More favorite reads from 2016

I listed my favorite fiction books from 2016 in this post: My favorite reads of 2016. I also had many non-fiction favorites from 2016 and I will be listing them here along with some of my other favorite fiction reads from 2016. 2016 was a good reading year for me as I read many amazing books and I ended up liking most of the books that I read. Here are my other favorites from 2016:

1. 84, Charing cross road by Helene Hanff –  This is a non-fiction book consisting of letters that were exchanged between a woman in US and a bookseller in London. It is quite short and can be read in one or max two sittings. I wish Helene and Frank had met though 😦 and I miss snail mail after reading this book. I highly recommend this book to everyone. I realized that Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society was probably a rip off of this book in a way. But this book is so much better than that book as this is a true story. 
2. The arrival by Shaun Tan – No words to describe how beautiful the artwork is! This is a graphic novel which tells the story of an immigrant using just drawings without any text. 
3. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi – It is a graphical novel about a girl who was stuck in Iran during the Islamic revolution. It gave us a first hand account of the changes that Islamic revolution brought into the country. One of the best graphical novels for sure. 
4. My brief history by Stephen Hawking – This is the autobiography of the famous physicist Stephen Hawking. Read my complete review here. 
5. Enid Blyton: The biography by Barbara Stoney – I thoroughly enjoyed reading about my most favorite author. She shaped my childhood and I always wanted to know more about her. Read my detailed review here. 
6. Cold comfort farm by Stella Gibbons – Hilarious and it hooked me right from the very first chapter. One of the funniest books I have read with some of the funniest characters possible. It is about a girl who moves to countryside to live with her extended family after she loses her parents. It is supposed to be a parody of novels which were based in English countryside. My favorites were Amos, Aunt Ada Doom and Judith. I did not like the way Flora fixed them though and hence had to deduct 1 star. But the writing was so great and made me chuckle so many times. 
7. Flatland – a romance of many dimensions by Edwin A. Abott – This is a science fiction narrated by the geometrical figure “square”. It is pretty interesting as it talks about dimensions and our perception of the world. Read my detailed review here. 
8. The adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi – This is the first time I read the original story. I must have read the Disney version a billion times as a kid. I have also seen the Disney movie a million times. Pinocchio was my most favorite Disney character as a small kid. For some reason, I was fascinated with this story. Reading this story again made me nostalgic. The original story is more violent compared to the Disney version. I loved this edition as it had amazing illustrations. I also heard that this is the best translated edition – this one is by Roberto Innocenti. I will definitely read this story to my son once he is old enough to understand. 
9. Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin – Historical fiction on 1800s US slave states and steamboats + a commentary on slavery in US with a pinch of fantasy = a great book. This book has vampires – the good and bad kind. When I read about the good kind, I was immediately reminded of Twilight and then it struck me that Twilight was most likely inspired by this book. But this book is loads better. There is adventure, history, fantasy, horror, suspense and a commentary on racism in this book. I have a feeling Martin really disliked slavery, as we can see references to that in A song of ice and fire series as well.
   All the characters were amazing! This was totally a character-driven book. Loved it. The atmosphere in the book is so great, I felt I was transported back to 1800s USA. If you like A song of ice and fire series, please do read this book. 
10. Adulthood is a myth by Sarah Andersen – This book describes adulthood so well. I haven’t read a book as funny as this one in quite sometime. Highly recommend it. 

Rereads:

I also did quite a few rereads this year. These are the books that I read again in 2016:

1. The fellowship of the ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The two towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The return of the king by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Harry Potter and the half-blood prince by J.K. Rowling
5. Batman: The killing joke by Alan Moore

My Goodreads stats:

I read 55 pages per day on an average in 2016, which is not bad.