I cannot say what my favourite books read in 2015 were as I cannot for the life of me recall which books that I liked were read in 2015 and not, perhaps, actually in read 2014, or were even so back in 2013
. Time flies here as the moon rushed through its 24 odd lunatical to sane phases.
But I can use a few categories that managed to have books read in the sane phases and so remembered
:
Best Australasian Book:
Well to the best of my recall I only read one, so no contest really. I looked at one or two others but discarded them before starting e.g. discarded Eleanor Catton's Booker winning
The Luminaries for which my reaction was along the lines of one book critic's after his looking at it "I won't be reading that book any time soon" when asked what he thought of it. So the winner, unopposed, was: the novel
Brother Fish, Bryce Courtenay (suggested by my 87 year old, ex English teaching mother who has long been a resident of Ozland).
Best Pleasant Surprise:
I am not a fan of war memoires and very rarely read them, but came across a copy of
Steel Boat, Iron Hearts-A U-boat Crewman’s Life Aboard U-505, Hans Goebeler which I had heard of but never read (those with Enigma machine interests will know that the story of the U-505 itself is well known). Turned out to be a surprise, somewhat like an
All Quiet on the Western Front's no exaggerated drama, but real life rather than fiction, and set in the World War II German U-boat service (not recommended by anyone in particular).
Best MobileRead Forumite's Recommendation Surprise:
Many MR recommendations I have read before but among those that I had never got around to reading was a surprise. I had imagined its being a multigenerational family history meant it might be good but with the penalty of being long and tedious as well; rather like Bleak House, worth a read sometime but not necessarily sometime soon or, perhaps, anytime at all). Turned out to be a capturing read. The winner was
Buddenbrooks-The Decline of a Family, Thomas Mann (recommended by knuthmeyer).
Best Lazy Read, Perhaps Trash Even, Pleasant Surprise:
My wife and I sail during the summer and I usually aim at a few longer heavier read books off my electron pile during a cruise having plenty of time to read. But last summer while away for 4 weeks, I changed tack and aimed at including two series for light reading:
Both were winners, tied, being the
Battlestar Galactica Original Series, Glen Larson et others (yes, I know, rubbish but served its purpose, and read the lot), and the
Scarlet Pimpernel Series, Baroness Emma Orczy (still have 4 of them to read). Was lead to
Battlestar by the TV series and to
Pimpernel by, well, it is famous
.
And tied with those during the year I have fitted in between weightier items and enjoyed the first 8, so far, of the
James Bond Series, Ian Fleming (recommended by Stephen Fry).
For this category during 2016 I am going to try Lynx-lynx's E. F. Benson's
Mapp and Lucia Series recommendation, looks interesting thanks.