What's the best book you've read this year?

wendy · Post by **wendy** » Sun November 28th, 2010, 7:48 pm

Hard to pick just one but the most memorable in a while is probably "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Mon November 29th, 2010, 2:03 pm

I can't choose just one, as I read from a variety of categories usually and it's too difficult to pin it down to one or even just a few. Below are probably my highest rated reads for the year from various categories (in no particular order):

Read 10 books by Rosemary Sutcliff, all good, but my top three favorites are Mark of the Horse Lord, The Lantern Bearers and Sword at Sunset.

Loved Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen's Thief series, but my favorite book in the series is The King of Attolia.

Best Children's Historical: The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy (WWI, Hungary... made me sniffle at the end)

Other great reads:
A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka
Night Soldiers by Alan Furst
The Great Maria by Cecelia Holland
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
Black Silk by Judith Ivory

Sharz · Post by **Sharz** » Mon November 29th, 2010, 6:50 pm

Best book has to be Dracula by Bram Stoker. Totally blew me away.

Honorable mentions to:
Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
Falcons of Montabard by Elizabeth Chadwick
Born of the Sun by Joan Wolf
Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon November 29th, 2010, 9:49 pm

My best read for the year to date has to be a relative oldie- Anthony Burgess' novel about Elizabethan playwright, Christopher Marlowe, Dead Man in Deptford. I was blown away by Burgess' passion and sheer linguistic brilliance. I've got his Kingdom of the Wicked waiting on my TBR for the holidays, so I can enjoy it without the pesky interruptions caused by having to go to work

Perdita · Post by **Perdita** » Mon November 29th, 2010, 11:09 pm

[quote=""annis""]My best read for the year to date has to be a relative oldie- Anthony Burgess' novel about Elizabethan playwright, Christopher Marlowe, Dead Man in Deptford. I was blown away by Burgess' passion and sheer linguistic brilliance. I've got his Kingdom of the Wicked waiting on my TBR for the holidays, so I can enjoy it without the pesky interruptions caused by having to go to work

[/quote]

I also loved this one, it's one you can read about three times and always find something different. Nothing Like the Sun was also really good, written in the same Elizabethan idiom but this time about Shakespeare.

CindyInOz · Post by **CindyInOz** » Mon November 29th, 2010, 11:57 pm

My top pick for 2010 would be Confessions of Catherine de Medici by CW Gortner. I also loved Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Susanna Kearsley's Mariana. Not HF, but Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer is a book that will stay with me for a very long time.

wendy · Post by **wendy** » Tue November 30th, 2010, 1:59 pm

[quote=""Sharz""]Best book has to be Dracula by Bram Stoker. Totally blew me away.

Honorable mentions to:
Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
Falcons of Montabard by Elizabeth Chadwick
Born of the Sun by Joan Wolf
Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.[/quote]

The original Dracula is far better than any of the Twilight stuff!

Nefret · Post by **Nefret** » Tue November 30th, 2010, 3:27 pm

[quote=""wendy""]The original Dracula is far better than any of the Twilight stuff![/quote]

That was why I read it.

Frigate · Post by **Frigate** » Sat December 4th, 2010, 5:49 pm

I have to laugh - I've been a bit AWOL lately (life, ya know) but popped back in, saw this thread and thought "what the hey" only to find the first book mentioned was my all-time favorite book this year as well! Go Perdita! I don't know what it was about that novel but I've been recommending it to everyone.

TLee · Post by **TLee** » Sun December 5th, 2010, 3:29 pm

My favorite read this year was The Time of Singing by Elizabeth Chadwick closely followed by The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom.