Ten All-Time Favorite Books from the Last Three Years

March 3, 2015 Top Ten Tuesday, Uncategorized 16

toptentuesday2Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books You Would Classify As ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOKS from the past 3 years.

It was surprisingly hard to choose! A few of my 5-star books didn’t make the cut; they were really good the first time through, but I don’t see myself re-reading them. For me, a favorite book is one I would enjoy re-reading. All of the books below fall in that category – and a few have already been read more than once.

I was also surprised not to find any mysteries in the group. There are plenty I enjoyed, and I discovered several new authors I will be following, but going by the “re-read” criteria, they were slightly less likely to be re-read than the fantasy books and a few romances. Maybe that’s just because in the case of most of the mystery authors, I started late and I have a backlog to catch up on before I can even think about re-reading! That said, a shout-out here to Charles Finch, Rhys Bowen, and Tasha Alexander, whose historical mystery series are all excellent.

These are in no particular order:

  • Rothfuss_TheWiseMansFear_KindleThe Wise Man’s Fear (Patrick Rothfuss) This one really does deserve top billing (even if I’m stretching a point because it really came out in 2011; I just didn’t get to it until 2012.) The man is an incredible writer. Granted, the Felurian section went on too long (if you’ve read it, you know what I mean.) But OMG, the writing. And the world-building. And the way he is dropping clues to some really big revelation or disaster that is coming, but we can’t be sure what it is or where he’s going. When book three of the Kingkiller Chronicle comes out, I am so sitting down with the Tor re-read posts and going through both the first two books first. (For some reason, I didn’t review TWMF, but I did review the first book, The Name of the Wind.)
  • A Snicker of Magic (Natalie Lloyd) Wonderful MG book with magic, words, and the magic of words – plus two delightful characters in Felicity Pickle and the Beadle.
  • The Lunar Chronicles (Marissa Meyer) Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress. These post-dystopian SF re-imaginings of fairy tales are amazing! Not to mention that they have a diverse cast of characters (not only racial diversity, but one character is a cyborg – disabled and with multiple prosthetics) and the author subverts gender expectations without being obvious about it (all three female MCs are experts at “boy” stuff – mechanics/robotics, programming/hacking, and piloting a ship.)
  • Hartman_Seraphina-01_Seraphina_cover-2Seraphina (Rachel Hartman) blew me away with its take on shapeshifting dragons, human-dragon relations (generally poor), feudal politics, and the struggles of a half-blood, all set in an analog of late medieval or early Renaissance northern Europe. I can’t wait to read book 2, Shadow Scale!
  • The River of No Return (Bee Ridgway). The best time travel book I’ve ever read. Think Regency romance meets secret-society spy novel meets conspiracy theory,  throw in terrific writing and a ton of literary quotes and references (I’d love to see an annotated version!) and you might have some idea of what this book is like. Maybe.
  • Libriomancer and Codex Born (Jim C. Hines). Especially Libriomancer. How can you not love a book in which magic consists of pulling things out of books – like light sabers, ray guns, and healing cordials? Like The River of No Return, Libriomancer is full of references to other books (most of them more recognizable.) And it’s an action-packed thrill ride, to boot.
  • the Cousins O’Dwyer trilogy (Nora Roberts). Something about this romantic suspense trilogy featuring a quartet of Irish witches really appeals to me. I’ve read them all twice already. Dark Witch, Shadow Spell, and Blood Magick.

 

I just can’t decide between the remaining books on my list, but since some of my picks were series, I’m actually over the stipulated “ten”, so I’m going to stop there. What are some of your all-time favorites from the past few years?

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16 Responses to “Ten All-Time Favorite Books from the Last Three Years”

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Seraphina was really wonderful, and I liked Scarlet and Cress nearly as much as I did Cinder – or even just as much.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Thanks, Katherine! I don’t really know why, but the NR trilogy turned into one of my comfort reads. Maybe it’s the combination of Ireland and all those Irish accents (which I hear in my head when I read)? The other ones you mentioned are really worth reading, too.

  5. Lianne @ eclectictales.com

    I am so excited to read The Book of Life! I preordered my paperback copy (to match the other two books) and I should be getting it sometime in April xD Might actually re-read the books soon, I’m so excited xD Great list! 🙂
    Lianne @ eclectictales.com recently posted…Top Ten TuesdaysMy Profile

  8. Danya @ Fine Print

    Completely agree on Seraphina! That book is so beautiful. I play flute in my university’s orchestra, so that just added another layer of win to it for me. 😉 I have a copy of Libriomancer sitting on my shelf that I’m hoping to read soonish. Maybe once I’m done the semester!
    Danya @ Fine Print recently posted…Tough Traveling: VampiresMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I played flute in middle and high school, but haven’t played since (I sing and direct, instead.) Good luck with your semester, and I hope you get a chance to read Libriomancer!