The Local Lit Scene

celebrating South African Literature beyond our past

2017 Book Reviews Top 10

Goodness, I have been neglecting this little corner of books. I may not have done much writing in here, but I have done much reading.

2017 was a fabulous reading year. There were not many duds, though if I was reading something I really wasn’t enjoying, I put it down and started something else. There are way too many good books in the world, to spend time on books I am not enjoying. I give them an honest try but if they don’t tickle my tootsies, then I abandon them…

No 10

boundless sublime

The Boundless Sublime – Lili Wilkinson

This was a great a novel about a cult and how easy it is to fall into the trap of words. A superb YA novel.

No 9

caraval

Caraval – Stephanie Garber

Thoroughly enjoyed the magical YA novel. It was a unique story and very well written

NO 8

more than this

More than this – Patrick Ness

Another YA, what makes you think I am a fan? But this was different and engaging and asked the questions, are we real? Do our thoughts define us?  I loved it.

No 7

the jewel

The Lone City Series started with The Jewel

I thoroughly enjoyed this series. Granted it was a little wishy-washy in places, but I thought the storyline was original and fun.  It was also super easy to read and kept me entertained through all three of the books. ( I went through a spate of reading books that my daughter can eventually read, this set has been saved for future reading)

No 6

beautiful

Beautiful broken things – Sara Barnard

Once again, this was not your straightforward YA novel, this one had some meaty bits and showed the power of friendship. Especially when we are young and feel things more intensely. A good read. And save for future reading.

No 5

fever

Deon Meyer – Fever

A South African author mainly known for his thrillers, brought this dystopian novel into the world of books, and thank goodness he did. It was great, and he hit the notes just right. Set in SA, with a wonderful twist in the end. If you are into Dystopian, then this should not be missed

No 4

conception

Ms Conception – Pamela Power

Another great SA author, new to me, but on my list of faves. This was hilarious and managed to tear me out of my reading slump that hit me this year. Her writing is funny, true and loved that I could relate to the book. Read it, its good.

No 3

bear

Beartown – Fredrik Backman

Wow, just wow. This one had me through the ringer. I cried big ploppy tears onto the screen of my kindle in this one. A story about family, life, and gender roles. This book Needs to be read.

N0 2

eleanor

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine – Gail Honeyman

Another Wow. This book was an extremely well-written debut novel. I loved it, I loved the characters and I think Honeyman pulled it off with aplomb.

No 1

music

The Music Shop – Rachel Joyce

One of my all-time favourite authors, Joyce got the balance in this book just right. It was perfect, I loved it and you should read it. A book about life, and how we Don’t live and what happens when we don’t and how the small things are the big things and music plays an important part.

If you would like to see the rest of my book, you can find them on Goodreads. I struggled a little to decide which books to add to this list becuase out of the 50 books I read, at least 30 of them were great.

And now onto 2018. Where, while I am reading (Currently on The Boy with No Shoes, William Horwood’s memoir) I will also be writing the first draft of my book. I have joined a writing course with the author Joanne Fedler and I aim to have the #tragicfirstdraft completed by November. So keep an eye on this page….

Happy Reading!

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Christmas Wish Lists

So 2016 is coming to an end….Did you have a good reading year?

This year I decided not to challenge myself to a certain number of books read as last year, I challenged myself to 100, and even though I made it, I found that I was just reading to make up my 100 instead of enjoying the process of reading, pondering and then finding a new book to read. Sometimes I like to stay in the world of the characters that I have just left without launching straight into the covers of another book. One book this year, which stayed with me was Station 11,  and even now I find myself pondering the characters and the story line.

But according to Goodreads this year I have read 49 books, 16000 pages, half of last year, and  I don’t feel too much loss at having only managed 50 books ( I will have read at least 2 or 3 more by the end of December….)

But this post is meant to be about books I want not what I have read, I will do another post later on with some of my best reads for 2016. There were some goodies…

Here are my top 3 books on my wish list, have you read them?

beasts

Fantastic Beasts and where to find them – the screenplay – JK Rowling. (Need to take myself to watch the movie sooooon!)

universe

Holding up the universe – Jennifer Niven. ( I LOVED All the Bright Places, seriously if you haven’t read it, please do. Drop everything else and just read it)

backman

And every morning the way home gets longer and longer – Fredrik Backman. Adore this authors novels!

What is on your list this year? Let us know in the comments!

 

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