Cornflower Blues 2013 - the books of the year, part 1

   

    Decisions, decisions.

    Separating the cream of this year's reading from 'the top of the milk' is a tough job, and inevitably there are at least a handful more books I could add to the list, there's so little to choose between them, but I have chosen and I give you the 'Cornflower Blues', my books of the year:

 

    Best biographies:

Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life by Hermione Lee

C. S. Lewis: A Life - Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet, The Story of the Man who Created Narnia by Alister McGrath

 

    Best 'old' novels:

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

The Heir by Vita Sackville-West

The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate

Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

 

    Best first novels:

The Night Rainbow by Claire King

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley

Meeting the English by Kate Clanchy

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

 

    Best non-fiction:

The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase by Mark Forsyth

Magical Tales: Myth, Legend and Enchantment in Children's Books edited by Carolyne Larrington & Diane Purkiss

 

    Best new novels:

Motherland by William Nicholson

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

The Promise by Ann Weisgarber

Last Friends by Jane Gardam

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

 

    Still to come, the best of the best.