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. Last year, I gave you my top eight of the last eight years, so now it is time for my top nine (which means next year we get to the magic number of 10)! I’m happy to say that this has now become a yearly feature (that is unless you all get sick and tired of it. Let me know if it does, please)!
To begin with, I would like to thank Hundreds&Thousands of Books for tagging me in her Best Books of 2021 Tag. Unfortunately, I already posted my “Best of 2021” Books, so I’m tagging her here with this post instead, and thanks for the nomination!
Anyway, here are the #1 ranked books of the past years including this year’s favorite novel (remember, my list only includes novels published (in English) during that calendar year):
- 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
- 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
- 2021 – “A Single Rose” by Muriel Barbery (Trans. Alison Anderson)
Last year, I included an Honorable Mentions list as well, but instead, you can always just take a look at my Top Ten books of 2021, which I published on December 31st. That leaves me with the following, which again, was no easy task to rank.
And the winners are:
In 9th place: “A Spool of Blue Thread” by Anne Tyler
In 8th place: “Warlight” by Michael Ondaatje
In 7th place: “A Single Rose” by Muriel Barbery (Trans. Alison Anderson) – NEW!
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 Maggie O’Farrell succeeded in finally unseating Ozeki with her masterpiece of a novel. Hamnet was sorely overlooked for the Booker Prize, but won the Women’s Fiction Prize, and it is still holding strong.
There you have it, my best of the best for the years 2013-2021.
The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog 
I’m about halfway through Hamnet and oh my goodness, I can see why it’s your favourite of the favourites Davida!!! I very rarely cry at books but I was in tears reading this one in bed last night… absolutely beautiful 📚❤️ X x x
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Really! And by the way, the book I just reviewed here – No Land to Light On – it also made me cry. You should check out my review… just WOW!
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Ooh I’ll definitely check it out, thanks Davida! X x x
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Great idea, although I’m sad for the Ozeki!
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Don’t be… it was beat out by a whisper, and I might change my mind in the future. Right now, the book I reviewed earlier this week – No Land to Light On – looks like it could nudge its way to right behind Ozeki! That is, unless I read something REALLY amazing to beat it this year!
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I seem to be the only person who didn’t think Hamnet was very good!
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No, you are not. My sister didn’t like it at all and she DNF it! You have a right to not like it, and I understand that lots of people were less than impressed.
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Well, I’m certainly with you on Hamnet. I remember enjoying A spool of blue thread’, but not being wowed by it. And the rest? I simply haven’t read them. But then … there are rather a lot of books out there 😉
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Remember, each of them on the list was published during that year of my blogging, so while I’m not sure if A Spool would get onto an all-time favorite list, it was the best book I read that year that was published that year…
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Fair point!
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Also notice… it is in 9th place.
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I think last year, I vowed to do a post like this this year! Thanks for the inspiration and for reminding me! And yes to Hamnet! Brilliant, emotional, and memorable!
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If the book I just reviewed doesn’t get bested before the end of the year, it might take a very high place on next year’s list – I’m thinking 3rd or 4th already!
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