You’ve seen my yearly Top Five/Top Ten lists, but how about a “best of the best” list?
For those of you who have been following this blog, you’ll know that I’ve been producing a list of my favorite books published for each of the years I’ve been blogging. While I probably should have done this after my 2017 list, so I’d have the top five of the last five years, but I didn’t think of it back then, so I’m going to give you instead my top eight of the last eight years. In any case, I’m hoping this will become a new yearly feature, that is unless you all get sick and tired of it (let me know, okay)!
Anyway, here were the #1 ranked books of the past years from last year’s post, and now including this year’s top novel:
- 2013 – “A Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki
- 2014 – “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman
- 2015 – “A Spool of Blue Thread” by Anne Tyler and
- 2016 – “Flight of Dreams” by Ariel Lawhon
- 2017 – “All the Rivers” by Dorit Rabinyan
- 2018 – “Warlight” by Michael Ondaatje
- 2019 – “The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt” by Andrea Bobotis
- 2020 – “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell
This time, my Honorable Mentions list will only include books from 2020:
#5 – “The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop” by Fannie Flagg.
#4 – “Anxious People” by Fredrik Backman.
#3 – “Miss Benson’s Beetle” by Rachel Joyce.
#2 – “The Arctic Fury” by Greer Macallister.
#1 – “Code Name Hélène” by Ariel Lawhon.
That leaves me with the following, which again, was no easy task to rank. And the winners are:
In 8th place: “A Spool of Blue Thread” by Anne Tyler
In 7th place: “Warlight” by Michael Ondaatje
In 6th place: “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman
In 5th place: “All the Rivers” by Dorit Rabinyan
In 4th place: “The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt” by Andrea Bobotis
In 3rd place: “Flight of Dreams” by Ariel Lawhon
In 2nd place: “A Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki
In 1st place: “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell
Last year I wondered if any book would ever beat out Ozeki’s book for the number 1 spot, and here you have it – Maggie O’Farrell succeeded with this masterpiece of a novel. It was sorely overlooked for the Booker Prize, but won the Women’s Fiction Prize. (It is going to be VERY hard for a book to beat both this and Ozeki for either the second or the top spot for 2021, but… let the games begin!)
There you have it, my best of the best for the years 2013-2020.
The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog 
This is such a cool concept to look back at your favorites! I would have such a hard time. I don’t know if my favorites of this year would be past ones like Hamnet did for you. Hope you have another favorite that outdoes all your previous books in 2021!
https://shesgotbooksonhermind.blogspot.com/
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Thanks… hope springs eternal!
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Just finished “The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt” and wow–what an amazing read.
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Oh I am SO glad you liked it! It, like “Flight of Dreams” are such underrated books, it just pisses me off that no one seems to have heard about either of them.
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Ooh, good idea, now I want to do this for seven years of “Emerald City Gems.”
I just finally read A Tale for the Time Being and enjoyed it a lot. I think I should read Hamnet!
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Glad to be of inspiration. And if you liked A Tale, I think you’ll like Hamnet.
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What a fun spin on the best of list! Hamnet looks like a good one and I love it’s cover.
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Wow! Your best of the best is your 2020 read, that’s amazing given what a crazy year it was.
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Sometimes that happens – a book just becomes a far and away favorite. Mind you, these are only the books I’ve read and reviewed on my blog. I still say that “The English Patient” by Michael Ondaatje is my all time favorite book, but I’ve never had the courage to review it, and I read it before I had a blog.
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Great list! Ranking is like trying to choose your fav child 😩 I have this idea (best five in five years) penciled in my blog calendar for 2022!
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Yes, a very good idea! Why not?
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What a great post!!
Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks!
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