It’s my 11th anniversary for this blog, and as is my habit, I am using it to post my top ten books of the year. This year’s books are all fiction, which isn’t unusual. What is unusual is that six of them are historical novels, and a few others are partially historical. Only one is set in the current time (the other nonhistorical novels in the recent past). Of the historical novels, most are set in the 20th century, but one each is set in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Five of the books are by women, five by men, and two involve the supernatural. Four books are set in the United States, two in Scotland, and one each in Australia, Madagascar, France, and an island in the Indian Ocean off what would become Australia.
This year’s choice was difficult, because I read some really good books, but here they are, in the order in which I posted the reviews:
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
- A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville
- The Sentence by Louise Ehrdrich
- Rose Nicolson by Andrew Greig
- Mohawk by Richard Russo
- Red Island House by Andrea Lee
- The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
- The Night Ship by Jess Kidd
- The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James
Here’s wishing you a year of happy reading!
whatmeread 
That’s a great list. Rose Nicolson was one of my books of the year from 2021. I also loved The Invisible Bridge and I enjoyed The Night Ship, though not as much as the other Jess Kidd book I’ve read, Things in Jars. I haven’t read any of the other books, but I’m hoping to read something by Kate Grenville soon.
I liked Things in Jars a lot, too. I think that may have been on my list last year. I loved The Invisible Bridge.
Yours is one of the longest-running blogs I follow! Congratulations on 11 years. It’s fun to see two of our Literary Wives titles on your top 10 list. It’s a nice idea of how to mark the anniversary.
Thanks! Lots of people seem to like to do it at the end of the year, but I think the first year, I thought, my anniversary is just next month. I’ll do it then.
Congratulations, 11 years is impressive! I haven’t read anything from your list but I have Rose Nicolson on my list after your review – I hope you’re still finding it fun in 11 years time!
Well, I’ll be pretty old then. We’ll have to see! But thanks! I hope you like Rose Nicolson.
Congratulations to 11 years’ of blogging. That is great. I love your reviews, and I have already added some of your best books to my reading list. I love historical fiction, so very suitable for me.
Well, thank you! That’s nice to here!
Happy Blog Birthday! You’re just one year older than me! A lot of us seem to be reading more historical fiction at the moment – it seems to be having something of a Golden Age. Glad to see my own book of the year, Rose Nicolson, on your list!
It was a good one! Yes, I think it’s great that there is so much good historical fiction around lately.
I follow FictionFan too – I’ll be 9 years old in May, so congrats on your 11th blog birthday! I also loved Shuggie Bain – I couldn’t understand people complaining it was depressing when I found it incredibly life-affirming – perhaps my experience differed because my late mother battled an alcohol problem too, which I now know was down to depression but that wasn’t something we spoke about in the remote Highlands in the 70s and 80s. I have Rose Nicolson and The Nickel Boys and must get to them too, and I have Young Mungo out from the library on ebook at the moment.
I read historical fiction as a child but only returned to it a few years ago while blogging.
I suspect I’ll be investigating other books on your list too!
Well, thanks! I loved Shuggie Bain and Rose Nicolson. Also The Nickel Boys. Well, obviously, or they wouldn’t be on my best of year list. Young Mungo was good (I haven’t posted my review yet), but I felt that it was revisiting a lot of the same territory.