Favourite Books of 2016

Life 
The Monuments Men, Robert M. Edsel
Art was part of the madness of the Second World War – stealing it, collecting it, trying to retrieve it


City Creatures: Animal Encounters in the Chicago Wilderness, Gavin Van Horn 
Essays, poetry, and art illustrating the many ways in which human and animal lives are connected


Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession, and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California, Frances Dinkelspiel 
The title says it all. It saddens me to see people becoming so obsessed and greedy over something as relatively unimportant as wine


Aging 
Sixty: The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?, Ian Brown
Ian Brown keeps a diary exploring what it means to be 60 – physically, intellectually, and psychologically


A Year of Marvellous Ways, Sarah Winman
Love and death, old age and grieving – an 89-year-old woman living alone by a Cornish creek (fiction)


The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, Phaedra Patrick 
After his wife dies, Arthur Pepper copes by sticking to a very strict routine – until he discovers a charm bracelet that used to belong to his wife and starts to unravel the mystery (fiction)


Fiction 
The Little Paris Bookshop, Nina George 
A whimsical look at mending broken hearts on board a floating bookshop


The Summer Before the War, Helen Simonson 
A snapshot of life before the First World War – so much has changed, so much remains the same


Travel 
Crossing the River: A Life in Brazil, Amy Ragsdale 
An honest account of a family adapting to a different culture and lifestyle while living in Brazil for a year


The Only Street in Paris: Life on the Rue des Martyrs, Elaine Sciolini 
An introduction to the people who live and work on the Rue des Martyrs, Paris


Mystery
Recipes for Love and Murder, Sally Andrew 
From a recipe column to an advice column to solving a murder – life becomes much more lively for Tannie Maria, a middle-aged Afrikaan woman living in a small town


A Bed of Scorpions, Judith Flanders 
A publisher is called in to help solve a murder in a London art gallery


See Also
Three Quirky Book Recommendations
Favourite Books of 2015

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