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!