BEST BOOKS 2015!!!!!!!!!

2015 was another great year of reading.  Books are definitely my number one solace in life!  Here is my annual top ten list.  You can click on the written book titles to go to the Amazon page to learn more about each book.  Please let me know what some of your favorite reads of the year were!  Wishing everyone a wonderful 2016 full of great books, great friends, great stitching and lots of what you enjoy doing!

1.  NUMBER ONE!!!!!!!!  IT'S. NICE. OUTSIDE BY JIM KOKORIS.  I heartily recommend this book to everyone!!!  It was a great story and very touching.  And funny!  Also, Mr. Kokoris is a local author to my area.  I could not put this book down once I started it.  It is definitely the best book I have read this year!!!!  Also, if you have not read Jim's first novel, The Rich Part of Life, get that one right away too.  It is a real winner!

2.  The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood.  Wow!  This was quite a thrilling read.  It is a dystopian futuristic novel so you kind of have to like that type of book (my Mom does not!).  This is another book that I could not put down.  

3.  Home is Burning by Dan Marshall.  I hate to sound like a broken record, but I could not put this book down either.  This is a memoir.  The story of a 20 something man that went home to take care of his parents who were in poor health.  It is brutally honest and full of swearing.  I loved it!

4.  Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton.  Another brutally honest memoir (my favorite type of book!).  Another great read.  

5. This is a trilogy.  Pure is the first of the series.  I read Pure in 2012 and it was my number two book that year.  This year I read Pure again and then followed it up with the remaining two novels in the trilogy.  The story is brilliant.  The writing is amazing.  And the main characters are astounding.  These books are classified as Young Adult, but they are a great read for any age.  Be aware, the subject matter is strange and the very dystopian, but these are some of the best books I ever read in my life.  Highly recommended.  Pure, Fuse and Burn by Juliana Baggott. 

6.  The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.  Historical Fiction.  Set in France during WWII.  Great story and writing.  Page turner.  Does not disappoint!!!!!

7.   Close Your Eyes and Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian.  I picked this up on a whim one day and was entranced.  Fabulous book.

8.  Escape Points by Michele Weldon.  Another memoir.  Another local author.  Did you read her first book?  The title of it was I Closed My Eyes.  Michele is another person who writes the honest raw truth (very rare!).  

 9.  A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler.  I love Anne Tyler.  Anytime she has a book come out it is cause for celebration.  This was a wonderful family story and, of course, it was so well written. 

 10.  I Was a Child by Bruce Eric Kaplan.  Another memoir.  I remember laughing out loud to this one. 

 Now I can't wait to start the books of 2016!!!!!!