{"id":7714,"date":"2016-12-11T07:30:20","date_gmt":"2016-12-11T07:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=7714"},"modified":"2016-12-11T07:30:20","modified_gmt":"2016-12-11T07:30:20","slug":"my-best-reads-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/films\/my-best-reads-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"My best reads of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"It
It took me far too long to get around to reading this<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the end of the year approaches \u2013 there\u2019s time for one more wafer-thin book blog\u2026 which includes what I have to say are my two standout books for the year.<\/p>\n

Both are books that I\u2019ve read in the last few weeks… and they could not be more different.<\/p>\n

One is a mega best seller \u2013 the other isn\u2019t \u2013 but it should be.<\/p>\n

One has been made into a Hollywood movie \u2013 and oh how I wish the other would be.<\/p>\n

Both are a little outside my normal reading zone \u2013 and have convinced me that I need to move the boundaries of my reading zone\u2026<\/p>\n

My pick for the year is\u2026 (drum roll please)<\/p>\n

Gone Girl \u2013 Gillian Flynn <\/strong>(new author and e-book)<\/p>\n

I have a habit of avoiding hyped best sellers until after the fuss has died down. I always think I am going to be disappointed\u2026 that the book won\u2019t match the hype. That\u2019s why it took me such a long time to get around to reading this.<\/p>\n

I was wrong.<\/p>\n

The book totally matched the hype. I truly could not put it down. It was well written and beautifully structured. And it was a gripping emotional portrait, not to mention an intriguing crime story.<\/p>\n

I had managed to avoid all the spoilers, so there certainly won\u2019t be any here.<\/p>\n

People tend to say tell new writers that at least one of the protagonists in any book has to be likeable and engaging. This is proof that every rule has its exceptions. The main characters in this book are not at all likeable, but they are totally believable. That\u2019s what matters.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t read it \u2013 go and do it now. And read it before you see the film. I am not sure what the film is like \u2013 but don\u2019t do anything that will interfere with the enjoyment of this excellent book.<\/p>\n

My other stand out book for the year was\u2026.<\/p>\n

\"My
My new favourite heroine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Max Seventeen \u2013 Kate Johnson <\/strong>(e-book and a known author)<\/p>\n

Once again, it\u2019s full disclosure time. Kate Johnson is a friend. She is also the author of what I think is the possibly best book even published by my own publisher Choc Lit. That book is the Untied Kingdom.<\/p>\n

I think I like Max Seventeen even more. This is an unorthodox and original novel. It\u2019s a romance and an adventure story and a sci fi story all rolled into one.<\/p>\n

Max, the heroine, is as far from a cardboard cut-out as it\u2019s possible to get. She is unconventional, strong, vulnerable, shocking and wonderful. And she has a hero worthy of her.<\/p>\n

I loved, loved this book. If you\u2019re looking for something to shake up your reading muscles\u2026 this is the book for you.<\/p>\n

But it does come with a warning – this book will mess with your idea of what defines a hero and heroine…\u00a0 that’s probably one\u00a0of the reasons I liked it so much.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to mention three other recent reads that probably make up the year’s top five for me.<\/p>\n

\"I
I have been a fan of Julie Cohen’s work for years<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear thing \u2013 Julie Cohen <\/strong>(paperback and a favourite author)<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with a disclaimer here \u2013 Julie is a friend of mine \u2013but that doesn\u2019t mean I can\u2019t be a fan of her books. And I am. A fan, that is. Julie\u2019s fist books were quite light and fun romantic stories and over time she has develop as a writer \u2013 writing bigger, deeper books dealing with more complex issues<\/p>\n

dear thing<\/em> is about parenthood, the desire or need to have a child, about love and surrogacy.<\/p>\n

The book spans the nine months of a pregnancy. No spoilers here of course, but it\u2019s enough to say that a lot changes in those nine months\u2026 with nothing going quite the way anyone had planned.<\/p>\n

I read this book in a couple of days \u2013 finishing it in the wee small hours of the morning because I just had to find out how it ended.<\/p>\n

This is classy, intelligent women\u2019s fiction and Julie\u2019s next book is already on my shelf.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Thought
Thought provoking and engrossing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nineteen Minutes \u2013 Jodi Picoult.<\/strong> (e-book and a favourite author)<\/p>\n

This is a great book, but it\u2019s not an easy book to read.<\/p>\n

The book is set around a high school shooting in a small US town and asks some very tough questions. Questions about bullying; questions about identity and family and right and wrong.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s up the reader to come up with their own answers to those questions, but this book does offer some insights into the effect of such a tragic event on the lives of everyone in a small community.<\/p>\n

I imagine doing the research for this book must have been an emotional experience \u2026 because it\u2019s plain Ms Picoult did her research and some of the things she writes are, to say the least, uncomfortable reading.<\/p>\n

But books like this matter. They make us think.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A
A disturbing and very personal account of war<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Born on the Fourth of July<\/strong> \u2013 Ron Kovic. (ebook and a new author)<\/p>\n

Maybe the US election had me thinking about serious issues, but I followed the school shooting book with Ron Kovic\u2019s personalised account and statement about war \u2013 in his case, the Vietnam war. I don’t read a lot of non-fiction outside of research books – but this made me think I should read more.<\/p>\n

This is not a particularly well written book \u2013 but that\u2019s not the point. It is a book that will reach down inside you and take your heart in a vice-like grip. It\u2019s an angry book. It\u2019s a disillusioned book and I\u2019m sure writing it was a cathartic experience for Kovic.<\/p>\n

A lot of people have no doubt seen the film version, starring Tom Cruise. I saw it years ago, but have only the vaguest recollection of it. It wasn\u2019t a bad film, but I don\u2019t think any film could get quite as deep into a man\u2019s anger and pain as this book did.<\/p>\n

Not an easy or uplifting read in any way \u2013 but it is very very powerful.<\/p>\n

So I guess as I go into 2017, my aim with my reading is going to be to spread my wings a little, step outside my comfort zone and try to expand my reading list… without actually\u00a0letting go of my favourites. That shouldn’t be too hard … all I will neeed is an extra hour or two in every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the end of the year approaches \u2013 there\u2019s time for one more wafer-thin book blog\u2026 which includes what I have to say are my two standout books for the year. Both…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}