Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Ten Underrated Books I've Read in the Past Year. Here are ten books I read last year that I think deserve more recognition:
The Bard's Daughter by Sarah Woodbury
(review)
A short murder mystery set in medieval Wales, prequel to a longer series of mysteries, of which I've read the first couple.
Five Glass Slippers by various authors
This was an anthology of five novellas by different authors all based on "Cinderella". While I liked some of the stories better than others, overall I enjoyed this collection and the last two stories in it were both really good.
Alice-Miranda at School by Jacqueline Harvey
This book was aimed at fairly young children, but I still found it very enjoyable. It's the sort of book I'd have absolutely loved as an eight- or nine-year-old, and my enjoyment of it was probably partly nostalgia, but I do think it's a good book, too.
Happy and Glorious by Hilary McKay
A collection of entertaining stories about a young Queen, again written for younger readers, but enjoyable for older one too.
The Battle of Castle Nebula by Stephanie Ricker
This is a prequel to one of the stories in Five Glass Slippers, which was my favourite of the anthology, and this book did not disappoint. The sequel, The Star Bell, was also very good.
Escape from Rome by Caroline Lawrence
(review)
The first book in a new series, which is a spin-off of one of my favourite series as a child. Obviously I was going to read it for that reason, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did; I think in many ways it was better than the original books! The second book in the series, The Archers of Isca, is also out and I enjoyed it almost as much.
A Cathedral Courtship by Kate Douglas Wiggin
(review)
A sweet romantic tale set in England in the late 1800's.
Mother Carey's Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggin
A story about four siblings growing up in the early twentieth century. It's rather reminiscent of children's classics like Anne of Green Gables, and definitely deserves to be much better known. I enjoyed this book a lot.
The Story of the Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke
A beautifully written Christmas tale of the "other", forgotten wise man, who is accidentally left behind when his three friends when they go following the star, and has to make his own way to Bethlehem in order to seek the new King. The story didn't entirely go where I was expecting, but it was very good.
Raider's Tide by Maggie Prince
The story of a young girl living in the north of England in the time of Elizabeth I - a time of danger when the people live in fear of marauding Scots come to raid the borderlands, killing, destroying and stealing. A romantic/coming-of-age tale. I'm not sure why I like this as much as I do, but I've read it twice now and enjoyed it a lot both times. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, North Side of the Tree, soon.
Great list. I haven't heard of any of these. I'll have to check them out.
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
DeleteI actually own Five Glass Slippers, but haven't read it yet because I loaned it to a friend and she has yet to return it. I didn't know Kate Douglas Wiggin wrote anything other than Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm -- cool! I'll have to see if the library has the ones you listed.
ReplyDeleteI've read several of her books and enjoyed all of them, some more than others. Most of them are available as free ebooks (which is generally how I read them).
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