I love revisiting my old books!! Funny how ratings can change based on memory. Often I'll forget books I had originally loved, and others left more of an impact on me than I expected!
I don’t really look back on past years so this was fun to do - I’m surprised by the fact that I have no memory of some of the books and then others feel like I read them yesterday
Ok now that you listed Sycamore as number 2(!) I am definitely getting to it this year. Been thinking about it since you recommended it way back. So many good ones in here Renee. I found Tim Johnston through you as well and really loved The Current.
I had forgotten that I put Sycamore at number 2😅 I’m good with that placement but my top 10 expect for the Creative Act could really be switched up and tossed around and I’d be ok with it, all of those have stayed in my mind. The Current was so good! Did you read Distant Son?
I’ve only read Villanelle and Spare from your list and have the same ratings. My best list does change from time to time because I realize some books don’t really stand the test of time. But there’s also books, like you said, that gets better based on memory. Like in hindsight what you thought was just an okay book turns out to be great after all after some time has passed.
I don’t remember much about it but I think it was the illness storyline that felt manipulative. I’d have to go back and listen to my review on the podcast but I think it was also the structure of the story that didn’t work for me
Interesting! It's one of only two 5 ⭐ books this year for me 🙈 On the other hand, I finally tried Normal People by Sally Rooney and felt like it was the worse version of Talking at Night. But I know people love that one!
It’s so interesting how we all interpret books differently. Especially when we’re book twins or possible book twins:) I totally see how Talking at Night is so beloved by you and so many others!! Sometimes with those stories I think I go in with too high expectations etc. I also didn’t like Normal People, 2 stars from me😅
I think if I tried to individually rank all of my reads I'd have a nervous breakdown! ; ) That said, I have started going back and changing my star ratings weeks of months after finishing a book. I definitely think sometimes there's recency bias, or everyone else is gushing at the same time and later I realize I didn't enjoy it much as I thought I did... OR, it's been a month and I'm still thinking about a book I gave 4 stars to and realize I need to bump up the rating.
We are definitely close in taste! I know you like thrillers more than I do, but otherwise I think the only books we seriously disagreed about on that list are Hello Beautiful and Tom Lake. (Maybe Yellowface?It was just so fun.) Otherwise, I've gotten some of my best backlist and under the radar book recs from you, including several on this list!
I love that it's ok to have nuance and disagreement among book twins :) We have such similar reading tastes but I definitely lean more heavily into thrillers and then there's those few books every now and then that one of us loves and the other doesn't - keeps things interesting and book chats fun:)
Are you finding that as your DNF list increases that your 4 and 5 star books are increased? Have you tracked the source for your higher rated books? Example: word of mouth, newsletters, etc.
My dnfs have stayed pretty consistent over the last few years. I don't typically have a lot of dnf's month to month. I do sample tons of books- and by sampling I mean I'll read a page or 10-20 pages and if the story isn't grabbing me I move on. I don't call those dnf's because I may return to them. I don't track my sources, but I do note if I heard about a book from a particular person and if I loved the book I'll seek that person out and follow their newsletter or their IG account. Looking over my top 20 reads, I found almost all of them from different sources, The creative Act I heard about from a bookseller on a podcast, Sycamore I found in my kindle graveyard haha. A lot of the others are from researching new releases and keeping my eye out for my buzzwords when I read a synopsis.
I have not read many of these but we are on the same page about The Vaster Wilds— I still think about it. And I am one of the few also feeling ‘meh’ about Chain Gain All-Stars… I DNFd though, so I can’t actually rate it.
I don't usually rank my books except for a list of my top 10 for the year. I had the Road to Dalton as one of my ten. I am a sucker for inter-linked short stories...my cat nip!
What was your top book of last year? I loved The Road to Dalton. Did you know she has a new book coming in Sept called Where the Forest Meets the River?
Would you be surprised if I told you yes I think I am your reading twin? There are 10 books listed under your five star rating that I have read and probably have given either 4.5 or five stars to those books. It should not be surprising because I got most of those recommendations from you. I never gave star ratings to books until I became a member of BT in August last year and when I became a paid subscriber to your blog in January. I only give ratings to books that are either five star or 4.5. And I only do it because I am usually contributing to the question of what have you read lately and I’d like to include some sort of reading or review of the books that I list. And I do that especially if it is a new author that I have never read and I want to make a note to go check out backlist by that author. I was so glad to see that Rage of Angels made your top list for five stars. I love all of Cindy Sheldon‘s books. I highly recommend you read more. He has several books where the main theme of the book is revenge. And so fun to read and great mysteries. His books are both character and plot driven. anyway, there was like I said at least 10 books on your list from your five star reads that I have read and would rate either a 4.5 or five stars. On your 475 list, I may have read only one book on the list. I also have to mention that the books that we are twins on I read this year not last year. I may go in and see if I can figure out a way to share my list from the Reading List app. I will get back to you later on that. anyway, thanks for sharing this list and I definitely will use it to get more book recommendations.
Forgot to say I love Sidney Sheldon's books too. I read so many of his books in the late 80s early 90s but I haven't read them all so I'll definitely be reading more
I would’ve predicted we had a lot of books in common:) I personally love seeing other people’s star ratings so I’m glad you’re using them for your tops reads
I love revisiting my old books!! Funny how ratings can change based on memory. Often I'll forget books I had originally loved, and others left more of an impact on me than I expected!
I don’t really look back on past years so this was fun to do - I’m surprised by the fact that I have no memory of some of the books and then others feel like I read them yesterday
Ok now that you listed Sycamore as number 2(!) I am definitely getting to it this year. Been thinking about it since you recommended it way back. So many good ones in here Renee. I found Tim Johnston through you as well and really loved The Current.
