Now that the year is coming to a close....What was the best book you've read this year?

Since I'm talking to people that I know read a LOT, it's okay to list more than one. ;-) I don't know if I'd be able to choose just one either!

Perfume, The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

The Reluctant Queen, Jean Plaidy

But Enough About Me, Jancee Dunn

Many others but these 3 stand out. I almost wet my pants more than once reading Jancee Dunn's book. Hysterically funny.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

House of Dreams by Pauline Gedge

Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors

The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman

Hmmm....of the ones I've read so far this, probably The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.  I also loved the 2 Dexter books by Jeff Lindsay that I've read;  oh, and The Romanov Prophecy and The Third Secret by Steve Berry.  Oooh I also loved The Kitchen Boy and Nefertiti, too.

Crap.   Sorry Valli, can't pick one!!

I have read a lot of good books this year, but these three stand out:

The Lost King of France by Deborah Cadbury (non-fiction book about the fate of France's last Dauphin, son of Marie Antoinette, during the revolution. Absolutely riveting and heartbreaking!)

Flaunting, Extravagant Queen by Jean Plaidy (about Marie Antoinette. It brought the doomed queen to life and was a real page-turner, especially when the royal family tried to flee to Austria.)

Peony in Love by Lisa See. (A powerful, moving story set in 16th century China about love, writing and what it means to be a woman.)

I've reviewed all of these on my blog (the link is in my profile.)

One of Marci's favorite reads, The Reluctant Queen, was actually a disappointment for me. I wished Plaidy had written Anne Neville as a stronger character. She seemed to spend most of the book worrying. I also thought the writing was a bit wooden.

World Without End-Ken Follett

Down the Common-Ann Baer

Legacy-Susan Kay

A Thousand Splendid Suns

City of Glory

City of Dreams

The Queen of Bedlam

Ooooh,  I enjoyed both The Kitchen Boy and The Lost King of France. OK, make mine a top 5 list... Those are 2 excellent books!

Funny Felicia, we usually enjoy the same books for similar reasons. On that note, I didn't enjoy Flaunting, Extravagant Queen as much as I did The Queen's Confession. It didn't flow for me as easy. Funny how they are the same topic, same author, yet very different books.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  It's labeled as YA but doesn't read like one.

I read Katherine by Anya Seton this year, and that was probably one of my favorites. I also really liked The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and like has been mentioned before, A Thousand Splendid Suns was good as well.

The Winter Prince by Cheryl Sawyer.