Whoo hoo! It’s my 10th blogging anniversary! As is my habit, I am posting my Top Ten of the Year for this post. I make these selections from the Best of Ten lists throughout the year, and this year, some things stand out about those selections. For one thing, I had several repeat authors this year, Jess Kidd, Rumer Godden, Claire Fuller, and Maggie O’Farrell. Since I limit my Top Ten of the Year list to only one book by an author, that makes for some more difficult picking.
This year’s list is another mixed bag. Three of them are classic novels, written in the first half of the 20th century. Two are set at least partially in the future, and both of them strongly feature trees. One is a reworking of the Oedipus myth. One has a touch of the fantastic. Two are historical novels, and two are partly historical. One is a Pulitzer Prize winner. One is set in Kashmir, one partially in the Orient, one in Washington state, and one in Malaya and Australia. It was a great reading year.
Anyway, here they are, in order of when I reviewed them:
- Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
- Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller
- The Overstory by Richard Powers
- Everything Under by Daisy Johnson
- Greenwood by Michael Christie
- Kingfishers Catch Fire by Rumer Godden
- Cluny Brown by Margery Sharp
- Old Filth by Jane Gardam
- The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
- A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
What? Me Read? 
Congratulations on your ten years. I do hope you have a minimum of ten more. I very much enjoy reading your reviews and of course the highlight of the last few months has been reading Angela Thirkell.
Believe me, I have appreciated your participation in that!
Congratulation on 10 years of blogging. This is a terrific idea for an anniversary topic.
Your list is very good. I haven’t read any of them, but there are at least four I plan to read:
The Overstory
Greenwood
Old Filth
A Town Like Alice
I will have been blogging 10 years at the end of February but I haven’t decided on a topic for the post.
Well, I cover this topic every year on my anniversary.
Congratulations on your 10th anniversary! That looks like a good mixture of books. I enjoyed Things in Jars and Cluny Brown, but haven’t read any of the others.
Thanks!
Congratulations on your blogging anniversary!! 🙂
Thanks!
Congratulations! It’s a very good idea to mark your anniversary and these are all titles I haven’t read but mean too, especially Jane Gardam who I just discovered last year with her short stories.
She is very good.
Happy Blogversary! 10 years is such a great achievement!
Thanks!
Wow, happy blogiversary! I managed to miss my going-full-time-self-employed 10th anniversary at the start of this year so I’d better note my blog one!
Yes, you should! Thanks!
Happy Blogiversary! Glad you had a good reading year, and here’s to the next ten! 🍾🎉
Thanks!
Congratulations to your 10th anniversary! Well done. Interesting mix of authors and books. I miss Maggie O’Farrell that you mention on top. Which book was it? I am a fan of her writing and have just read Hamnet which was great.
Well, I mentioned it because I had two O’Farrells in my top ten lists, but I didn’t pick either for my Best Books of the Year, even though she is really good. Too many other choices.