I read just under 100 books this year. I tried to pick ten favourites but ended up with an even dozen. .
1. The Bishop’s Man by Linden McIntryre. A priest who is responsible for cover ups is left broken and confused about his life, his vocation and his faith. He is a pawn in a vicious system.
2. Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. Charming mystery set in 1950’s in England. The detective is a little girl called Flavia.
3. Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd. An innocent man is on the run in London. Fine plot whistles by. I believe that Boyd is one of the greatest of contemporary writers.
4. The Master by Colm Toibin. A masterpiece of a book about Henry James. Told entirely from the POV of James, one delves into the character of a man, a homosexual at a time when being gay was not only immoral but illegal, a man with a secret life but no secrets. I enjoyed the book very much.
5. The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory. Loved this book a lot. Fast paced historical with a twist on the Bloody Mary story. Elizabeth is depicted as a schemer and a flirt. Gregory has made the Tudor period her own.
6. Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger. Based on real events, the poignant historical novel is beautifully written.
7. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Winner of 2010 Man Booker Prize. Superb historical set in Tudor England. My favourite book this year. I can hardly wait for the sequel.
8. The Uprising, the second in the Under the North Star trilogy by Vaini Linna. A civil war starts slowly in Finland in 1917/18 as riots and scuffles lead to armed rebellion and then the ghastly aftermath of starvation and murder. The entire trilogy is a mosaic of memorable characters.
9. Mr. Shakespeare’s Bastard by Richard B. Wright. A great read by a master storyteller.
10. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. Wonderful history dealing with the First World War. The ending when Ethel, the former parlour maid, meets aristocrat Fitz on the stairs in the House of Commons (she is going up and he is going down) is masterful. One of the best in the year.
11. Waiting for Joe by Sandra Birdsell. Birdsell has crafted a masterpiece. She has created two characters you won't soon forget.
12. Red Moon over the White Sea, by Laila Hietamies. A fine novel. Two young women, one Red, one White live in Finnish Karelia. The Whites of Finland want to incorporate the area into greater Finland after the 1918 Civil War . A war of terror breaks out. Mainly told from the side of the Whites, and glossing a bit over the poverty which motivated the Reds, the novel moves to an end but history does not. Here the Whites lose and so the main characters probably have to flee into Finland and maybe flee again when parts of Finnish Karelia are grabbed by Russia after World War II. Heartbreaking.
Showing posts with label best books 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label best books 2010. Show all posts
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
A Good Book is Nothing to Sneeze At.
So nice to have a good book, one you can disappear into, another world, another reality. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall created my alternate reality last week. An historical novel, a Man-Booker prize winner, the tale follows the life of Thomas Cromwell, the man who arranged Henry VIII's divorce so he could marry Ann Boleyn. Mantel plunges us into a rich world, an historically accurate world and a story with a new twist.
Other books I've enjoyed lately: The Queen's Fool by Phillipa Gregory, one of my favourite authors, I’ll Always Love You, by Anne Seymour, the story of the Pacific theatre in World War II, the GG winner Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger, and a peppy mystery Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Other books I've enjoyed lately: The Queen's Fool by Phillipa Gregory, one of my favourite authors, I’ll Always Love You, by Anne Seymour, the story of the Pacific theatre in World War II, the GG winner Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger, and a peppy mystery Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
My Top Dozen Books of 2010
It was a year of short stories but I did read 32 books in all. Here are my top picks in no particular order.
1. Day After Night by Anita Diamant. Jewish women who escaped the Holcaust make it to Israel only to be interned by the British.
2. Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. A masterpiece. God’s Gardeners aim to survive in a world gone environmentally berserk.
3. The Film Club by David Gilmour. A father allows his son to drop out of school when he (the father) realizes the son will never succeed – poor study habits, work habits. The son does not attend, brings home no homework, is unable to remember anything, and so on. As a trade off, the son has to watch three movies a week with the father. Creative non-fiction.
4. Skim by Mariko Tamaki (author) and Jillian Tamaki (illustrator). A graphic novel. Into the heart of a 16 year old girl and not sure if I want to be there again. Riveting stuff cleanly, sparingly written accompanied by marvellous illustrations.
