It’s been a long while since I last did a Top Ten Tuesday list. Some weeks I couldn’t get enthused by the topic but this week I thought sounded easy enough. It’s a freebie which meant I could pick any topic that took my fancy. Hah! I had so many options I got myself into a knot trying to decide between them. Emma at Words and Peace came to my rescue with her solution — a list of one word book titles. Nice and simple.
So here you have a list, in no particular order, of ten favourites. Links take you to my reviews where they exist.
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
I would have been shocked if you’d told me in 2012 that this would one day appear in a list of my favourites. I thought it was an insubstantial novel about the minutiae of the lives of a group of elderly spinsters. But I changed my opinion after reading it again in the last few weeks. It has a lot more depth than I first noticed, comic in parts but also poignant.
Drift by Caryl Lewis
I had to get a Welsh author into this list! Caryl’s first novel in the English language has a lyrical quality as befitting her background as a poet. Review is here.
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
O’Farrell rarely — if ever — fails to impress. This re-imagining of the tragedy that befalls one William Shakespeare and his wife, is a masterful piece of fiction. I can’t wait to see the film adaptation which is due for release in January. Review is here.
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
The Troubles (the period of violent sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland) features prominently in fiction from that part of the world. Seldom is it portrayed more powerfully than in Louise Kennedy’s novel about love across the political and religious divide. Review is here.
Harvest by Jim Crace
A village and the way of life it represents, is under threat in Jim Crace’s Booker-nominated Harvest. In a narrative that looks at the human consequences of the pursuit of “Profit, Progress, Enterprise”, Crace could be reflecting upon life today yet the book is clearly set centuries earlier. Review is here.
Johannesburg by Fiona Melrose
If you love Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway then you’ll enjoy spotting the parallels in Melrose’s novel. This too takes place on a single day and involves a woman trying to organise a birthday party. Review is here.
Clear by Carys Davies
If you’ve followed this blog for a while you’ll know that I love the Welsh author, Carys Davies. Clear is a beautiful novella set on a remote Scottish island showing how we can connect to others even when we don’t speak the same language.
Haven by Emma Donaghue
Another island setting but this one is off the coast of Ireland. It hardly merits the word island in fact since it’s little more than a large rock jutting out of the Atlantic. Three monks land here intending to establish a new monastery but their new base becomes more of a prison than a haven. Review is here.
Cove by Cynan Jones
Another watery setting and another fabulous Welsh author. Cove sees a kayaker adrift and injured at sea after a storm. As he drifts in and out of consciousness he thinks of the woman and their unborn child who are waiting for his return. Can their love help him to survive? Review is here.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
This BookerPrize winner takes us on board an international space station in the company of six astronauts. Over the course of 24 hours between science experiments and routine tasks they reflect on humanity, climate change and what they miss most about being away from Earth.
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