it really deserves to be admired and savoured.

And as for the ending of "Unravelling Oliver", well, you'll just have to see for yourself!

I am really pleased that Nugent has been selected for the Richard and Judy Spring 2017 Book Club reads with her second novel "Lying in Wait" and hope that this ensures lots more people discover her chilling and haunting books.

"Unravelling Oliver" published in 2013 and in 2015 by Penguin.

For my review of "Lying in Wait" please click here:
http://bibliomaniacuk.blogspot.com/2016/06/lying-in-wait-liz-nugent.html

For more recommendations and reviews please follow me on Twitter @katherinesunde3 (bibliomaniacuk)