Oh, the excruciating pain of making this list! I am very pleased with the end result but how cruel to have spent the last few days playing off my favourite books against one another to get down to the ten you see here (and ten it must be for when I attempted to make a list of fifteen things got wildly out of hand). What I did realise quickly was what an excellent reading year I’ve had, full of wonderful, memorable books. May 2012 bring more of the same!
10. The Unlikely Disciple (2009) – Kevin Roose
The best books are the ones that get you so excited that you cannot stop talking about them, so that soon all your friends and family know exactly what you’re reading. That is what happened while I was reading The Unlikely Disciple. Roose, then an undergraduate at Brown, went ‘undercover’ for a semester at an evangelical Christian university. His insightful, respectful, and very detailed chronicle of his time there left me highly entertained and incredibly engaged, pondering some of the issues he touched on (the influence of religious groups in politics, evangelical Christianity’s attitudes towards women, and journalistic ethics, to name a few) for weeks after I had finished reading.
9. Skylark (1924) – Dezső Kosztolányi
Set in 1899 in a small town in Austria-Hungary, this is the story of Skylark’s mother and father and the joyous week they spend enjoying themselves while their spinster daughter is away visiting family. Mother and Father’s excitement at their outings to the restaurant and the theatre (and, in Father’s case, a meeting of the local drinking club) is humourously and heartwarmingly told but it is the return of the pathetic, pitiable Skylark (and Father’s outburst in anticipation of her return) that truly makes this a brilliant novel. A wonderful and sympathetic view of the burden faced by parents with beloved but unmarriageable daughters.
8. An Appetite for Life (1977) – Charles Ritchie
Ritchie, though he was a prominent diplomat, is now best remembered for his skill as a diarist and rightly so. This, the earliest published volume of his diaries, covers the years 1924-1927, as Ritchie was finishing off his studies in Halifax and then experiencing the delightful distractions on offer at Oxford during his first year there. Ritchie is marvellously candid and his daily ponderings – here, unsurprisingly given his youth, focused on women, sex, and school – manage to be both amusing and touching.
7. Christopher and Columbus (1919) – Elizabeth von Arnim
I took the longest time to decide which von Arnim novel was going to make the list but this beat out The Pastor’s Wife by the sheer force of its charm. A light, fanciful escape from reality, Christopher and Columbus tells the story of two orphaned teenage German-English twins and their exploits once shipped off to neutral America by their uncle during WWI. While sailing, Anna-Rose and Anna-Felicitas befriend the delightful, doting Mr Twist, an American millionaire who made his fortune by designing a no-drip tea pot. The adventures of this trio make for enchanting reading, with von Arnim’s witty narrator saving it from descending into anything too saccharine.
6. Earth and High Heaven (1944) – Gwethalyn Graham
Without question, this was the biggest reading surprise of the year. My first reaction upon finishing was that it was the most Persephone-like non-Persephone book I’ve ever read. Set in Montreal in 1942, the novel revolves around the challenges faced by Erica Drake, an editor at a newspaper, and Marc Reiser, a lawyer, when they meet and fall in love. Anti-Semitism and family relationships are at the heart of this novel but it is also full of comments on the war, whether it be French-speaking Canada’s reluctance to be involved or the deadening effect of the destruction of the London Blitz, experienced first-hand by Erica’s sister. It is an absolutely amazing novel that deserves a much wider audience.
5. Hostages to Fortune (1933) – Elizabeth Cambridge
My love for this quiet novel has come on slowly. I enjoyed it when I read it, yes, but with each passing month I find myself loving it more. I remain particularly impressed with Cambridge’s portrait of Catherine and William’s marriage and how it evolves, through separation during the war, the arrivals of babies, and the numbingly chaotic years spent scrambling to raise ( and afford to raise) their three children.
4. The American Senator (1877) – Anthony Trollope
My first encounter with Trollope was an unqualified success. Since then, I’ve read The Warden and Barchester Towers and enjoyed both but neither came close to equaling my delight with The American Senator. Was it Mr Elias Gotobed’s comically offensive but generally true statements that charmed me so? The love story of the gentle, deserving Mary Masters? Or was it the magnificent anti-heroine, Arabella Trefoil, whose single-minded pursuit of a husband is awesome to behold? The combination of these stories makes for an eventful, always fascinating, deeply satisfying novel that quite rightly convinced me that Trollope was an author after my own heart.
3. Wives and Daughters (1866) – Elizabeth Gaskell
I feel a bit of a cheat to place a reread so high on my list but…This book is absolutely perfect and fully earned its spot. I don’t think I will ever tire of Molly Gibson, Cynthia Kirkpatrick, Squire Hamley or, that most magnificent creation, Mrs. Hyacinth Kirkpatrick Gibson.
2. Howards End is on the Landing (2009) – Susan Hill
In any other year, this book would have probably garnered top spot. Hill’s memoir of a lifetime spent in the company of books and other authors delighted me from the first page to the last. Everything about this book was perfect for me. There was enough of the familiar in Hill’s reading to comfort me (because one of the delights of reading about books is coming across opinions on books you know well) and enough of the new to excite me and make me eager to track down those unknown titles. Even before I had finished reading my library edition, I rushed out to buy a copy of my very own.
