My top 10 favourite books of 2015

So it’s the end of the year. And at the end of the year we look at the books we read and pick our favourites. I have listed these in no order. Just in the order I remembered them. If I have reviews I’ll link to that. I picked ten. I could have picked more, but I made myself pare it down to ten books.

My life on the road by Gloria Steinem – I listened to this on audiobook, and I loved it. It was amazing. It’s a memoir of Gloria Steinem’s life. She grew up on the road, her mom and dad sold antiques from their car when she was little. Then when she got older she started working on political campaigns, and travelled around the world lecturing on feminism and history, and that kind of stuff. And it was just beautiful and magical. Review.

Now and Then by Gil Scott-Heron – I read some poetry this year, including this poetry collection by Gil Scott-Heron. He was a jazz musician and writer, but primarily known as a spoken word poet. He wrote a lot of politically minded poetry, and it was incredible. More poetry for 2016. Review-ish.

I know why the Caged bird Sings by Maya Angelou – This is the first memoir Maya Angelou wrote. It’s about her life from when she was like… 4 to 19. She writes so beautifully, and for a while I sort of forgot that it was a memoir and sort of thought it was a fiction book, it was just so beautiful. I really want to read more of her books in 2016. Review.

East of Eden by John Steinbeck – This book broke me. Oh my God the beautiful awesomeness of John Steinbeck. His characters are just so amazing and complex and horrible and incredible. I also read Of Mice and Men, and I’ll read more of his books next year, because they were amazeballs. Review.

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf – This was amazing. I feel like I’ll just be using the same adjectives over and over again, but they’re my favourite books of the year, so yeah. I’ll try to do better. It was weird, and it was fascinating to see Clarissa Dalloway through her own eyes, and the eyes of others. I really liked the writing style, and the sadness in it, and it was beautiful. Review.

Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick – Conrad of the JustADustJacket channel on the youtubes recommended this at the end of a video, and I just thought; that’s a good enough reason to read something. So I got it on Kindle and read it and it was incredible. It’s just a sort of semi-autobiographical story of a woman looking back on her life and the nights in her life and the people she talked to and met. And it was beautiful and vulnerable and I want to reread it.

Zami: A New Spelling of my Name by Audre Lorde – Audre Lorde is a poet as far as I know, this is her memoir from her childhood in Harlem in the 30s and her coming of age in the 50s. It’s sort of centred around the women who affected her life, her strict mother, her sisters, her friends, her mentors and her lovers, and how they changed her life. It was really sad, and beautiful and it was wonderful.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville – This is the best thing that ever happened. Moby Dick is about a man called Ishmael, who walks onto the Pequod with his lover friend, Queequeg, and they go whaling with the slightly crazy captain Ahab. Ahab is hunting the white whale that ripped off his leg, and he gets more and more frenzied the longer they hunt. It’s so crazy and beautiful and there are chapters upon chapters on whale anatomy and whale history, it’s great. Review-ish.

The Smartest Book in the World by Greg Proops – This is just indulgent on my part, but it’s my list, so fuck it. Greg Proops is a comedian. He is on Whose Line is it Anyway? he appears on @midnight and he has a podcast called the Smartest Man in the World. This book is basically just a book version of his podcast, and it’s glorious. It’s glorious.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell – This was one of the first books I read this year. It was gorgeous and amazing and wow. It’s about a young woman called Holly. It’s told from various perspectives, her own, and people who meet her, or know her. She seems to be the centre of this weird war between two immortal races. It’s very David Mitchell, and it’s very good. Review.