Tiffany Francis-Baker: The Bridleway: How Horses Shaped the British Landscape
Joan Bodger: How the Heather Looks: a joyous journey to the British sources of children's books
Julia Cameron: Living the Artist's Way: An Intuitive Path to Creativity
Beth Kempton: Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life
Karen Corsano & Daniel Williman: John Singer Sargent and His Muse: Painting Love and Loss
Erica E. Hirshler: Sargent’s Daughters: The Biography of a Painting
Lisa St Aubin de Terán: Better Broken Than New: A Fragmented Memoir
Donna M. Lucey: Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas
Caroline Shenton: National Treasures: Saving The Nation's Art in World War II
Ed. Edward Blishen: The Thorny Paradise: Writers on Writing for Children
Victoria Finlay: Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World
Fiona Gell: Spring Tides: Exploring Marine Life on the Isle of Man
Emma Bridgewater: Toast & Marmalade: Stories From the Kitchen Dresser, A Memoir
Richard Mabey: Turning the Boat for Home: A life writing about nature
Nicholas Jubber: The Fairy Tellers: A Journey into the Secret History of Fairy Tales
Juliet Nicolson: The Great Silence: 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War
Cliff Seruntine: Seasons of the Sacred Earth: Following the Old Ways on an Enchanted Homestead
Cathy Rentzenbrink: Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books
Clare Pollard: Fierce Bad Rabbits: The Tales Behind Children's Picture Books
Francesca Wade: Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London between the Wars
Fiona Stafford, ed.: Stories of Trees, Woods, and the Forest (Everyman's Library POCKET CLASSICS)
Burkeman, Oliver: Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It
Nicholas Royle: White Spines: Confessions of a Book Collector
Kathleen Hart: Devorgilla Days: A memoir of hope and healing
Emily Midorikawa: Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voice
Martin Gayford: Spring Cannot be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy
Kevin Telfer: Peter Pan's First XI: The Extraordinary Story of J.M. Barrie's Cricket Team
Patricia & Robert Malcolmson (eds): A Vicar's Wife in Oxford, 1938-1943: The Diary of Madge Martin
Ursula Buchan: A Green and Pleasant Land: How England’s Gardeners Fought the Second World War
John Harris: The Natural Gardener: A Lifetime of Gardening by the Phases of the Moon
Benedict Macdonald & Nicholas Gates: Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden
Alex Preston & Neil Gower: As Kingfishers Catch Fire: Birds & Books
Adrian Tinniswood: The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House Between the Wars
Jennifer Kloester: Georgette Heyer: The Biography of a Bestseller
Julie Summers: Our Uninvited Guests: The Secret Life of Britain's Country Houses 1939-45
Daniel Goleman & Richard Davidson: The Science of Meditation
Artemis Cooper: Elizabeth Jane Howard: A Dangerous Innocence
Peter Fiennes: Footnotes: A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers
Tom Mole: The Secret Life of Books: Why They Are More Than Words
The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories: From Hans Christian Andersen to Angela Carter
Dorothy Dunnett: The Game Of Kings: The Lymond Chronicles Book One
Louise DeSalvo: Art of Slow Writing: Reflections on Time, Craft, & Creativity
Katherine Rundell: Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise
Esther Rutter: This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History
Ursula Buchan: Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan
Will Williams: The Effortless Mind: Meditation for the Modern World
Allan Ahlberg: The Bucket: Memories of an Inattentive Childhood
Kamin Mohammadi: Bella Figura: How to Live, Love and Eat the Italian Way
Esther De Waal: Living on the Border: Reflections on the Experience of Threshold
Kate Humble: Thinking on My Feet: The small joy of putting one foot in front of another
Ryder Carroll: The Bullet Journal Method: Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future
Susan David: Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change and Thrive in Work and Life
Rachael Matthews: The Mindfulness in Knitting: Meditations on Craft and Calm
