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

tsjmom · Post by **tsjmom** » Sun December 5th, 2010, 10:55 pm

I have two actually. 'Saving CeeCee Honeycutt' by Beth Hoffman and 'A Vintage Affair' by Isabel Wolff. These are two of only a handful that have touched my soul. Highly, highly recommend!!!!

rockygirl · Post by **rockygirl** » Sun December 5th, 2010, 11:08 pm

My Name is Mary Sutter

Alisha Marie Klapheke · Post by **Alisha Marie Klapheke** » Mon December 6th, 2010, 2:32 am

Not new, but I really enjoyed Anne Easter Smith's Daughter of York. And may I just say that after reading all these posts I am A) so thrilled to hang out with people who know when women wore which type of headdress in the medieval period and B) I have about a billion books I want to read!

JMJacobsen · Post by **JMJacobsen** » Mon December 6th, 2010, 8:41 pm

Was flipping through my records for the year and am amazed to find that despite primarily reading HF, most of my favorites didn't even fall into that genre. Go figure.

Anyhoo - favorite HF for me this year was Robert Perry's The Virgin and the Crab (self-published and one of the few sooooo worth the read....just as good as Wolf Hall, which I also loved), Alice I Have Been by M. Benjamin, and Helen Hollick's U.S. reprint, The Forever Queen. But the very best HF of the year for me was Emma Drummond's Forget the Glory, set during the Crimean War.

And for what it's worth, best book I read all year was The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. It's a fantasy book, and I don't ever normally read fantasy, but came highly recommended and I was absolutely blown away.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Mon December 6th, 2010, 10:12 pm

But the very best HF of the year for me was Emma Drummond's Forget the Glory, set during the Crimean War.

That was good. I can't remember now why I only gave it four stars

Elysium · Post by **Elysium** » Tue December 7th, 2010, 6:47 pm

Can't pick just one book! Since I started reading EC and SKP this year. But here's some of the best:

Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
The Traitor's Wife by Susan Higginbotham
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
The Greatest KNight by Elizabeth Chadwick
Mary Tudor: Englan'd First Queen by Anna Whitelock

JMJacobsen · Post by **JMJacobsen** » Fri December 10th, 2010, 4:35 pm

[quote=""Misfit""]That was good. I can't remember now why I only gave it four stars

[/quote]

I think you liked the other one better as I recall.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Fri December 10th, 2010, 5:30 pm

[quote=""JMJacobsen""]I think you liked the other one better as I recall.

[/quote]

If you mean Beyond All Frontiers, yes. The two Crimean I liked equally well. Have another Drummond on the way soon. Woopee.

Matt Phillips · Post by **Matt Phillips** » Fri December 17th, 2010, 10:30 pm

I'm glad I introduced myself to Cornwell's Starbuck series this year. I was skeptical about the idea of a Bostonian joining the Confederate Army, but Cornwell pulls it off credibly. Rebel was a great read: fast-paced, vivid, funny, richly detailed and with well-drawn characters. Looking forward to the rest of the series, which I hope he finishes at some point!

Also want to toss out a mention of David Liss's The Whiskey Rebels, which I'm listening to on a well-narrated audiobook (Christopher Lane). Liss hits the 18th century voice spot-on and spins his tale with a dry humor and flair for intrigue that go really well together.

kauldron26 · Post by **kauldron26** » Mon December 27th, 2010, 10:28 pm

1. The Source by James Michener
2. Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
3. Roma by Steven Saylor
4. The Passage by Justin Cronin
5. Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
6. Genghis Khan trilogy by Conn Iggulden
7. The Void trilogy by Peter Hamilton
8. Replay by Ken Grimwood
9. Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
10. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell & The Chronolith by Robert Charles Wilson (tie)