Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge February Statistics

 

For the last couple of years I have been sharing statistics each month for the Historical challenge, and my plan is to continue to do this again this year. I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! Having visited most of February's posts, I can tell you that there are some very interesting books being reviewed - unusual times and places, translated fiction and more - and I have added several books to my TBR list!

In terms of the books, there were 56 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 22 participants. This is less than for the same month last year but I am sure we will catch up!  There were 56 individual titles reviewed, written by 55 different authors. There were 3 reviewers who reviewed more than 5 books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 6 or just 1.

So which books were reviewed more than once in February? Well, none actually, which I think is a good indicator of the wide variety of historical fiction books there are out in the reading world!

There was one author who was reviewed more than once, and I am very pleased to say that she is an Australian author by the name of Melissa Ashley

Tracey at Carpe Librum reviewed Melissa Ashley's 2019 book The Bee and the Orange Tree which tells the story of Marie Catherine D'Aulnoy and is set in the French courts in the 17th century. You can find her review here.

The book that I read was The Naturalist of Amsterdam which was once again set in the 17th century but this time in Amsterdam and Suriname. My review is here (safe to say I enjoyed it a lot!)

Last week I shared the longlist for the Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction as my Top Ten Tuesday post. 

The only book from the longlist that has been reviewed so far this year is Cuddy by Benjamin Myers, which Helen from She Reads Novel reviewed this month. It sounds like a really good read. 

My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor is also on the longlist, and this was one of the most reviewed books of the 2023 challenge.

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here and you can add your links to the March link post here.

I am linking this post up with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz!

Top Ten Tuesday: Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction longlist

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week''s theme is Weird or Funny Things I’ve Googled Thanks to a Book (Submitted by Astilbe @ Long and Short Reviews). Now I have googled my share of things over the years. This week alone I have googled how long it would take to get from Positano to Naples as you do!

Often when I read historical fiction I find myself googling things, and recently the longlist for the 2024 Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction was announced so I thought I would share the list for this weeks Top Ten Twelve Tuesday post.  You read that right. There are twelve books on the longlist and I am sharing them all because it was too hard to decide which two to leave off.

I do host the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge here. It's not too late to sign up. You can find all the details here

The New Life by Tom Crewe - Set in 1890s London

A Better Place by Stephen Daisley - Two brothers from New Zealand are sent off to fight in WWII

Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein - Set in 1940s Trinidad

Cuddy by Benjamin Myers - Tells the story of St Cuthbert across the centuries from the 7th century to now

 
For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie - A story of two real women from history coming together in Norwich in the 15th century

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor - A Catholic priest who lives in Rome rescues people from the Nazis. This is the one book on the longlist I have read and I really liked it!

Mister Timeless Blyth by Alan Spence - a biographical novel written in the form of poetry and zen. Could be interesting


In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas  - Two interlinked stories set in the same town in Canada. One of the stories is about the Underground Railroad.

Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain - Set in London in the 1950s and 60s.

Music in the Dark by Sally Magnusson - A story about the Highland clearances

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng - 1920s Malaysia featuring W Somerset Maughan as one of the characters.

The Fraud by Zadie Smith - Based on a true life trial from the 1800s and includes figures from history such as Charles Dickens

As I look at all of these I have to say that not all that many of them scream historical fiction to me!!

Have you read any of them?