These are the books I rated as 5 star reads on goodreads. Click on the title to read my review.
A Bear Called Paddington. Such a sweet, funny book. Well deserving of being an enduring favourite.
Pippi Longstocking. A childhood favourite, still as wonderful.
The Incredible Journey. A perfect adventure through the Canadian wilderness that I wish I had read as a child.
Parisian Cats. Because a book about cats in Paris will always be great.
Parachute. A gem from the CBCA shortlist, brilliant use of perspective to allay anxiety.
I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato. Lauren Child at her very best.
Popular. A fantastic memoir about the quest to be popular as a teenager. Universal.
Kissed by the Moon. More brilliance from Alison Lester- one of her best I think. Perfect for new parents.
Loyal Creatures. Totally moving, compelling Australian response to Michael Morpurgo's War Horse.
Miss Rumphius. A new to me classic. It's gorgeous.
A House for Donfinkle. Because I love a book you've never heard of.
Window. A reread. Still as magnificent.
The Sweet Life in Paris. Because I certainly love the Sweet Life in Paris.
By the River. Probably my favourite book of the year. Certainly the one I fell hardest for. I read it twice, and listened to it multiple times in the car. Steven Herrick taught me to read and appreciate verse novels this year.
Trash. Master Wicker hated it when he read it for school. So I read it too.
Fire. Always good to have a Jackie French title on the list.
Maia and What Matters, a delicious picture book in translation.
I Am Not Esther. The best New Zealand book I've ever read I think.
Letters From the Inside. Another book from Master Wicker's school reading. He liked this one as much as I did.
My Life As An Alphabet. Utterly charming.
Ok, it's not really Ten(ish) it's Twenty One, but it's important to draw attention to the good books out there, and I don't see much point in trimming it down. I'm not sure that I could anyway.
9 Aussie titles
8 Picture books
3 Nonfiction/Memoir
2 Paris books
13 Female authors
8 Male authors
You can see my previous Years in Books. 2013. 2012. 2011. Actually Jackie French is the only author to have made my list every year.
4 comments:
You've done so well on Australian authors - I hesitate to check how I did, as I wanted to read more in 2014, but I get the feeling I didn't. Books on Paris I probably did OK on!
So much good reading this year. Thanks for sharing your favorites with us, Louise!
It is fascinating looking back on our year of reading; I'm hoping to do it now I'm back home (the beach already feels like a distant memory:-(
Do you ever wish to reassess some of the 5 star books with hindsight?
Thanks Vicki- books on Paris is always an easy section to do well on, isn't it? And there's more every year....
Thanks Deb. I really enjoyed your list, and am really intrigued by Jane Gardam, and looking forward to reading her.
Brona- I'm looking forward to your list. And yes, I was surprised by some of my 5 star statuses. "Oh, did I give that one 5 stars". But I just accept that that was my rating at the time, and move on.
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