When I drafted this post I wrote a long rigmarole about criteria for inclusion, giving what I thought might be helpful analogies and definitions of 'best' as it applies to my choices here. On reflection I've scrubbed all that as we can do without it, so following on from Friday's first batch of fiction, here's my choice from the second half of the year, listed in the order in which I read them:
The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller - original, fresh and beautiful, this superb re-telling of the story of Achilles and Patroclus is a stunning novel.
The Kashmir Shawl
by Rosie Thomas - lush, romantic fiction, an escapist treat of a book.
Drowning Rose
by Marika Cobbold - a novel about guilt, but one which brings light and warmth to the subject; perceptive, compassionate, atmospheric, optimistic and highly readable.
Ghastly Business
by Louise Levene - stylish, witty and great fun!
The Translation of the Bones
by Francesca Kay - a work of great poise, sensitivity and intelligence about faith, belief, loneliness and love.
The Double Shadow
by Sally Gardner - ingeniously complex, dark and richly imagined, a novel for older teenagers and adults.
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt - for me, the best of the book group books this year.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
by Paul Torday - this novel hasn't had a post of its own (though its author has), but it's laugh-out-loud funny, very sad, most cleverly structured, and enormously entertaining.
The Snow Child
by Eowyn Ivey - no post yet for this one either, as I finished it only yesterday and feel quite lost without it now. A beautiful, magical book - thoughts on it soon.
