Favourite books of 2016

In 2016 I read twenty-five books. A number so low, it makes me feel a bit ashamed, especially if I see the amount of comics on my list. So, 2016 was not a great reading year, but I still read some great books. I know it’s already February, but I still want to share my favourite books of 2016 with you.

I picked the books I loved most this year and came to a small list of six favourite books.

• A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab was the first book I read in 2016 and it was an immediate hit. I’ve put of  reading the second book, because I want to marathon it when the third and final book in this series is published (later this month!).
• Gestameld Liedboek (Stammered Songbook) by Erwin Mortier was the only Dutch book I read in 2016, but it was a good one. The book tells the story about the Alzheimer of the writer’s mother. It’s written in a loose, though-like way, which makes it very easy to relate to the story and you really feel the impact the disease has on the writer’s family. I found a lot of beautiful writing in the book and I really loved reading it. Of course, having seen what Alzheimer’s did to my grandmother probably made me a bit partial to the story.
• Jessica Hische’s In Progress was probably the most interesting book I read last year. If you’re into lettering or just want to get inspired by an amazing artist sharing her process, then you should give this book a go. Not completely convinced? You should read the review I wrote about In Progress.
• Crow by Ted Hughes. Oh Crow. This might be a bit weird, because this is a poetry collection, but Crow is definitely one of my favourite characters ever. Hughes poems in this collection were a real discovery, Especially because I didn’t read poetry before 2016. The poems in Crow are a bit strange and chaotic, but I loved all the (dark) emotions I found in them and the story they told.
• Reading Crow prepared me to read Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, because the character of Crow also plays an important part in this novel. Or is it also a poetry collection? I’m not sure.  This short book tells the tale of a father and his two sons and the loss of the mother. Crow appears as a multitude of different ways to handle grief and tries to help out, in his own special way.
• milk & honey by Rupi Kaur was the second poetry collection I read this year and it also made this short list. I’m guessing I’ll be reading more poetry in 2017.  milk & honey is a collection about love and loss, about abuse, but also about overcoming these things and being strong. I loved the collection so much I wrote a review about it a couple of weeks ago.

Did you read a lot in 2016? Did you read any of the books on my favourites list? What did you think of it? And also, what were your favourite books in 2016?