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Kirsty Logan

Hello! I’m Kirsty Logan, a writer of novels and short stories. My latest book is Now She is Witch, a medieval witch revenge quest. My other books are Things We Say In The Dark, The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter, and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales.

Latest News

Kirsty Logan

Hello! I’m Kirsty Logan, a writer of novels and short stories. My latest book is Now She is Witch, a medieval witch revenge quest. My other books are Things We Say In The Dark, The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter, and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales.

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Best Books of 2016

30th Dec 2016 in Books

This year I read 250 books. 250! No idea how that happened. I did travel a lot for book events and festivals, which meant many hours on trains and evenings in hotel rooms. I get sent a lot of books for review and blurbs. I volunteer in an Oxfam Books and usually buy at least one book per shift. I love the library – I’m a member of four, and my local library now refers to me as a “heavy user”. Also, my job is reading and writing books, and I really fucking like books.

Anyway! Books!

Here is a highly personal, not-very-scientifically-chosen list of my 50 favourites of 2016.

Books out in 2016:

 

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  • Best Apocalyptic Magical Realism: The Sunlight Pilgrims, Jenni Fagan
  • Best Addictive, Beautifully-Written Thriller: The Trespasser, Tana French
  • Best Science-Inspired Novel: The Comet Seekers, Helen Sedgwick
  • Best Literary Horror: We Eat Our Own, Kea Wilson
  • Best Unputdownable Novel: The Last One, Alexandra Oliva
  • Best Feminist, Murderous Retelling of a Classic: Jane Steele, Lyndsay Faye

 

 

 

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  • Best Atmospheric, Sinister Wartime Mystery: The Amber Shadows, Lucy Ribchester
  • Best Romance About a Writer: Tell Me a Story, Tamara Lush
  • Best Funny Feminism: The Trouble With Women, Jacky Fleming
  • Best Book About Pop Culture: But What If We’re Wrong?, Chuck Klosterman
  • Best Book to Read While Travelling Alone: The Lonely City, Olivia Laing
  • Best One-Sitting Read That Made Me Cry: Avalanche, Julia Leigh

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  • Best Novella About Hydropathy & Feminism: Bodies of Water, V.H. Leslie
  • Best Hard-To-Describe Book Written as Tiny Vignettes About Love: Trysting, Emmanuelle Pagano
  • Best Best Poetry Collection To Read Aloud to Someone You Care About: Dirt, William Letford
  • Best Debut Poetry Collection That Made Me Do a Mini Fist-Pump: This Changes Things, Claire Askew
  • Best Poetry Pamphlet That I Can’t Stop Telling People About: Still, Nadine Aisha
  • Best Ongoing Children’s Horror Series: Lockwood & Co – The Creeping Shadow, Jonathan Stroud

 

Books Out Before 2016:

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  • Best Dark, Magical Book I’d Never Heard Of Before: Cobwebwalking, Sara Banerji
  • Best Book Under 100 Pages: Coyote, Colin Winnette
  • Best Book to Read By the Pool: The Lemon Grove, Helen Walsh
  • Best Magical Realism About Mothers and Daughters: The Blue Girl, Laurie Foos
  • Best Deep-Sea Horror: The Deep, Nick Cutter
  • Best Novella About Death: Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, Max Porter

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  • Best Queer Gothic: Grab Bag, Derek McCormack
  • Best YA Magical Realism: The Accident Season, Moïra Fowley-Doyle
  • Best Bizarre, Dreamy Horror Novella: The Paradise Motel, Eric McCormack
  • Best Beautifully-Illustrated Fairytale Retellings: A Wild Swan, Michael Cunningham
  • Best Creepy Novel About a Stranger Coming into Your House: A Pleasure and a Calling, Phil Hogan
  • Best Fiction By an Author Who I Previously Only Knew as a Non-Fiction Writer: Fly Away Home, Marina Warner

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  • Best Changeling Story: Some Kind of Fairy Tale, Graham Joyce
  • Best Halloween Read: The Night Country, Stewart O’Nan
  • Best Retelling of Welsh Folktales: Dark Tales From the Woods, Daniel Morden
  • Best Fairytale-esque Quest Featuring Bees: The Beekeeper, Maxence Fermine
  • Best Multiple-Parallel-Narrative-Strand Novel: The Versions of Us, Laura Barnett
  • Best Horror Anthology: Skin Of The Soul – New Horror Stories By Women, Lisa Tuttle (ed.)

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  • Best Surreal and Beautiful Children’s Horror Stories: A Whisper in the Night, Joan Aiken
  • Best Cute and Weird Graphic Novel: Nimona, Noelle Stevenson
  • Best Graphic Novel Re-Read: Saga, Brian K. Vaughan
  • Best Graphic Novel About Antarctic Exploration: Shackleton’s Journey, William Grill
  • Best Merging of Fiction and Non-Fiction: The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
  • Best Change-Your-Life Book That Actually My Life: The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck, Sarah Knight

 

  • Best Tender, Thoughtful, Intelligent True Crime: Lost Girls, Robert Kolker
  • Best Non-Fiction Book About a Misunderstood Holiday: Trick or Treat – A History of Halloween, Lisa Morton
  • Best Book About a Topic I Didn’t Realise I Was Interested In: The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, Zac Bissonnette
  • Best Surprisingly Readable Academic Book About Horror Films: Gender and the Nuclear Family in Twenty-First-Century Horror, Kimberly Jackson
  • Best Beautifully-Written, Rambling Book About Ghosts: A Natural History of Ghosts, Roger Clarke
  • Best Book About Writing: Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury
  • Best Book About the Complicated Love of Pro-Wrestling: Wrestlecrap – The Very Worst of Professional Wrestling, R.D. Reynolds & Randy Baer
  • Best Book About the History of Food: Consuming Passions, Philippa Pullar

 

One response to “Best Books of 2016”

  1. Jane Smith says:

    This is a wonderful list!

    I only own perhaps half a dozen of these titles, so will be buying a list of lovely books to get me through the next few months. Or weeks. Thank you!

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