Favourite Books of 2016

It’s that time of year again where I get to show/tell you all of my favourite reads from 2016. I will be listing my favourite books of 2016 along with the blurbs to each of them so that you get a little bit more information on each of the books and any that I have reviewed on here I will also link so that you can read my thoughts on them as well. Just a little disclaimer these books are not in any particular order I just wanted to share my favourite books of 2016 with you guys.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

“Charlie is a freshman.
And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.
Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can’t stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.” Goodreads

Bright Star Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne by John Keats

“I have two luxuries to brood over…your Loveliness and the hour of my death
Though John Keats (1795-1821) died when he was just twenty-five years old, he left behind some of the most exquisite and moving poetry ever written.
He also left an incredibly beautiful and tender collection of love letters, inspired by his great love for Fanny Brawne. Although they knew each other for just a few short years and spent a great deal of that time due to Keats’ worsening illness, which forced him to live abroad, Keats wrote again and again about Fanny–his very last poem is called simply “To Fanny”–and wrote love letters to her constantly. She, in turn, would wear the ring he had given her until her death.
This remarkable volume contains the love poems and correspondence composed by Keats in the heat of his passion, and is a dazzling display of a talent cruelly cut short.” Goodreads

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie

“Beautiful Caroline Crale was convicted of poisoning her husband, but just like the nursery rhyme, there were five other “little pigs” who could have done it: Philip Blake (the stockbroker), who went to market; Meredith Blake (the amateur herbalist), who stayed at home; Elsa Greer (the three-time divorcée), who had her roast beef; Cecilia Williams (the devoted governess), who had none; and Angela Warren (the disfigured sister), who cried all the way home.
Sixteen years later, Caroline’s daughter is determined to prove her mother’s innocence, and Poirot just can’t get that nursery rhyme out of his mind.” Goodreads

Star Wars: Skywalker Strikes, Vol.1 by Jason Aaron

“The greatest space adventure of all returns to Marvel! Luke Skywalker and the ragtag rebel band opposing the Galactic Empire are fresh off their biggest victory yet – the destruction of the massive Death Star. But the Empire’s not toppled yet! Join Luke, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2 and the rest of the Rebel Alliance as they fi ght for freedom against the evil of Darth Vader and his master, the Emperor! But when a Rebel assault goes very wrong, Han and Leia will have to think fast to make their escape…while Luke fi nds himself faceto-face with Darth Vader! In the explosive aftermath, a humbled Luke returns to Tatooine to learn more about his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi. Meanwhile, Leia and Han undertake a vital – and dangerous -secret mission…but can they succeed without Luke?” Goodreads

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

“Miss Pettigrew, an approaching-middle-age governess, was accustomed to a household of unruly English children. When her employment agency sends her to the wrong address, her life takes an unexpected turn. The alluring nightclub singer, Delysia LaFosse, becomes her new employer, and Miss Pettigrew encounters a kind of glamour that she had only met before at the movies. Over the course of a single day, both women are changed forever.” Goodreads

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K.Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

“The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later.
Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.
It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.
While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.”  Goodreads

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis

“‘They say Aslan is on the move. Perhaps he has already landed,’ whispered the Beaver. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delightful strain of music had just floated by. And Lucy got that feeling when you realize it’s the beginning of summer. So, deep in the bewitched land of Narnia, the adventure begins.
They opened a door and entered a world–Narnia–the land beyond the wardrobe, the secret country known only to Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. Lucy is the first to stumble through the back of the enormous wardrobe in the professor’s mysterious old country house, discovering the magic world beyond. At first, no one believes her. But soon Edmund, Peter and Susan, too, discover the magic and meet Aslan, the Great Lion, for themselves. And in the blink of an eye, they are changed forever.” Goodreads

Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs

“Poignant, funny, and utterly original, Ethel & Ernest is Raymond Briggs’s loving depiction of his parents’ lives from their chance first encounter in the 1920s until their deaths in the 1970s.
Ethel and Ernest were solid members of the English working class, part of the generation that lived through the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century. They met during the Depression — she working as a maid, he as a milkman — and we follow them as they court and marry, make a home, raise their son, and cope with the dark days of World War II. Briggs’s portrayal of how his parents succeeded, or failed, in coming to terms with the events of their rapidly shifting world — the advent of radio, television, and telephones; the development of the atomic bomb; the moon landing; the social and political turmoil of the sixties — is irresistibly engaging, full of sympathy and affection, yet clear-eyed and unsentimental.
Briggs’s illustrations are small masterpieces; coupled with the wonderfully candid dialogue, they evoke the exhilaration and sorrow, excitement and bewilderment, of experiencing such enormous changes. As much a social history as a personal account, Ethel & Ernest is a moving tribute to ordinary people living in an extraordinary time.” Goodreads

