The Midyear Review
Last year, at about the same point in the calendar, I’ve announced that I’ve read 39 books. This year, we see a decline in the amount of books that I’ve read and although some people might feel sad about that fact, I do not. First of all, I’ve also watched 80 movies and listened to countless podcasts to augment my reading, not to mention the articles and essays that I read online and I feel like that I didn’t really waste my time living. To top all of that, I’ve also met six writers whom I’ve listened to and signed copies of their works. Everything considered, 2015 is, so far, a good year.
Of course, the primary purpose of a blog post of this nature is a list of the best books that someone has read and my post is no exception to that. Here are the ten books that made 2015 such an exceptional year of reading:
- Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis
- Khirbet Khizeh by S. Yizhar
- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Speedboat by Renata Adler
- The Emerald Light in the Air by Donald Antrim
- After Henry by Joan Didion
- Dear Life by Alice Munro
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
- Here by Richard MacGuire
Some honorable mentions:
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
- The Comforters by Muriel Spark
- The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford
- Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
It seems that, from January – June, I have been reading good books. I didn’t really read anything that I would consider bad or unreadable. There were disappointments, sure, but majority of what I’ve read were rewarding and innovative books. From the literary innovation of Amis’ Time’s Arrow and Adler’s Speedboat to the tender narratives of McEwan’s On Chesil Beach and Roy’s The God of Small Things. From the essays of Joan Didion to the short stories of Antrim and Munro. There has been no lack of exciting and well-written books from my life and for that I am always grateful.
The Book Hooligan 