5. The Van by Alan Bennet. An eccentric old lady lives in a van in his garden. A novella.
6. Snow Job by William Deverell, the Canadian humour/mystery writer. The mystery unravels slowlyand the real story is the Ottawa scene. Deverell's devious lawyer, Arthur Beacham, is the protagonist but the POV often shifts to the hapless prime Minister and his minions, the equally hapless members of his cabinet.
7. Havanna by Martin Cruz Smith. The Russian detective is sent to Havanna to investigate the death of a Russian citizen. All around him,Cuban society is crumbling. Cruz Smith writes top notch thrillers. His novel Red Square was also first rate.
8. The Wife’s Tale by Lori Larsens. A portrait of an woman whose obesity has locked her into an ever diminishing world. Her husband leaves and she follows him to California. One can also read this book as the tale of a Canadian in L.A.
9. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I enjoyed this very French novel, the story of a humble concierge and the French class system. Much philosophical musing as well.
10. John Le Carre, - A Most Wanted Man. A master working with the most up-to-date material, in this case the prevalence of torture. Le Carre is now writing at the top of his game. This recent books, Absolute Friends and The Constant Gardener, also fine novels,
11. The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories etc – edited by Jane Urquhart. Every story is a winner. I read this large book slowly, stretching it out over a few months. My fav? Simple Recipes by Madeleine Thien.
12.Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald An unusual style creates a strange aura, dreamy and misty. Everywhere the wandering Austerlitz goes, he finds a disintegrating world with many secret places, disused areas of large public buildings and so on. In one chapter, he discovers a person who knew him as a child and learns the secret of his early life. Usually, in such a plot, such information would come gradually but not here. It is all laid out rather quickly. He then proceeds with his wandering. A metaphor for the modern condition, disintegrating, misty etc.
1. Day After Night by Anita Diamant. Jewish women who escaped the Holcaust make it to Israel only to be interned by the British.
2. Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. A masterpiece. God’s Gardeners aim to survive in a world gone environmentally berserk.
3. The Film Club by David Gilmour. A father allows his son to drop out of school when he (the father) realizes the son will never succeed – poor study habits, work habits. The son does not attend, brings home no homework, is unable to remember anything, and so on. As a trade off, the son has to watch three movies a week with the father. Creative non-fiction.
4. Skim by Mariko Tamaki (author) and Jillian Tamaki (illustrator). A graphic novel. Into the heart of a 16 year old girl and not sure if I want to be there again. Riveting stuff cleanly, sparingly written accompanied by marvellous illustrations.
5. The Van by Alan Bennet. An eccentric old lady lives in a van in his garden. A novella.
6. Snow Job by William Deverell, the Canadian humour/mystery writer. The mystery unravels slowlyand the real story is the Ottawa scene. Deverell's devious lawyer, Arthur Beacham, is the protagonist but the POV often shifts to the hapless prime Minister and his minions, the equally hapless members of his cabinet.
7. Havanna by Martin Cruz Smith. The Russian detective is sent to Havanna to investigate the death of a Russian citizen. All around him,Cuban society is crumbling. Cruz Smith writes top notch thrillers. His novel Red Square was also first rate.
8. The Wife’s Tale by Lori Larsens. A portrait of an woman whose obesity has locked her into an ever diminishing world. Her husband leaves and she follows him to California. One can also read this book as the tale of a Canadian in L.A.
9. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I enjoyed this very French novel, the story of a humble concierge and the French class system. Much philosophical musing as well.
10. John Le Carre, - A Most Wanted Man. A master working with the most up-to-date material, in this case the prevalence of torture. Le Carre is now writing at the top of his game. This recent books, Absolute Friends and The Constant Gardener, also fine novels,
11. The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories etc – edited by Jane Urquhart. Every story is a winner. I read this large book slowly, stretching it out over a few months. My fav? Simple Recipes by Madeleine Thien.
12.Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald An unusual style creates a strange aura, dreamy and misty. Everywhere the wandering Austerlitz goes, he finds a disintegrating world with many secret places, disused areas of large public buildings and so on. In one chapter, he discovers a person who knew him as a child and learns the secret of his early life. Usually, in such a plot, such information would come gradually but not here. It is all laid out rather quickly. He then proceeds with his wandering. A metaphor for the modern condition, disintegrating, misty etc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)