Drabble et al.: Writers as Readers: A Celebration of Virago Modern Classics
Melissa Harrison, ed.: Spring: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons
Laura Freeman: The Reading Cure: How Books Restored My Appetite
Susan Hill: Jacob's Room is Full of Books: A Year of Reading
Pete Brown: The Apple Orchard: The Story of Our Most English Fruit
Héctor García & Francesc Miralles: Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life
Ken Mogi: The Little Book of Ikigai: The essential Japanese way to finding your purpose in life
John Eliot Gardiner: Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach
Rosamond Richardson: Waiting for the Albino Dunnock: How birds can change your life
Michael Morpurgo: Singing for Mrs Pettigrew: A Storymaker's Journey
Nagisa Tatsumi: The Art of Discarding: How to get rid of clutter and find joy
Henry Marsh: Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery
A S Byatt: Peacock and Vine: Fortuny and Morris in Life and at Work
Roger Lancelyn Green: Tellers of tales: children's books and their authors from 1800-1964
Humphrey Carpenter: Secret Gardens: A Study of the Golden Age of Children's Literature
Linda Lear: Beatrix Potter: The extraordinary life of a Victorian genius
James Rebanks: The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District
Ann Morgan: Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer
Alexander McCall Smith: A Work of Beauty: Alexander McCall Smith's Edinburgh
Vita Sackville-West & Sarah Raven: Vita Sackville-West's Sissinghurst: The Creation of a Garden
Philip Walling: Counting Sheep: A Celebration of the Pastoral Heritage of Britain
Wendy Cope: Life, Love and the Archers: Recollections, Reviews and Other Prose
Matthew Dennison: Behind the Mask: The Life of Vita Sackville-West
Kevin Crossley-Holland: The Hidden Roads: A Memoir of Childhood
Robert Louis Stevenson: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Stewart MacKay: The Angel of Charleston: Grace Higgens, Housekeeper to the Bloomsbury Group
Caroline Zoob: Virginia Woolf's Garden: The Story of the Garden at Monk's House
Carolyne Larrington & Diane Purkiss: Magical Tales: Myth, Legend and Enchantment in Children's Books
Gyles Brandreth: The 7 Secrets of Happiness: An Optimist's Journey
Joan Bodger: How the Heather Looks: A Joyous Journey to the British Sources of Children's Books
Emily Rapp: The Still Point of the Turning World: A Mother's Story
Jon McGregor: This Isn't The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You
Robert Macfarlane: Mountains of the Mind: a History of a Fascination
Alexander McCall Smith: Trains and Lovers: The Heart's Journey
Jean-Claude Ellena: The Diary of a Nose: A Year in the Life of a Parfumeur
Kate Summerscale: Mrs Robinson's Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady
Alexander McCall Smith: The Limpopo Academy Of Private Detection
James Runcie: Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (The Grantchester Mysteries)
Wendy Jones: The Thoughts & Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals
Lyndall Gordon: Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds
Ann Patchett: The Getaway Car: A Practical Memoir About Writing and Life
Oliver Burkeman: Help!: How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done
Molly Peacock: The Paper Garden: Mrs Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72
Robertson Davies: The Cornish Trilogy - Vol. I: The Rebel Angels
David Allen: Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity
Robert Sackville-West: Inheritance: The Story of Knole and the Sackvilles
Edmund de Waal: The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance
Amanda Vickery: Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England
Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre
~ For discussion from Saturday, 25th. April
« Cornflower Blues 2013 - the books of the year, part 1 | Main | Welcome, 2014! »
We've had the books of the year parts one and two, and now to conclude, here are the best of the best in fiction and non-fiction.
Hermione Lee proves the art of literary biography is alive and well in her superb life of Penelope Fitzgerald
Thank you, ladies, for such rich reading.
