Must Reads of 2016

After a killer 2015 in inspired reads, I am so looking forward to the new selections hitting the bookshelves in 2016. Reading is the one thing that allows me to truly escape…without actually booking a plane ticket that is…and in the chilly winter months especially, I’m obsessed with grabbing a good page-turner, and curling up on the couch with a steaming cup of tea. From narratives to cookbooks, memoirs to best sellers, these are my initial top 8 must reads of 2016.

1. Alexander Hamilton: If I could book a ticket to New York and see the musical Hamilton, I would in a heartbeat. Since that doesn’t quite fit in with life at the moment, I will have to settle on the book that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit show – the history of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers. PS – if you haven’t checked out the album, I highly suggest you do!
2. Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class of Organizing and Tidying Up: I have yet to read Marie Kondo’s first book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up but after my huge declutter, I’m really intrigued by this illustrated guide to her acclaimed KonMari Method, her advice about what constitutes necessary items and her overall guidance on how to simplify life.
3. City of Thorns: This may be a good read for us all – opening our eyes to what life is like in a refugee camp. With deep compassion and rare eloquence, Ben Rawlence interweaves the stories of nine individuals. Lucid, vivid and illuminating, City of Thorns is an urgent human story with profound international repercussions, brought to life through the people who call Dadaab home.
4. Our Souls at Night: One of the best books of 2015 still hasn’t made its way into my hands, so I intend to pick it up soon! A spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future.
5. The High Mountains of Portugal: With this highly anticipated new novel, the author of the bestselling Life of Pi returns to the storytelling power and luminous wisdom of his master novel. This new read is a suspenseful, mesmerizing story of a great quest for meaning, told in three intersecting narratives touching the lives of three different people and their families, and taking us on an extraordinary journey through the last century.
6. Cravings: I started following Chrissy Teigen on IG a long time ago and her love of food quickly became apparent. And damn, is she ever funny too! For years, she’s been collecting, cooking, and Instagramming her favorite recipes, and here they are: from breakfast all day to John’s famous fried chicken with spicy honey butter to her mom’s Thai classics. Delicious!
7. Furiously Happy: This one was on my radar in 2015, and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. In Furiously Happy, Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best!
8. Hemingway in Love: His Own Story: Years ago I read the Paris Wife and was captivated by the relationship between Hemingway and Hadley – his first wife. So it’s not surprising that I’m drawn to this memoir by A.E. Hotchner. After many years, he tells the private stories of this icon, as Hemingway told them to him. Hemingway in Love puts you in the room with the master and invites you to listen as he relives the drama of his young, definitive years that set the course for the rest of his life and dogged him to the end of his days.

What do you think of my top choices and must reads of 2016? I would love to hear which reads have caught your eye in the new year! xo

Many of the write ups have been adapted from the publisher’s notes on chapters.indigo.ca!