My Favourite Books of 2011

I've read some fantastic books this year. The full list can be found in this post. However, I just thought I'd highlight some of my favourites in a special post. They're in no particular order because these are the cream of the crop - in my eyes there's no picking between them for quality. I found them to be pleasurable reads, though vastly different in content.

Carol by Patricia Highsmith 

This tells the story of Therese and her attraction to a woman she meets in a department store, the Carol of the title. It's a fairly short novel but the prose is wonderfully evocative. You can read my review here.

Girl Reading by Katie Ward

Ward takes seven portraits of women reading as her starting point and weaves seven marvellous little stories out of them. Each individual story is digestible in one gulp but, if you're like me, you'll want to read them all in one go. You can read my review here.

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

After splitting from her husband, Zoe Baxter falls in love with Vanessa. Although she's suffered miscarriages which pushed her marriage to the limit, Zoe and her new partner are keen to use the eggs she has in storage. However, her ex has become involved with a conservative religion group and she needs his permission. A very modern novel, and a heartfelt one too. You can read my review here.

Westwood by Stella Gibbons

Gibbons' work is now being reissued and this book absolutely delighted me. Set against the backdrop of WWII, the novel tells of Margaret Steggles and her connection with a richer family she comes across quite by accident. Funny and well-written. You can read my review here.

Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Adding a sensation novel to my list was, I suppose, a given. This book is gripping and still possessed the ability to scare me out of my wits. Not bad for a book that's around 150 years old! You can read my review here.

Have you read any excellent books this year I should add to my own for next?

Book Review: Girl Reading by Katie Ward

One of the first things you'd notice if you picked this book up in a shop and flicked through it is that it has a distinct lack of speech marks. It could be a bit perturbing but I'd advise you to roll with it for a little while. The disappearance of those markers allows a fluidity of prose without diluting the effect of the words themselves. Actually, I thought the book as a whole was outstanding.

Ward takes seven portraits of women reading as her starting point. In seven chapters she goes inside each of them, delving into the life of the sitter and imagining the story around the portrait. For me, the best part of reading this book was the delightful surprise of, having declared the previous chapter my favourite, discovering it was matched in quality by the next one. The years of the portraits are wide-ranging: 1333, 1668, 1775, 1864, 1916, 2008 and 2060. The differing periods inevitably requires a different tone, a different style. Ward manages this without trouble. At no point was I jolted out of the period I was supposed to be in.

Looking back after I've let the book simmer in my memory for a while, I can probably discern a couple of chapters I liked a tiny bit more than the others. 1668 takes "Woman Reading" by Pieter Janssens Elinga as its starting point. It revolves around a deaf girl, Esther, following her to her position as a maid and the voyeuristic way the idea for the painting is obtained. Part of the reason I found this chapter so attractive were the descriptions of Amsterdam close to the beginning. Very evocative, even though they only take up a short space. Other than that, Esther is wonderfully developed and she is one of the characters who sticks in my mind most.

Another is the bereaved Maria in 1775, stemming from "Portrait of a Lady" by Angelica Kauffman. She has lost her lover, Frances, and Kauffman is finishing the portrait she started while Frances was alive. I think the beauty of this chapter in particular is the interaction between the characters, all drawn impeccably. Even Frances makes her appearance in one form. The conversations between Maria and the artist are exquisite.

I could easily talk about each of the chapters and what I loved about them. It probably comes as no surprise that I'm wholeheartedly recommending this book but just to reiterate - in my opinion, it's excellent. One of my favourite books of the year thus far.

Visit Katie Ward's website for more information about her and Girl Reading.