40 books in 2015 – not as many as 2014, but still a decent number.
As with 2014, some were superb, others I did not finish. Most were historical fiction; a few were non-fiction. I read several in my capacity as book reviewer for the Historical Novel Society and the Washington Independent Review of Books, and a few for feature articles in HNS.
I suspect I’m a ‘hard marker’. Here’s the rating system I used last year: LR = light, enjoyable read; GR = good, several caveats; ER = excellent, few caveats; OR = outstanding; DNF = did not finish; NMT = not my type.
The following are from January 2015 to May. I’ve included links to blog posts and reviews where appropriate. I’ll share the balance in a few days.
| Jan | Penelope Fitzgerald | Hermione Lee | DNF | Biography – far too much detail |
| Firebird | Susanna Kearsley | GR | Loved The Winter Sea, but I think Kearsley needs to try a new theme | |
| Sisters of Heart and Snow | Margaret Dilloway | GR | HNS feature; the tale of a female samurai; too much present day not enough history | |
| Writing Historical Fiction | Marina Oliver | GR | Much of the advice is very basic | |
| Historical Fiction Writing | Myfanwy Cook | GR | Lots of good advice, research ideas and useful reference sites | |
| Feb | The Glory of Life | Michael Kumpfmuller | GR | WIRO book review; last years of Franz Kafka; rich in detail, light on drama |
| The Heroes Welcome | Louisa Young | ER | HNS Review; A novel about the effects of WWI; highly recommended | |
| Mar | The Foundling’s War | Michel Deon | GR | A look at WWII France; present tense and omniscient narrator detract from story |
| Hell and Good Company | Richard Rhodes | ER | HNS review; non-fiction on Spanish Civil War | |
| All the Light We Cannot See – Pulitzer prize 2015 | Anthony Doerr | OR | A five star IMHO; could not put this WWII novel down | |
| The Wild Girl | Kate Forsyth | GR | A story about the brothers Grimm; pacing slow in parts | |
| Apr | The Sandcastle Girls | Chris Bojalian | GR | Book club; blending of past and present did not work for me |
| The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent | Susan Elia MacNeal | LR | Set during WWII; light mystery | |
| Writing Historical Fiction | Katharine McMahon | ER | A short, straight forward read with some excellent advice | |
| The Historical Novel – post 1 and post 2 | Jerome de Groot | ER | Have read this twice; Traces the roots and impact of historical fiction | |
| Write Away | Elizabeth George | ER | A second read of this book on the craft of writing | |
| The Dinner | Herman Koch | NMT | Book club; not one sympathetic character | |
| The Stranger | Harlan Corben | LR | Audiobook – tense mystery | |
| May | Cairo | Olen Steinhauer | LR | Complicated mystery set in Cairo |
| Pompeii | Robert Harris | OR | Superb story of Pompeii’s destruction | |
| The First Five Pages (a second reading) | Noah Lukeman | ER | Great practical advice for writers | |
| Scent of Triumph | Jan Moran | NMT | Book review; far too melodramatic | |
| The Secret Life of Violet Grant | Beatriz Williams | ER | Great voice; strong blend of present day and past | |
| Personal | Lee Child | LR | Audiobook; good mystery for a long drive |
Two outstanding reads, seven excellent ones.
FOR MORE ON READING & WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION follow A WRITER OF HISTORY (using the widget on the left sidebar)
M.K. Tod writes historical fiction and blogs about all aspects of the genre at A Writer of History. Her latest novel, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE is set in WWI France and is available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. Her debut novel, UNRAVELLED: Two wars. Two affairs. One marriage. is also available from these retailers.
28 Responses
Great list! If you liked All the Light, then you’ll probably like The Nightingale.
Thanks for the recommendation, Dianna. I’ve heard that title mentioned – will have to investigate. Wishing you a wonderful 2016.
That’s a wonderful list! I’m gonna write some of those down on my wishlist for 2016!
Thanks Dorothy – any recommendations from your reading? Hope you stop by the blog again.
I could recommend for example any of the novels by Tracy Chevalier. They show a great research work!
She’s an excellent writer – my latest of her novels is Remarkable Creatures. So many wonderful novels out there!
Indeed!
Thanks for the list Mary, I’m buying your OR recommendations 🙂
Great to hear, Teri. And let me know what you think!
I always enjoy your list, Mary, and take away books to add to my TBR stock. I’ve adopted your scale for evaluating the books I read. My reading this past year ranged across many genres. A couple that I rated OR are “The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry” by Gabrielle Zavin and “Dear Life,” a collection of stories by Alice Monroe.
Thanks for those suggestions, Carol. I’m not particularly keen on short stories, although Alice Munro is superb. Here’s to a year full of interesting books.
I have just discovered ‘A Year of Reading’ is it a list we compile or is there a website? I read Kate Forsythe’s list and also your list and it has inspired me to keep a list of the books I read this year.
Hi Elise … not a specific program and interesting to know that Kate is doing the same thing. Since I write, review books and read a lot within my genre, I decided to start tracking three years ago. It’s always interesting to look back at them at the end of the year. I’m sure some people use sites like Goodreads to do the same thing. Many thanks for your comment.
Interesting. Pompeii great as one knew the explosive ending but had to wait patiently until it came. In my view Harris manages to be consistently good. His latest another Cicero book … not sure I can take on a third at present, however good. Apart from Richard Flanagan’s prize winning book about war with Japan I had a disappointing year in 2015 of fiction reading. Two of my favourite authors produced books detailing evil which overstepped my fine line requirement for positive reading memories from books I read. I have read far more non-fiction with greater delight, as I did prior to starting writing in 2010. 2016 has started well with the complete short stories of J G Ballard written in his prime. I like his scene setting in the future which has similarities to my own writing. Calvin has recommended a book about life in Berlin in 1946. I have started and if it is any good I will add details and an addition to this post in due course. Lets see what turns up in 2016, although my reading pile is far to high already.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Alexander. Wishing you a year of great reading!
As you can see from the promptness of this promised addition I could not put Calvin’s recommended book down and have read in two days. The Spring of Kasper Meier – by Ben Fergusson, I see is also relevant to this blog being a Winner of the Historical Writers’ Association 2015 Debut Crown Award. As a reader I found the story well crafted, with many excellent long and short descriptive set pieces, which kept boiling all the way through as to Kasper’s eventual fate. Overall a pretty grim read about Berlin in 1946 tackling difficult human relationships. I have yet to decide whether the subtle overall punchline is credible as semi fiction. Adopting your coding to me the book is an OR and for a change the cover promotional text is spot on – “A gripping mystery set in a surreal and terrifying post-war Berlin where nothing is quite what it seems.”
Sounds like a great read, Alexander. An OR from you is high praise indeed!!
Are you kidding? I would kill to have read 40 books in one year. I think I might have read maybe 5. One of my new year’s resolutions is to turn the damn TV off and read.
Tam
You’ve made me laugh, Tam. One book a month would more than double your previous record!! Here’s wishing you success.
I love your rating system. I’m always stumped to communicate the difference between wonderful historical fiction, and, say, a great mystery with an animal narrator. Both rate the same number of stars under my current rating system but . . .
Thanks, Debbie. You’re welcome to borrow it! That’s one of the problems with sites like Goodreads. As far as I’m concerned a scale of 1 to 5 stars isn’t good enough. And I don’t always have time to do a more nuanced review. For example, there’s nothing wrong with what I call a ‘light read’ – but 4 stars for a light read doesn’t compare to 4 stars for a more ‘significant’ novel. Similarly, ‘not my type’ or ‘did not finish’ might well be just the kind of thing someone else loves to read.