This is my least favorite thing to contemplate when I look back over a list of books I’ve read in any given year: Which books didn’t I like? Why didn’t I like them?

The first question is easier to answer than the second. While I can say in general that I didn’t like a book because I didn’t find it interesting, “interesting” can mean a variety of things. Mostly, my dislikes tend to center around an inability to connect with the main character (this isn’t an issue of “likability”) and/or plot points that aren’t compelling.

The four books I’ve listed below are ones that received rave reviews from other readers and professional reviewers. The novels didn’t appeal to me. (Note that I’m not making a judgement that these are “bad” books.)

One of the big books of the year, I couldn’t wait to sit down with this. The first indication things weren’t going well for me as a reader: I had to keep turning back to the flyleaf to remind myself who each character was. I read a few chapters, but nothing drew me in. I skimmed a bit more. Still nothing. I didn’t finish.

I had pretty much the same reaction to this book, though here I didn’t get beyond the first chapter. Unlike with A Little Life, though, I do think about giving this one another try. Maybe I picked it up when I was too distracted with other things. Maybe.

There was something about the tone or voice here that didn’t set well with me. I certainly didn’t hate it; it left me rather cold.

I couldn’t develop any kind of connection with the main character or with the plot. I didn’t finish reading it.

2016 reading has started off on a couple of high notes. So stay tuned, this time next year.

For this penultimate post on the books I read in 2015, I’ve compiled a list of more novels I liked. These I’ve classified as literary, and they are contemporary rather than historical.

Okay, this one is about 50-50, with historical and contemporary plots about failed relationships. The novellas are uneven but always interesting, all infused with Gordon’s cool voice.

An inventive story about the changing way in which people communicate.

I categorized this as contemporary because that seems true to when Lee likely wrote this much talked about novel. I found it intriguing and perhaps wasn’t as surprised about Atticus Finch as other readers.

A fine novel about marriage, family, love, and loss.

A fascinating character study of a once prominent feminist and her relationship with her family.

An imaginative updating of Jane Eyre situated in New York and featuring a Korean-American family. It’s both funny and touching.

Listed below are several works of historical fiction (my favorite genre) I read in 2015 and liked.

An empathetic novel involving the Ethel and Julius Rosenberg espionage case.

An evocative imagining of the life of Victorine Meurent, one of Manet’s models.

An intriguing story of post-World War II race relations.

A haunting tale of Cuba.

A young woman named Ash disguises herself as a man to fight in the Union Army so her husband doesn’t have to.

A shell-shocked World War I veteran returns to his home in Cornwall but cannot shake what happened to him.

There were plenty of buzz books in 2015 that made the big “Best of” lists at the end of the year. I liked some of them, not quite enough to include them in my Top Ten, but certainly enough to encourage others to give them a try.

I liked this, and in some places I even loved it, but found the novel uneven. I wish the excellence of the first part would have carried into the second. Still, if you like novels about relationships, this is good.

I like the idea of a group of flu survivors trying to hold on to humanity by promoting art. Still, post-apocalyptic plots, like vampire novels, seem to have run their course. And personally, I’ve never cared for Shakespeare (I know, I know) so that plot point didn’t delight me. If you can’t get enough of the post-apocalypse and/or are a big Shakespeare fan, this one is for you.

Compelling thriller with an unreliable narrator. But after finishing it, I didn’t think about it any more. Still, if you need to pack something for a vacation read, this should be it.

I found the plot the most interesting when it focused on the pre-war years. The childhoods of Marie-Laure and Werner were fascinating.  The other parts felt a bit forced and flat. If you like big historical romances, this will work for you.

When the Japanese began bombing the Philippines on December 8, 1941, Claire Phillips, an American woman living in Manila, tried to ignore it as much as possible.

She was a popular singer at the Alcazar Club, and she had recently become engaged to John (Phil) Phillips, a radio man with Headquarters Company, 31st Infantry. This was the life she had dreamed of.

As much as Claire tried to ignore the war, the reality caught up with her. Overnight, Manila had become a dangerous city. When Phil told her Headquarters Company was pulling out, heading for a defensive position on the Bataan peninsula, he insisted that she and her young daughter, Dian, follow them. They would be safer there, under the protection of the U.S. Army.

Claire packed her car with all the supplies it could hold, invited her household servant Lolita to join them, and fled the city. They settled in the small town of Pilar, about halfway down the Bataan peninsula. There, Claire set up a canteen for soldiers. Intensified enemy bombing at the end of December forced Claire, Dian, and Lolita to move north to Hermosa.

Enemy troops occupied Manila on January 2, 1942. When the battle for Bataan began several days later, Claire, Dian, and Lolita relocated again, this time to the hills above Dinalupihan.

With this battle in full swing, Phil no longer had time to look after Claire and Dian, so he arranged for them to live under the protection of a local family. But as January wore on, Claire grew uneasy living in a strange place among people she did not know well. She decided to leave the relative safety of this enclave and travel south to Mariveles, through territory now dotted with enemy soldiers, hoping to find Phil and the U.S. Army.

To find out what happened to Claire, read more in Angels of the Underground.