Booking Through Thursday: Highlights

From Booking Through Thursday:

It’s an old question, but a good one . . . What were your favorite books this year?

List as many as you like … fiction, non-fiction, mystery, romance, science-fiction, business, travel, cookbooks … whatever the category. But, really, we’re all dying to know. What books were the highlight of your reading year in 2007?

This has been a peculiar reading year for me. My reading time has been cut down a lot, partly because of my writing, partly because I no longer have a period of enforced leisure while I sit in my van and wait for my daughter to come out of school. (She's on a different schedule now.) So while I can make a list, the field I had to choose from wasn't as broad as I wish it would have been. Still . . .

Favorite historical novel read in 2007: The King's Touch by Jude Morgan. Vivid characterizations, sharp, unfussy, but lovely writing style.

Favorite historical novel read in 2007 that was actually published in 2007: Nefertiti by Michelle Moran. Lively characterizations and a sympathetic heroine. Another favorite: Mozart's Sister by Rita Charbonnier.

Favorite reissued historical novel: The King's Pleasure by Norah Lofts.

Favorite Jean Plaidy novel read in 2007: The Queen's Favorites.

Favorite nonfiction: The Yorkists by Anne Crawford. Also enjoyed Ian Mortimer's The Fears of Henry IV, Nancy Goldstone's Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe, and Andrew Ferguson's Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America.

Favorite Ricardian Novel: Richard Plantagenet by Brenda Clarke. He's the good guy, of course, but at least he's not as insufferably perfect and the other characters as villainous as they might have been, and the writing is exceptionally good.

Favorite adult historical novel I read only because it was a review book and found myself enjoying very much: Courting Trouble by Deanne Gist.

Favorite young adult historical novel I read only because it was a review book and found myself enjoying: Louisiana's Song by Kerry Madden.

Favorite Jane Austen spinoff: More Letters From Pemberley by Jane Dawkins.

Favorite tacky cover: The King's Mistress by Jean Plaidy. (See it here.)

So there you have it! I'm hoping in 2008 that I'll have a longer list from which to choose--but there's still some great stuff here.