credit: Joan Griswold
I’m never particularly eager to make favourites lists. I love them but it’s such a brutal process: all those wonderful books that get cut! I read roughly 200 books in 2010 and loved so many of them. Usually I measure my favourite books by not just the initial reading experience but my desire to reread the book. Since most of my books come from the library, the true test of a book is whether after reading it I want to search out a copy to own. Except my opinion changes day to day, hour to hour, making lists rather difficult to compile with any confidence. But lists, however stressful I may find them, are still fun and it was interesting to review my year with all its ups and downs and pick the ten titles that stood out for me. Here they are, in order:
10. The Shuttle (1906) – Frances Hodgson Burnett
My most eagerly-anticipated Persephone title, I adored this tale of the effervescent Betty and her spirited quest. The melodramatic ending, a trademark of FHB, did grate, which is why the book didn’t place higher on this list.
9. Can Any Mother Help Me? (2007) – Jenna Bailey
A wonderful collection of letters written between the women of the Cooperate Correspondence Club, mostly from the 1930s to 1960s, begun as a way of keeping active and engaged with intelligent society despite days surrounded by toddlers and dirty dishes.
8. A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True (2009) – Brigid Pasulka
Part multi-generational family saga, part fairy tale, this novel set in Poland during the 1930s and 1940s as well as the early 1990s was the best kind of surprise.
7. Why We Act Like Canadians (1982) – Pierre Berton
Combining two of my great loves – books about the Canadian identity and Pierre Berton – was always going to end well but Why We Act Like Canadians truly did the best job of any book out there at explaining Canadians both for foreign and domestic audiences. With his usual romantic flair, Berton made this book not just fascinating but beautiful to read.
6. The Rehearsal (2008) – Eleanor Catton
The story of a community reacting to an illict relationship between a teacher and student at an all-girls school provided a very unique reading experience that forced me out of my comfort zone. I was more than rewarded for my diligence with fascinatingly complex relationships and skillfully-executed themes. This doesn’t seem to be a book for everyone but I loved it.
5. Mariana (1940) – Monica Dickens
Surprisingly hilarious, my first Persephone novel was nothing less than an absolute success.
4. Greenery Street (1925) – Denis Mackail
Immediately after finishing this charming book about a newly married couple I said that I wanted to live in it. Now, not even two months after reading it, I already miss Ian and Felicity and their dear little home on Greenery Street.
3. Lunch in Paris (2010) – Elizabeth Bard
I adore this book, the story of Bard’s life in Paris after falling in love with a Frenchman. The recipes are fantastic but Bard’s engaging voice and energetic but not overly romantic attitude towards her new French life made for a delightful read. Easily the book I recommended the most over the course of the year.
2. Women of the Raj (1988) – Margaret MacMillan
This book may have left me with a phobia of cobras falling from the ceiling but it also provided an excellent education on the British Raj and the lives of European women in India. It’s one of those books that I want to carry around with me always, just so I can press a copy onto random strangers.
1. Mrs Tim Flies Home (1952) – D.E. Stevenson
I fell in love with both Mrs Tim and D.E. Stevenson this year. Mrs Tim of the Regiment was an excellent introduction to my new favourite heroine but a weak second half prevented it from being a favourite. Mrs Tim Flies Home, on the other hand, suffers from no such shortcomings and so earned its top place on this list by being simply charming and heart-warming.
The Captive Reader 
What I love most about your list (other than the picture at the top, which is so beautiful!) is that I’ve only read one of the books on it (Lunch in Paris, also one of my favorites)… so I have nine recommendations to follow up on! (I’m especially interested in Greenery Street, because I’ve heard wonderful things about it…) That’s the very best thing about reading book blogs!
I hope you have a very happy new year!
Greenery Street is WONDERFUL. I loved the experience of reading it; definitely one of the happiest books I read in 2011.
Glad to have given you some reading ideas for the new year!
I have not ready any of these books (blush) but I have added a couple to my list after reading your reviews.
Happy New Year.
They’re more than a little obscure so no need to feel embarassed for not knowing them! I hope you enjoy whichever ones you may go on to read as much as I did.
Happy New Year to you as well!
I haven’t read any of these but they all sound wonderful. The Persephones are already on my wishlist but I’m adding some of the others too.
Happy reading in 2011!
My wishlist at this point is pretty much the entire Persephone catalogue. So far, I’ve enjoyed almost every one I’ve read (The Making of a Marchioness being the only exception, but I’m planning to give that another shot, possibly in 2011)!
I love this post because I haven’t read any of these and I can now add them to my list. I usually don’t have to know what a book is about – if someone tells me they really liked it, then I’ll give it a whirl.