The Two Noble Kinsmen by William Shakespeare

“The content of this edition include a list of the illustrations featured within the text and a preface by the editor on her work with the play. The thorough introduction discusses the tragicomedy as a genre, the writers thought to have collaborated on this play and the question of its authorship, and the significance of collaboration and censorship in the era when the play was written, as well as other notes on historical context. The editor goes on to address the public, literary, and theatrical contexts within and surrounding the play; the play’s afterlife in theatrical adaptation and academia; and technical notes on editing the drama. Six appendices follow the text of The Two Noble Kinsmen. They are: “John Fletcher, ‘Upon An Honest Man’s Fortune'”; “The Portrait–Frontispiece of John Fletcher, 1647”; “Francis Beaumont, The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray’s Inn”; “Beaumont’s 1613 Masque and The Two Noble Kinsmen”; “The Morris”; and “The Music.” Finally, a reference section provides a list of abbreviations and references, a catalog of Shakespeare’s works and works partly by Shakespeare, and citations for the modern productions mentioned in the text, other collated editions of The Two Noble Kinsmen, and other related reading.”  This edition does not really have a blurb! Goodreads

The Railway Children by E.Nesbit

“Bobbie, Phyllis and Peter have their comfortable lives in London thrown into disarray by the unexpected disappearance of their father. They are forced to move to a small cottage in the countryside with their mother, who struggles to make ends meet by writing stories. The children find solace in a stretch of railway track and the station nearby, and befriend the railway porter, who teaches them about running the station, and an old gentleman who takes the 9.15 train every day. Through this love of the trains they are led on many exciting adventures, including a quest to discover the secret of their father’s disappearance.” Goodreads

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

“Trisha McFarland is a plucky 9-year-old hiking with her brother and mom, who is grimly determined to give the kids a good time on their weekends together. Trisha’s mom is recently divorced, and her brother is feuding with her for moving from Boston to small-town Maine, where classmates razz him. Trisha steps off the trail for a pee and a respite from the bickering. And gets lost.
Trisha’s odyssey succeeds on several levels. King renders her consciousness of increasing peril beautifully, from the “first minnoy flutter of disquiet” in her guts to her into-the-wild tumbles to her descent into hallucinations, the nicest being her beloved Red Sox baseball pitcher Tom Gordon, whose exploits she listens to on her Walkman. The nature writing is accurate, tense, and sometimes lyrical, from the maddening whine of the no-see-um mosquito to the profound obbligato of the “Sub-audible” (Trisha’s dad’s term for nature’s intimations of God).
Our identification with Trisha deepens as we learn about her loved ones: Dad, a dreamboat whose beer habit could sink him; loving but stubborn Mom; Trisha’s best pal, Pepsi Robichaud, vividly evoked by her colourful sayings (“Don’t go all GIRLY on me, McFarland!”). The personal associations triggered by a full moon, the running monologue with which she stays sane–we who have been lost in woods will recognize these things.” Goodreads

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

“Having travelled from her native New York to London to meet her relatives, Isabel Archer, a young, independently minded young woman, rejects the marriage proposals of two suitors in her determination to stay in control of her destiny. When she suddenly comes into a large legacy, Isabel believes that this windfall will finally ensure the freedom that she yearns for and embarks on an exhilarating journey through France and Italy, only to find her endeavours thwarted by the sinister plotting of some of her acquaintances.
Considered by many to be Henry James’s finest novel, The Portrait of a Lady is a subtle examination of Victorian society and power relations, providing a groundbreaking psychological study of its protagonist. This volume is based on the authoritative New York Edition, and includes the author’s seminal preface.” Goodreads

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

“When orphaned Mary Lennox comes to live at her uncle’s great house on the Yorkshire Moors, she finds it full of secrets. The mansion has nearly one hundred rooms, and her uncle keeps himself locked up. And at night, she hears the sound of crying down one of the long corridors.
The gardens surrounding the large property are Mary’s only escape. Then, Mary discovers a secret garden, surrounded by walls and locked with a missing key. One day, with the help of two unexpected companions, she discovers a way in. Is everything in the garden dead, or can Mary bring it back to life?” Goodreads

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Illustrated Edition) by J.K.Rowling and Illustrate by Jim Kay

“Prepare to be spellbound by Jim Kay’s dazzling depiction of the wizarding world and much loved characters in this full-colour illustrated hardback edition of the nation’s favourite children’s book – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Brimming with rich detail and humour that perfectly complements J.K. Rowling’s timeless classic, Jim Kay’s glorious illustrations will captivate fans and new readers alike.
When a letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter, a decade-old secret is revealed to him that apparently he’s the last to know. His parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord’s curse when Harry was just a baby, and which he somehow survived. Leaving his unsympathetic aunt and uncle for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry stumbles upon a sinister mystery when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor. Then he hears of a missing stone with astonishing powers, which could be valuable, dangerous – or both. An incredible adventure is about to begin!” Goodreads

What are some of your favourite books/reads of 2016? I would love to hear in the comments below. Happy New Year!

(Photos are from Google Images and the edit on the header photo was done by me.)