It’s that time again, the sixth anniversary of this blog and time to post my top ten picks of the previous year. As always, this is a difficult task. Although I try to evaluate books by their genre—that is, I’m not expecting the same things from mysteries or historical fiction as I am from literary fiction—what my judgment really boils down to is which books I found most affecting or impressed me the most.
This year’s list includes two nonfiction books, three classics, one speculative fiction, and two historical fiction books. I would also count at least six of the novels as literary fiction, including Kent Haruf’s last novel. So, here are my top 10 books from the ones I reviewed this year, in the order that I reviewed them:
- The Lark by E. Nesbit
- Benediction by Kent Haruf
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
- Middlemarch by George Eliot
- Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
- His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
- On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry
- Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols
- Bleak House by Charles Dickens
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
What? Me Read? 
Happy Blogaversary! Many of these ten are on my TBR, so I’m happy to know you enjoyed them!
Thanks! I hope you’ll enjoy them.
Happy blogiversary! Good to see Bleak House on your list – and His Bloody Project! Hope you have lots of good reads and blogging fun this year… 🙂
Thanks!
I love Bleak House. I would really like to get around to reading Middlemarch sometime!
Happy 6 years! 🙂
It’s one of my favorites. I have read it three or four times.
The Lark was one of my favorites this year too. And I really need to read Kent Haruf.
I think I’ve read almost everything by him and liked it all.
Happy (belated) blogoversery! I do love Cloud Atlas and have actually found myself thinking about it again recently and I read it before the films release a few years ago. I may have to revisit it.
Yes, it’s always a good reread.