1. Summer Half (1937) – Angela Thirkell
Anyone who has been following my blog this year could have probably predicted that Thirkell would take the top spot. Since my first encounter with Thirkell last January, I have fallen completely in love with her Barsetshire novels and, of the twelve I’ve now read, I think Summer Half is the most perfectly formed. It centers on the masters and students of Southbridge School and their interactions with some of the local families. As with all good Thirkell novels, romance is in the air and the narrator’s sharp wit is there to comment on both the comically disastrous pairings and the ideal but bumbled ones. Most importantly, Summer Half introduces my favourite Thirkell character, the astounding Lydia Keith. Of all the books I read this year, not only is this the one that I am most eager to return to, it is the one I most wish I owned countless copies of so I could pass it on to everyone I meet.
Howards End would have been on the top of my list last year. I keep taking down to re-read favorite bits, or check what she said about a particular author.
And I think I’ve mentioned that I also love Summer Half, and Lydia. Looking back, though, I didn’t re-read any Thirkell this year!
I hope you do read Thirkell in 2012, Lisa! I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of her books.
What interesting choices! and I’ve only read one of them (Wives and Daughters) and started another (von Arnim), which I must get back to sometime. Thanks!
I hope you enjoy the von Arnim as much as I did when you do get back to it, Harriet!
Great choices (and a few more for me to track down). 🙂
Thanks, Susan! Good luck tracking copies down!
I’ve got Howard’s End is on the Landing on my WishList already…need to move it up a notch or two 🙂 Great List!!
I’m glad you liked the list, Patti. I hope you love Howards End is on the Landing as much as I did, once you get your hands on it!
What a wonderful list you’ve come up with. I have Wives and Daughters lined up for next year, and Hostages to Fortune, which I was loving but pushed aside when Greenbanks arrived.
I reread Wives and Daughters pretty much every year (sometimes multiple times a year) and I never come away feeling anything less than delighted. I’m excited for you to read it in 2012!
great books! Skylark is on my TBR for 2012. here is my 2011 recap with my 8 favorites: http://wordsandpeace.com/2011/12/30/year-of-reading-2011/
Skylark is fantastic; I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Some lovely recs there. Have noted several but especially like the sound of the Von Arnim. I really must try something by Angela Thirkell too.
You must, you must, you must try Thirkell! Everyone must! I hope you’re able track down the von Arnim and as many Thirkells as you can.
I’ve read the first couple of Thirkell novels and haven’t had a chance to get back to them–but what I read I quite enjoyed. I also loved Hostages to Fortune–I didn’t read a single Persephone this year and will have to make up for it next year! I’ve duly added An Appetite for Life and Earth and High Heaven to my wishlist! Lovely list of favorites!
I’m so pleased you like the list, Danielle, and I’m especially excited that you picked the two Canadian titles to add to your wishlist. I feel like I’m doing my patriotic duty in spreading the word about these excellent books!
I love a Best Of list, and I love yours most of all! What wonderful choices – and reconfirming that I must read Skylark. And must go back to Thirkell, whom I haven’t read for six or seven years.
Oh thank you, Simon. You really must read Skylark, if only because I’m so excited to hear what you think of it! And, if you go back to Thirkell, I’d love to hear your thoughts on her.
Isn’t it wonderful that there are sufficient books to go around, so that there is always something for everyone? I’d not have put Howard’s End is on the Landing any where close to the top o fmy list; for a ‘book list’ I love instead 84 Charing Cross Road, but my own favourite book of 2011 has been The Apothecary’s Daughter by Charlotte Betts, closely followed by Katharine McMahon’s latest historical novel set in Revolutionary France, Season of Light. I also loved The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton and The Return of Capt. John Emmett, both by Elizabeth Speller. Strange that they are all historical novels, and hot on their tails would be Rosie Thornton’s The Tapestry of Love.
Non-fiction has been more difficult to quantify for seldom do I read non-fiction cover to cover, but Lalique by Eric Knowles (published by Shire Books) and Courtiers by Lucy Worsley about Kensington Palace are good and informative reads.
Sounds like you had an excellent reading year too, Margaret! Courtiers is on my wishlist so I’m excited to hear that you enjoyed it.
I love this snapshot of your reading interests. Thanks to you I have titles on my to-read list that would never have been there before: Thirkell, Czech authors, books by Canadian diplomats. The only book on your list that I have read is The Unlikely Disciple and it might be on my own best-read-in-2011, if I get around to writing that ever. I gave it to my uncle for Christmas because he kept stealing it from me during a Memorial Day weekend trip to Vermont and I know he never got to finishing it.
This list does sum me up pretty well, I must say, so I’m glad you enjoyed it! And I am so glad that I’ve helped encourage you to try (or at least plan to try) books you might otherwise never have come across. I love that you gave your uncle The Unlikely Disciple for Christmas – what could be more appropriate for that holiday? It’s such a wonderful book and the more people who can read and enjoy it, the better.
This is a terrific list; I will put Christopher and Columbus and Skylark on my to be read list.
Thanks, Richard! Obviously, I think those are both excellent novels, particularly Skylark – I hope you enjoy them!
I’ve just added “Christopher and Columbus” to my wish-list. Elizabeth von Arnim was one of my 2011 discoveries (thanks to you, as you know :)) and I’m determined to read much more by her. Everyone seems to love Enchanted April, but this one also sounds lovely.
And as you know, I’m so excited that you’ve discover von Arnim and are enjoying her! Everything I’ve read by von Arnim so far, I have loved.
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