Skip to main content

Weekly Geeks: Best Of



The Weekly Geeks post
Here were some of my favorite reads from this year, alphabetically:
1. Sacred Hearts, by Sarah Dunant (historical fiction)
2. The Glassblower of Murano, by Marina Fiorato (historical fiction)
3. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, by Syrie James (historical fiction)
4. The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver (historical fiction)
5. Wolf Hall, by Hilary Martin (historical fiction)
6. Cleopatra’s Daughter, by Michelle Moran (historical fiction)
7. Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger (contemporary fiction)
8. The Street Philosopher, by Matthew Plampin (historical fiction; not out in the US—at least, yet)
9. Bleeding Heart Square, by Andrew Taylor (historical fiction)
10. The Angel’s Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (historical fiction)

There are a lot more, but these were the most memorable.

Comments

Syrie James said…
I'm thrilled to be on your list of Best Reads of the Year!

Enjoy the holidays, and feel free to email me any time at AuthorSyrieJames@gmail.com, or leave a message at my website at www.syriejames.com.
Danielle said…
I really liked Bleeding Heart Square, too! And I have several others on my wishlist as well!
susan said…
I'm Kingsolver fan. Will have to check this out. Thanks.
BAK said…
I found your blog while looking for reviews of Kingsolver's new book. I'm trying to decide if I should keep reading; it definately is not Poisonwood Bible (not that I mind, it's just very different.) Based on what you said, and how you liked it, I'm going to keep reading, just to see where it leads.

I was interested to see that you put Her Fearful Symmetry and Angel's Game on your top 10 list. I am still mulling over these books months later. I didn't love either of them, but I didn't hate them either. Anyway, I'll come back to your blog now that I've found it. I think I'll look up a couple of your top 10 to read in the next few weeks. Anyway, thanks for the reviews.

Popular posts from this blog

Another giveaway

This time, the publicist at WW Norton sent me two copies of The Glass of Time , by Michael Cox--so I'm giving away the second copy. Cox is the author of The Meaning of Night, and this book is the follow-up to that. Leave a comment here to enter to win it! The deadline is next Sunday, 10/5/08.

A giveaway winner, and another giveaway

The winner of the Girl in a Blue Dress contest is... Anna, of Diary of An Eccentric ! My new contest is for a copy of The Shape of Mercy , by Susan Meissner. According to Publisher's Weekly : Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars...

Review: Mariana, by Monica Dickens

Mariana is the story of one young girl’s growth towards adulthood during the 1920s and ‘30s. The book begins when Mary Shannon is eight, and traveling with her somewhat flighty mother to Charbury, her grandparents’ house; and continues up through the time that Mary is twenty-four and waiting to hear news of her husband from the war. Monica Dickens (a great-granddaughter of Charles) depicts Mary’s maturation to adulthood with perfection. The reader sympathizes with Mary as she experiences the ups and downs of relationships and careers—experimenting with both seems to be pretty characteristic of Mary, as she grapples a bit with identity and independence. And yet, there isn’t the usual amount of teenage angst that one usually finds in a novel about growing up, which I found to be very refreshing. Mary is a sweet and sometimes naïve girl, but at the same time, she’s also wonderfully sarcastic towards her peers. She’s hard to like at times, but in an odd way, I found myself sympathizing wi...