Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years — the Top Ten Tuesday topic this week — would be nigh on impossible without the aid of Goodreads. I can barely remember what I read a month ago let alone ten years past.
For my list I went with books I was reading as close to today’s date as possible.
2016. The Old Devils by Kinsley Amis
In 2016 I was in the throes of reading all the Booker Prize winners.
2017. Good Behaviour by Molly Keane
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1981, this was the first novel Molly Keane (who also wrote as M. J Farrell) wrote after her husband’s death. If you’ve never read anything by this author, this is a great place to start.
2018. The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale
A fascinating account of a trial that that gripped readers of British newspapers In the summer of 1895. That year saw two teenagers — Robert Coombes and his younger brother Nathaniel (known as Nattie) — in the dock accused of killing their mother in her London home.
2019. A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier
I used to enjoy Chevalier’s novels but the last few haven’t been as strong as her earlier work. This one has some fascinating details about church embroidery but the plot is weak overall.
2020. The Covenant by Thorne Moore
Set in Wales, this is a tragic tale of thwarted dreams, lost love, religious zeal, betrayals and ultimately murder, spanning almost four decades.
2021. We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsan Kayyan
In this debut novel, Kayyan tells a story of Indian families who lost their businesses and homes under Idi Amin’s repressive regime.
2022. This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman
A haunting novel based on the true case of Albert Black, a young Irish man who fell in with the wrong crowd in 1950s New Zealand. He was sentenced to death , the victim of judicial failure and political interference.
2023. One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard
The reality of life in a small slate quarrying community is the subject of Caradog Prichard’s award-winning novel. Poverty and hardship abound but there is also joy seen through the eyes of a young boy.
2024. Mrs March by Virginia Feito
A quite extraordinary noval of a woman’s increasingly fragile hold on reality.
2025. The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
i’ve yet to read anything by Andrew Miller that I haven’t enjoyed. This is a tremendously atmospheric novel about two marriages , showing the couples dealing (or failing to deal) with disappointments and resentments.