If you've been reading all or some of the Cornflower Book Group Books this year (follow that link for a reminder of what we've read, or scroll down and have a look at the list in the right-hand sidebar), which books have stood out for you - that is, which have you particularly enjoyed or which have proved the most interesting reading, e.g. making you think, provoking brisk debate within the group, or simply being a good discovery that you might not otherwise have come across?
My reasons for asking will become clear in due course (she said enigmatically ...)
The Season of Second Chances (Diana Meier); The Tapestry of Love (Rosie Thornton); My Last Duchess (Daisy Goodwin) and many non-fiction titles including John Fowler by Martin Shaw. Intrigued as to why you want to know which books have stood out for us this year ...? Currently enjoying Anna Dean's first Dido Kent whodunnit, set in 1805, A Moment of Silence. This could be termed very light-weight, but it's beautifully written and most enjoyable.
Posted by: Margaret Powling | 29 November 2010 at 05:06 PM
I haven't read all of them, but several of this year's I'd read before. Was Crossing to Safety this year or last? That was a wonderful discovery that I wouldn't have come across otherwise. Was also very pleased that you got me to re-read The Go-Between. William Maxwell was also new to me, another great discovery.
Posted by: m | 29 November 2010 at 05:17 PM
Travels with Charley and My Cousin Rachel were my favorites this year (I didn't start until Feb, so can't really speak to the Jan book). Charley gave me a new appreciation for Steinbeck, who I had sort of written off after only a brief try with some of his short stories. And Rachel was just good page-turning entertainment.
Posted by: Susan in TX | 29 November 2010 at 05:50 PM
Travels with Charley was great and I love the CBG even more for having read I Capture the Castle, always very affirming when one of one's favourites is the Chosen One
Posted by: Oxslip | 29 November 2010 at 08:10 PM
Well to have one of my suggestions (Cousin Rachel) chosen was quite a nice surprise and for the first time I had read the book before the CBG (I re-read of course). Loved the Steinbeck and also the Go-Between. I do very much like debate within the group, although I suspect, but have not done much analysis, that I am quite often the one with the minority view.
Posted by: Dark Puss | 29 November 2010 at 09:07 PM
These are books I found enjoyable amd memorable and that I would never have found were it not for this group ...
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Travels with Charley
My Cousin Rachel was a star too, but I already loved it.
Posted by: Sandy | 29 November 2010 at 09:50 PM
I enjoyed My Cousin Rachel and I Capture the Castle ( second time around)
also The Go Between.
Some of the suggested books I would not have picked for myself eg Travels with Charlie, but I did quite enjoy it.
Posted by: anne | 29 November 2010 at 11:39 PM
I'd read most of the books already but didn't read the Steinbeck, due to not having a handy copy. This was lazy.
I see no one has yet mentioned The Diary of a Nobody as a favourite discovery. I've just re-read it for the second time in a year! So I'm sorry that people reading it for the first time didn't seem to get it.
Posted by: Barbara | 30 November 2010 at 11:10 AM
Barbara I think I most certainly did "get it" for Diary of a Nobody. It was just that I hated it!
Posted by: Dark Puss | 30 November 2010 at 11:33 AM
Diary of a nobody and My Cousin Rachel were my favourites this year so far.
efi.
Posted by: efi | 30 November 2010 at 11:58 AM
Bad luck!
Posted by: Barbara | 30 November 2010 at 12:02 PM
Hand up for Elizabeth Taylor.
Posted by: Claire | 30 November 2010 at 12:30 PM
Travels with Charley because it showed me a different aspect of Steinbeck and encouraged me to read more (when previously I had only read Of Mice and Men - four times to help with GCSE English for my children); Crossing to Safety because I had never heard of Wallace Stegner before and Testament and The Tortoise and the Hare because I had had copies of both for years and the book group pushed me to actually read them! Thank you!
Posted by: LizF | 30 November 2010 at 01:49 PM
I started re-reading her only this morning. Bit late for book group although that's what gave me the push. Definitely hands up from me and A Game of Hide and Seek is my favourite of all her novels.
Posted by: m | 30 November 2010 at 02:15 PM
Travels With Charley, My Cousin Rachel and I Capture the Castle were re-reads for me and I was happy to have a chance to enjoy all three again. Of the ones that I had never read before, I'd have to nominate The Go-Between as my favorite.
Weren't The Diary of A Nobody and Crossing to Safety from last year? I started with CBG with Testament and I think that was the Jan. book.
Posted by: Julie Fredericksen | 30 November 2010 at 11:46 PM
I always look forward to the monthly selection, although I don't always get to read them. Troubles by Farrell is still sitting on my shelf untouched, I confess. Travels with Charley was my favorite because I felt as if Steinbeck was speaking to me as I read it. I also enjoyed I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. The variety of the Book Club books have kept me coming back and reading.
Posted by: Loretta | 30 November 2010 at 11:48 PM
Julie, you are quite correct, "Diary of A Nobody" is December 2009 and "Crossing to Safety" is the November 2009 choice.
Posted by: Dark Puss | 01 December 2010 at 11:38 AM
I didn't read all of them but I very much enjoyed L.P. Hartley: The Go-Between.
Posted by: catharina | 01 December 2010 at 03:02 PM
My favorites were the Go-Between and Testament. I also have Troubles waiting on my bookshelf, unread, ther is something daunting about it that keeps me from starting. And while we haven't yet "read" Housekeeping, it is a much read and much loved book of mine (made into a terrific movie directed by Bill Forsythe.).
Posted by: Susan P. | 02 December 2010 at 12:15 AM
Having read pretty well all of the books so far (and coming as one who has never heard of many of them), I shall list my "enjoyment" ones but want to point out that there are some quite different reasons for my choices:
[1] Wow! Give Me More: Edith Wharton, House of Mirth
[2] Can't Get Enough of Translations: Henri Alain-Fournier, The Lost Estate
[3] One to Pass to My Book-Reading Friends (most of my friends fall into this category so I get a lot of mileage from CBG): Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle
[4] Wild Considerations: John Lancaster, The Debt to Pleasure
Posted by: Barbara MacLeod | 02 December 2010 at 10:29 AM
"I Capture the Castle"--hadn't read it for years and years and it was just as enjoyable. It also led me to read Dodie Smith's "The New Moon and The Old" Which I think is even better--a hilarious modern fairy tale, full of satisfying happy endings.
Posted by: Erika | 03 December 2010 at 02:02 PM
My favourite was My Cousin Rachel. Didn't have time to reread The Go-Between for Cornflower but it is a book I love. I don't so much go for the 1950s-60s marriage-problems-with-scenery books like The Tortoise and the Hare, A Game of Hide and Seek and Crossing to Safety. I usually like books that transport me to another world, preferably with plot.
Thanks for all your hard work in leading the group, plus learned comments from you and Mr Cornflower.
Posted by: Susie Vereker | 04 December 2010 at 10:42 AM
Let me second your final sentence Susie!
Posted by: Dark Puss | 05 December 2010 at 07:22 PM