memes – Page 313 – What Cathy Read Next…

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.

This week’s topic is Books From My Favourite Genre. Regular followers of this blog will have no problem guessing my favourite genre – historical fiction. The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction is an annual prize whose aim is to celebrate the best in historical fiction. My list is made up of some favourite books that have featured on the shortlist or longlist for the prize in recent years.

Click on the book title to view my review (or the description on Goodreads).

2017

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (winner)

The Good People by Hannah Kent

A Country Road, A Tree by Jo Baker

2018

Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik

The Wardrobe Mistress by Patrick McGrath

The Gallows Pole by Benjamin Myers (winner)

Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr

Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift

2019 (winner announced on 15^th June)

The Long Take by Robin Robertson – haunting and atmospheric, full review to follow

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje – intriguing and mysterious, full review to follow

It’s the first Saturday of the month so it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation!

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own six degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post. You can also check out links to posts on Twitter using the hashtag #6Degrees

This month’s starting book is Murmur by Will Eaves, winner of the 2109 Wellcome Prize. Murmur is a book I haven’t read myself but you can find a fantastic review of it here by Susan at A Life in Books. To quote from her review, the book is about a man ‘undergoing chemical castration having been convicted of gross indecency. Although the man is given a different name, it’s clear Alan Turing’s is the experience that Eaves is imagining.’

It was the title of the book and the definition of the word ‘murmur’ (a softly spoken or almost inaudible utterance) that gave me inspiration to create a sound-related chain of increasing (excuse the pun) volume. Click on the book title to read the description on Goodreads or my review.

Whisper by Lynette Noni

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald

The Shout & Other Stories by Robert Graves

Roar by Cecilia Ahern

Howl by Allen Ginsberg