This year has had no shortage of great novels. Like all forms of art, these pieces of literature are made to be shared.
Luckiest Girl Alive has taken the thriller spot left open by Gone Girl, despite the fact that they are quite different novels. It’s only getting that title as the “new Gone Girl” because they both feature women. Thankfully, there’s more than one spot on the bookshelf for novels featuring a less-than-trustworthy woman. As EW writes, it may not be completely genre bending, but it is entertaining.
Everyone loves a good post-apocalyptic world novel: zombies, space-as-a-last-resort, and anything involving children as the last survivors. However, what happens when water just runs out? That’s what happens in The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi. It creates a very real situation. No nuclear war, no comet hitting the earth, and no massive volcano eruption. Just humans using the Earth until there’s nothing left to give. Chilling.
Almost no “Best of 2015” lists are complete without the following two titles: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. A God in Ruins is very much the most literary book on this list. It is a loose spinoff of her last novel, but it feels like a stand-alone. As for Coates, sometimes non-fiction is necessary to round out a readers list. Like the PW review states, this is a book for whom words matter. It’s a timely narrative for a generation seeking change, and Toni Morrison couldn’t be more accurate, “This is required reading.”
Of course, sometimes there’s just not enough time to read a book before you share it, and those types of books are the perfect gifts. That’s why celebrities write books. Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance, Mindy Kaling’s Why Not Me?, and Khloe Kardashian’s Strong Looks Better Naked fit the bill. They are easy to give without having to first preview.
Reading is an art. These books are small pieces in a larger mosaic of the literary landscape. Keep in mind that it’s impossible to read everything, so these titles provide just a mere glimpse into the year of the literary world.
Feature Photo via