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
Your Information
(Name and email address are required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)
Patricia Duncker: The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge
Adrienne Martini: Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously
Piers Moore Ede: All Kinds of Magic: A Quest for Meaning in a Material World
Matt McAllester: Bittersweet: Lessons from My Mother's Kitchen
Sue Prichard: Quilts 1700 - 2010: Hidden Histories, Untold Stories
Jane Robinson: Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education
Michael Faulkner: Still on the Sound: A Seasonal Look at Island Life
Michael Faulkner: The Blue Cabin: Living by the Tides on Islandmore
Robyn Scott: Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood
Laurence Sterne: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Susan Hill: Howards End is on the Landing: A year of reading from home
Joyce Dennys: Henrietta's War: News from the Home Front 1939-1942 (Bloomsbury Group)
Alexander McCall Smith: The Lost Art of Gratitude: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel
Mary Ann Shaffer: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Claire Harman: Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World
Alexander McCall Smith: Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
Cathy Rentzenbrink: Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books
Clare Pollard: Fierce Bad Rabbits: The Tales Behind Children's Picture Books
Francesca Wade: Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London between the Wars
Fiona Stafford, ed.: Stories of Trees, Woods, and the Forest (Everyman's Library POCKET CLASSICS)
Burkeman, Oliver: Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It
Nicholas Royle: White Spines: Confessions of a Book Collector
Kathleen Hart: Devorgilla Days: A memoir of hope and healing
Emily Midorikawa: Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voice
Martin Gayford: Spring Cannot be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy
Kevin Telfer: Peter Pan's First XI: The Extraordinary Story of J.M. Barrie's Cricket Team
Patricia & Robert Malcolmson (eds): A Vicar's Wife in Oxford, 1938-1943: The Diary of Madge Martin
Ursula Buchan: A Green and Pleasant Land: How England’s Gardeners Fought the Second World War
John Harris: The Natural Gardener: A Lifetime of Gardening by the Phases of the Moon
Benedict Macdonald & Nicholas Gates: Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden
Susan Hill: Jacob's Room is Full of Books: A Year of Reading
Pete Brown: The Apple Orchard: The Story of Our Most English Fruit
Héctor García & Francesc Miralles: Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life
Ken Mogi: The Little Book of Ikigai: The essential Japanese way to finding your purpose in life
John Eliot Gardiner: Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach
Rosamond Richardson: Waiting for the Albino Dunnock: How birds can change your life
Michael Morpurgo: Singing for Mrs Pettigrew: A Storymaker's Journey
Nagisa Tatsumi: The Art of Discarding: How to get rid of clutter and find joy
Henry Marsh: Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery
A S Byatt: Peacock and Vine: Fortuny and Morris in Life and at Work
Roger Lancelyn Green: Tellers of tales: children's books and their authors from 1800-1964
Have duly added the Lee bio to my wishlist--funny as I just pulled Moon Tiger off my TBR pile in contemplation of reading in the new year! And I must get back to reading Kate Atkinson--I've though this one looked quite intriguing!
Posted by: Danielle | 01 January 2014 at 12:05 AM
I know it hasn't appealed to everyone - the very 'life after life after life ...' conceit doesn't sit well with some readers, but I thought it was terrific.
Posted by: Cornflower | 01 January 2014 at 01:55 PM
I am enjoying the Penelope Fitzgerald biography immensely. Taking it slowly and missing the chapters on the novels I've yet to read. I can return to those.
The conceit of Life After Life didn't work for me although I know I'm in the minority.
Posted by: Claire | 01 January 2014 at 09:19 PM
I thought Hermione Lee dealt with the analysis of the novels and their incorporation in the 'life' superbly, and as you say, Claire, in a way in which you can come back to them easily when you've read or re-read the books themselves.
Posted by: Cornflower | 02 January 2014 at 08:33 AM
Although I love Penelope Fitzgerald's books, I'm not sure that I am literary enough for a literary biography but I was immensely cheered to realise that I have Life After Life on my Kindle app as I had completely forgotten that I had acquired it in the first place!
Scatty, moi?
Posted by: LizF | 02 January 2014 at 10:14 AM
I think you'd find the biography fascinating, Liz.
Posted by: Cornflower | 02 January 2014 at 11:43 AM
I'd second Cornflower LizF, the biography is very accessible.
Posted by: Claire | 02 January 2014 at 11:52 AM
I was on a six hour journey across the Channel when I read Life After Life, and was very glad that I could read it in one sitting as 'life' would have got in the way otherwise!
Posted by: Carole | 03 January 2014 at 02:59 PM
Yes, I think it's a book which needs a concentrated read.
Posted by: Cornflower | 03 January 2014 at 05:32 PM