book lists

11th Anniversary! Top Ten Books of the Year!

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It’s my 11th anniversary for this blog, and as is my habit, I am using it to post my top ten books of the year. This year’s books are all fiction, which isn’t unusual. What is unusual is that six of them are historical novels, and a few others are partially historical. Only one is set in the current time (the other nonhistorical novels in the recent past). Of the historical novels, most are set in the 20th century, but one each is set in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Five of the books are by women, five by men, and two involve the supernatural. Four books are set in the United States, two in Scotland, and one each in Australia, Madagascar, France, and an island in the Indian Ocean off what would become Australia.

This year’s choice was difficult, because I read some really good books, but here they are, in the order in which I posted the reviews:

Here’s wishing you a year of happy reading!

Reading Thirkell’s Barsetshire Series in Order: #20 The Duke’s Daughter + #19 County Chronical Wrap-Up

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Again, I had fun revisiting old friends and meeting new ones in County Chronicle. I thank anyone who has had time to send in a comment. They are

The next book is The Duke’s Daughter, which I will be reviewing on Tuesday, January 31. If you get a chance to read the book or have read it or just have something to say, pop in and make a comment. And here’s our little badge.

Time for Another Classics Club Spin (#32)

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The Classics Club has announced another spin. How does this work? Classics club members select 20 books from their lists and post a numbered list of those choices by Sunday, December 11. On Sunday, Classics Club picks a number, and the club member agrees to try to read the book corresponding to that number and post a review by Sunday, January 29, 2023.

I enjoy taking part in these spins, so here is my list!

  1. The Fair Jilt by Aphra Behn
  2. The Methods of Lady Walderhurst by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  3. We by Yevgeny Zemyatin
  4. The Ten Thousand Things by Maria Dermoût
  5. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
  6. The Saga of Gosta Berling by Selma Lagerlof
  7. A Double Life by Karolina Pavlova
  8. Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare
  9. Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie
  10. Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
  11. The Tree of Heaven by May Sinclair
  12. The Deepening Stream by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
  13. The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz
  14. Merkland, A Story of Scottish Life by Margaret Oliphant
  15. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
  16. The Princess of Cleves by Madame de La Fayette
  17. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
  18. The Book of Lamentations by Rosario Castellanos
  19. The Moorland Cottage by Elizabeth Gaskell
  20. Miss Mole by E. H. Young

Reading Thirkell’s Barsetshire Series in Order: #18 The Old Bank House + #17 Love Among the Ruins Wrap-up

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Thanks to my stalwarts who participated by commenting, even though one was unable to get a copy of Love Among the Ruins this month. They are

  • Liz Dexter
  • Penelope Gough

Our next book is The Old Bank House. Yes, I’m going to the bitter end, even if no one can follow. So far, it has not been painful. I am posting my review on Wednesday, November 30. I hope a few of you will pop in and join me in reading it or some of the others coming up.

And here’s our badge.