Category: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

• Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
• Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
• Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
• Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

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This week’s topic is Best Books I Read In 2021. This is a topic I look forward to but at the same time dread because it is so difficult to choose only ten books from the many fabulous books I read this year. However I know I’m not alone in this dilemma. Having rewritten this list about a hundred times and with apologies to the authors whose books so nearly made the list, here are my chosen ten. My thanks also to the publishers who sent me review copies of the books or approved my requests for digital copies on NetGalley.

Links from the titles will take you to my review.

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers – Tender, intimate and heart-breaking
Blasted Things by Lesley Glaister – Intense, compelling and moving
White Dog by Rupert Whewell – Satirical, witty and provocative
When The World Was Ours by Liz Kessler – ‘an inspiring testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the kindness of strangers’
Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson – Gripping, atmospheric and immersive

 

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed – Compelling, intense and chilling Booker shortlisted novel
The Hidden Child by Louise Fein – Thought-provoking, moving and immersive
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan – ‘a quietly powerful novel, an exquisite little gem of a book’
Little by Edward Carey – Quirky, imaginative and engaging
The Visitors by Caroline Scott – Eloquent, tender and emotional

 

 

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

• Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
• Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
• Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
• Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

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This week’s topic is Books I Hope Santa Brings. Although there are loads of books I’d be happy to unwrap on Christmas Day, in reality I’m unlikely to receive any actual books because my family and friends wouldn’t know what to buy as I have so many books already, and I don’t like being that specific with Christmas lists. However, in the expectation of some gift cards turning up under the Christmas tree, here are some book I’d spend the money on.  (Links from the titles will take you to the book description on Goodreads.)

The Streets by Anthony Quinn – I read my first book by this author – Eureka – recently and as a result I’m keen to explore more of his back catalogue. This one caught my eye because it was shortlisted for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2013.

Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth MacNeal – I read the author’s debut novel, The Doll Factory, recently. This book is also set in Victorian times and sounds like it has a similarly intriguing plot as its predecessor.

Falling Creatures by Katherine Stansfield – This is the first book in the author’s ‘Cornish Mysteries’ series. I’ve read the two subsequent books, The Magpie Tree and The Mermaid Calls, but I’d love to find out how it all began.

The Girl in the Maze by Cathy Hayward – Having read some great reviews of this debut novel, I immediately added it to my wishlist. 

Little Boy Lost by Margharita Laski – I can’t recall which book blogger I have to thank for making me add this book, originally published in 1949, to my wishlist but it was probably a Persephone Books fan.

A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson – This was a book on the longlist for this year’s Booker Prize that caught my eye, alongwith The Fortune Men (which I’ve read), The Sweetness of Water (which I’ve yet to read) and…

An Island by Karen Jennings – As well as being intrigued by the storyline, I also love it when a small publisher makes it to the longlist of a major literary prize.  

Not One Of Us by Alis Hawkins – This is the latest book in the author’s ‘Teifi Valley Coroner’ historical crime series which I’ve followed from the beginning, although I still have to read book two in the series, In Two Minds. 

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson – Another book I’ve seen a lot of love for, one reviewer describing it as an ‘astonishingly exquisite debut novella’.

Resistance by Mara Timon – I loved the author’s first book, City of Spies, so I’m keen to read this one as I cannot resist (get it?) a novel set in World War 2.

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