Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Best of historical fiction lists from various venues

'Tis that time of year when "best of" lists are appearing at different bookish sites. Many such lists exist, but most don't divide the books by genre, or if they do, historical fiction isn't one of them.  There are a few I've found, though, that include a category for historical novels.  Am I missing any others?

The 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction went to Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, a worthy choice.  There are a few neat things about this list.  First, the voting is open to everyone with a Goodreads account.  Second, you can see how many votes the winner and nominees received. Third, the end result makes for a nice mixture of literary and genre fiction, for those who categorize books that way. Fourth, for me personally, it's always one of the few prizes (if not the only one) where I've actually read a number of the nominees.

It helps that there are 20 altogether, and I've read five:  in addition to The Underground Railroad, there's Emma Donoghue's The Wonder, Weina Dai Randel's The Moon in the Palace, Kathleen Grissom's Glory Over Everything, and Jennifer S. Brown's Modern Girls.

Next, NPR's Book Concierge, their guide to 2016's great reads, gathers all of the books tagged "historical fiction" in a gallery of covers.  Both adult books and YAs are included.  The Wonder is included here too, along with Rose Tremain's The Gustav Sonata.  There are a few here I've never heard of before and look like potentials for the TBR.

Library Journal 's Best Genre Fiction selections include a Historical Fiction category, with five books chosen.  Among these, the only one I've read is Natashia Deon's Grace, which I agree belongs on a top 5 list.

Addendum: thanks to my Bloglovin feed, I just found one more.  Booktopia, an Australian bookstore, has a six-book shortlist for the best historical fiction reads of the year, as well as the winner, Melissa Ashley's The Birdman's Wife.  And some of the books on their lists for literary and popular fiction are historical, too.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for the links. I will be going to check them all out.

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    1. Hope you found some new ones to add to the TBR.

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  2. I began reading Whitehead's novel this weekend. It's absolutely brilliant in its writing, at least so far. I'm in awe.

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    1. Glad to hear you're reading it. I think it's one that will be read, admired, and discussed for a long time to come.

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