I had forgotten that I put Sycamore at number 2😅 I’m good with that placement but my top 10 expect for the Creative Act could really be switched up and tossed around and I’d be ok with it, all of those have stayed in my mind. The Current was so good! Did you read Distant Son?
Loved Sycamore (based on your recommendation), Strange Sally Diamond as well as many more!
I think we are reading twins 👯♀️ except when it comes to Ann Patchett Renee! 😂 She’s my favorite!
Haha I know I'm an outlier on Tom Lake- but I did love Bel Canto and will read more Ann in the future
I love Ann Patchett, but I DNFed Tom Lake 🤷
I’ve only read Villanelle and Spare from your list and have the same ratings. My best list does change from time to time because I realize some books don’t really stand the test of time. But there’s also books, like you said, that gets better based on memory. Like in hindsight what you thought was just an okay book turns out to be great after all after some time has passed.
I think we align pretty well! Other than Talking at Night 😮 I'm so curious why that one didn't work for you!
I don’t remember much about it but I think it was the illness storyline that felt manipulative. I’d have to go back and listen to my review on the podcast but I think it was also the structure of the story that didn’t work for me
Interesting! It's one of only two 5 ⭐ books this year for me 🙈 On the other hand, I finally tried Normal People by Sally Rooney and felt like it was the worse version of Talking at Night. But I know people love that one!
It’s so interesting how we all interpret books differently. Especially when we’re book twins or possible book twins:) I totally see how Talking at Night is so beloved by you and so many others!! Sometimes with those stories I think I go in with too high expectations etc. I also didn’t like Normal People, 2 stars from me😅
Well, we're definitely on the same page about Normal People at least! It was almost unbearable to me but I still finished 😅
I think if I tried to individually rank all of my reads I'd have a nervous breakdown! ; ) That said, I have started going back and changing my star ratings weeks of months after finishing a book. I definitely think sometimes there's recency bias, or everyone else is gushing at the same time and later I realize I didn't enjoy it much as I thought I did... OR, it's been a month and I'm still thinking about a book I gave 4 stars to and realize I need to bump up the rating.
We are definitely close in taste! I know you like thrillers more than I do, but otherwise I think the only books we seriously disagreed about on that list are Hello Beautiful and Tom Lake. (Maybe Yellowface?It was just so fun.) Otherwise, I've gotten some of my best backlist and under the radar book recs from you, including several on this list!
I love that it's ok to have nuance and disagreement among book twins :) We have such similar reading tastes but I definitely lean more heavily into thrillers and then there's those few books every now and then that one of us loves and the other doesn't - keeps things interesting and book chats fun:)
Are you finding that as your DNF list increases that your 4 and 5 star books are increased? Have you tracked the source for your higher rated books? Example: word of mouth, newsletters, etc.
My dnfs have stayed pretty consistent over the last few years. I don't typically have a lot of dnf's month to month. I do sample tons of books- and by sampling I mean I'll read a page or 10-20 pages and if the story isn't grabbing me I move on. I don't call those dnf's because I may return to them. I don't track my sources, but I do note if I heard about a book from a particular person and if I loved the book I'll seek that person out and follow their newsletter or their IG account. Looking over my top 20 reads, I found almost all of them from different sources, The creative Act I heard about from a bookseller on a podcast, Sycamore I found in my kindle graveyard haha. A lot of the others are from researching new releases and keeping my eye out for my buzzwords when I read a synopsis.
I have not read many of these but we are on the same page about The Vaster Wilds— I still think about it. And I am one of the few also feeling ‘meh’ about Chain Gain All-Stars… I DNFd though, so I can’t actually rate it.
I don't usually rank my books except for a list of my top 10 for the year. I had the Road to Dalton as one of my ten. I am a sucker for inter-linked short stories...my cat nip!
What was your top book of last year? I loved The Road to Dalton. Did you know she has a new book coming in Sept called Where the Forest Meets the River?
Have you read Women and Children First? If you enjoy interconnected short stories, you might love it. I'm still thinking about it 2 months later.
You had so many 5 star reads!!!
I know I had a great reading year, I'm consistent on my 5 stars, I had about the same number in 2022
I’m determined to up my star rating this year.
Would you be surprised if I told you yes I think I am your reading twin? There are 10 books listed under your five star rating that I have read and probably have given either 4.5 or five stars to those books. It should not be surprising because I got most of those recommendations from you. I never gave star ratings to books until I became a member of BT in August last year and when I became a paid subscriber to your blog in January. I only give ratings to books that are either five star or 4.5. And I only do it because I am usually contributing to the question of what have you read lately and I’d like to include some sort of reading or review of the books that I list. And I do that especially if it is a new author that I have never read and I want to make a note to go check out backlist by that author. I was so glad to see that Rage of Angels made your top list for five stars. I love all of Cindy Sheldon‘s books. I highly recommend you read more. He has several books where the main theme of the book is revenge. And so fun to read and great mysteries. His books are both character and plot driven. anyway, there was like I said at least 10 books on your list from your five star reads that I have read and would rate either a 4.5 or five stars. On your 475 list, I may have read only one book on the list. I also have to mention that the books that we are twins on I read this year not last year. I may go in and see if I can figure out a way to share my list from the Reading List app. I will get back to you later on that. anyway, thanks for sharing this list and I definitely will use it to get more book recommendations.
Forgot to say I love Sidney Sheldon's books too. I read so many of his books in the late 80s early 90s but I haven't read them all so I'll definitely be reading more
I would’ve predicted we had a lot of books in common:) I personally love seeing other people’s star ratings so I’m glad you’re using them for your tops reads