Glad to have helped grow your list!
I just made my first Persephone order, so I am glad to see that so many of them made your list. I actually got Mariana for Christmas and it was one of the first Persephone books that caught my eye!
Your first Persephone order AND a Persephone for Christmas? How exciting!!! I got two for Christmas and then placed an order for four more on Boxing Day – I’m definitely addicted!
I, too, read Mariana this year, and I already have The Raj on my wish list due to your earlier review of it. The same for Greenery Street. I do so love lists! Thanks for sharing with us. 🙂
I think you’ll really like Greenery Street, Susan. And I hope you like Women of the Raj as much as I did!
Like Audrey I have only read one of the books on your list so I have heaps of good reading to look forward to by the looks of things. The one I have read is The Shuttle but I had a very different reaction to it – I found it way too sad and depressing to enjoy at all!
Sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience with The Shuttle though I’ve heard from other people who also reacted that way. I absolutely loathed The Making of a Marchioness so I hadn’t been expecting to like The Shuttle as much as I did – maybe it’s partly a matter of expectations?
Oh dear more to add to the ever growing list. I loved Mariana I think one of my favourites this year. I have been gathering D.E. Stevenson when I can find them particularly HB with the lovely old covers. One I really enjoyed was Sarah Remembers. I hope you have a happy New Year. Look forward to your blog next year.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for Sarah Remembers. Thanks for the recommendation!
You;re the second person to recommend Lunch in Paris, and I’d already made a note of it so hopefully that’s a definate read for 2011. Aaah Mariana and Greenery Street – lovely reads and I’m currently reading Miss Buncle’s Book so interested in reading about Mr Tim.
Happy New Year.
So glad to hear you’re planning to pick up Lunch in Paris! My parents gave me Miss Buncle’s Book for Christmas and I’m so excited to finally have a chance to read it!
Oh, that seems like a great list (I can’t actually comment since I haven’t read any of these books), but I own The Rehearsal and many of the others are on my wishlist.
I hope you have a chance to read some of these in 2011!
You’ve put that really well, making a list of favorites is brutal and as soon as I’ve posted it, I want to change it.
Your list looks wonderful, and I think I want to read all of them right now! 🙂
Happy New Year!
Lists like this are certainly difficult but I know I’ll love looking back at it in a year or two and having such a great record of my reading tastes!
Brilliant and interesting picks! I have flagged a few of these as books I’d like to look into, so thank you! The ‘Can Any Mother Help Me’ book looks especially interesting, as well as the one on the Raj. You’ve had a good year of reading by the looks of it!
Thanks Rachel! It definitely was a great reading year!
I’m finally moved to my parents’ place, so I don’t know if I’ll have time to post my best of 2010 list tonight or if I’ll pass out early from exhaustion, but when I was awake in the night worrying about the move, I did spend a few hours considering what would go on the list! D.E. Stevenson might go to the top of my list too, for Miss Buncle’s Book. I’m so glad to hear you got it for Christmas, you’ll have to let me know how many Persephones your parents ended up getting you!
Oh I’m so glad to hear that you’re out of the city and can now hopefully settle down and relax! I’ll look forward to seeing your list whenever that might be!
I got two Persephones from the parents: Miss Buncle’s Book and The Priory and am so excited about both! And then I ordered four more for myself on Boxing Day that, according to the Book Depository website, are currently on their way to me. Now if only my bookshelves (yes, I shipped the tall ones, not being able to stand the thought of living without them) would arrive, along with all my books and other possessions, I’d be able to line all the lovely grey covers up in a neat row and gaze adoringly at them.
I do love a list, Claire! And I’m intrigued to see Mrs. Tim Flies Home at the top, since the reason Mrs. Tim of the Regiment didn’t make my top ten was the weaker second half… so I must check out this sequel. The only two I’ve read from your list are Greenery Street (which I loved) and Can Any Mother Help Me? (which I’m afraid disappointed me.)
Mrs Tim Flies Home might not be the most sophisticated book but I love it dearly and I hope you have a chance to read it some day soon. I remember you not enjoying Can Any Mother Help Me? as much as I did and I’m sorry for that but at the same time that’s why I love reading, because of how differently two readers can experience the same book.
Hi Claire – So flattered to be on your 2010 best list! Our family just made a move to Provence to live in the wartime home of French poet and Resistance leader Rene Char. So more culinary and village adventures ahead. I’m looking forward to reading Women of the Raj, I’m on a colonial period kick right now… All the best for 2011! EB
Thank you so much for stopping by Elizabeth!