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?

Top Ten Tuesday: Maybe I should read it!

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme Books I’ve Added to my TBR and Forgotten Why. At first I was thinking I would struggle to find ten but even just a look at only my physical shelves easily gave me that many. We actually had a friend come over for dinner last night, and every time I looked at my bookshelf over his shoulder I saw another book that could qualify for this theme. And that was without looking in my Audible account or at my Kindle!

For me, this also means that a lot of these books are a bit older, or probably closer to the truth - a lot older. This is a new release free zone!

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor - I *think* I got this from another blogger many years ago. Having a look at the blurb it does look like a good read - magic, fantasy, set in Africa. Maybe I should read it.

The Twelve Rooms of the Nile by Enid Shomer - This has been on my shelf since 2012 and is about Florence Nightingale taking a trip down the Nile with Gustav Flaubert. Maybe I should read it!

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez - This one has been on my shelf for more than 10 years. it does sound interesting. Maybe I should read it!

The Seamstress by Maria Duenas - Look at that big chunkster. This book was published with the title The Time in Between in some places and in the blurb compares the book to The Shadow in the Wind which is one of my favourite books. Maybe I should read it!

The Wives of Los Alamos by Tara Shea Nesbit - The blurb for this one looks great. A group of women come together in the town of Los Alamos, a place where there were world changing secrets. Maybe I should read it!

A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Johnson  - I was just chatting to Bree from All the Books I Can Read and I shared this list, and then she said I think I recommended that book! Whoops. Maybe I should read it!

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng - I am sure that several people have recommended this book to me. Maybe I should read it!

Jack Absolute by CC Humphreys - Remember when there were really active forums about authors or shared interests etc. Yeah, me too. I used to help run one that was all about Historical Fiction and there were lots of fabulous members, and I am pretty sure that this author was one of those, or we talked about his books there. Or maybe I heard about it elsewhere. Maybe I should read it!

Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys - This was part of a group of book that was issued with similar covers around 10 years ago. I do wish I had bought more because the covers look so pretty. This one is a series of letters written during WWII about village life in country England. Sounds really good. Maybe I should read it!

The Crimson Rooms by Katherine McMahon - I read this author's book The Rose of Sebastopol (in which Florence Nightingale is a character) years ago, and I thought I loved it but now I read my review maybe I didn't. Either way, having previous read this author is probably why this book in on my shelves but who really knows. When I looked at Goodreads it seems that this is first in a series, although there does only seem to be two books. Maybe I should read it!

Have you read any of these books?