Happy jubilee weekend to those who are celebrating! I love the Queen and I am certainly celebrating. And what more fitting way for me to celebrate than to pick a book I love for every year of her reign?
Here we go, all 70 of ’em… not necessarily the best book for each year, or even my favourite book, but something I’d recommend. And forgive me if any of the dates are wrong – I’m going by what I have listed in LibraryThing.
1952: The Village by Marghanita Laski
1953: Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
1954: Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns
1955: Mother and Son by Ivy Compton-Burnett
1956: Tea at Four O’Clock by Janet McNeill
1957: A House in the Country by Ruth Adam
1958: Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
1959: Miss Plum and Miss Penny by Dorothy Evelyn Smith
1960: The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
1961: Told in Winter by Jon Godden
1962: Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker
1963: A Day in Summer by J.L. Carr
1964: The Soul of Kindness of Elizabeth Taylor
1965: The Millstone by Margaret Drabble
1966: A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence
1967: At the Jerusalem by Paul Bailey
1968: In Pious Memory by Margery Sharp
1969: A Change for the Better by Susan Hill
1970: The Fantastic by Tzvetan Todorov
1971: Nemesis by Agatha Christie
1972: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
1973: The Norman Conquests by Alan Ayckbourn
1974: Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen by P.G. Wodehouse
1975: Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban
1976: The Doctor’s Wife by Brian Moore
1977: Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
1978: The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
1979: The Path Through the Trees by Christopher Milne
1980: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
1981: Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark
1982: Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido
1983: A Very Great Profession by Nicola Beauman
1984: According to Mark by Penelope Lively
1985: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
1986: Family Skeletons by Henrietta Garnett
1987: Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
1988: The Birds of the Innocent Wood by Deirdre Madden
1989: Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy
1990: Immortality by Milan Kundera
1991: Wise Children by Angela Carter
1992: The Devil’s Candy by Julie Salamon
1993: Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
1994: The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm
1995: Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham
1996: Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
1997: Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
1998: Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
1999: All Quiet on the Orient Express by Magnus Mills
2000: Virginia by Jens Christian Grøndahl
2001: Tepper Isn’t Going Out by Calvin Trillin
2002: Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
2003: Alva & Irva by Edward Carey
2004: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
2005: The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice
2006: A Lifetime Burning by Linda Gillard
2007: Speaking of Love by Angela Young
2008: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
2009: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
2010: The Wrong Place by Brecht Evens
2011: Let Not the Waves of the Sea by Simon Stephenson
2012: The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman
2013: Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
2014: Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
2015: Things that Fall from the Sky by Selja Ahava
2016: Miss Fortune by Lauren Weedman
2017: The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
2018: Packing My Library by Alberto Manguel
2019: All The Lives We Ever Lived by Katharine Smyth
2020: Inferno by Catherine Cho
2021: Ghosted by Jenn Ashworth
Aaand… I’ve only actually read one book published in 2022, I think, and it was too bad to include here. So I’ll leave the final year as a blank – hopefully something wonderful comes along before the end of the year.
Happy Jubilee!
What a fun idea! I wonder if you plan to try to share this with the Queen? I’m sure she’ll have boatloads of gifts, but this is so unique and special.
Wouldn’t that be fun? Maybe I’ll find a royal email address somewhere
What an amazing list!
Thanks Shannon!
This must have been great fun to put together. How appropriate that you chose The Uncommon Reader! — I was just thinking about that book yesterday during our neighbourhood’s street party. There’s a third volume of Bythell’s memoirs due out in November, Remainders of the Day, so if all else fails that’s a 2022 release you’re sure to like!
It was very fun – some hard years; some had lots of contenders. I didn’t know that about Remainders (great title!) – looking forward to it.
Best idea ever. Congratulations!
Thank you!
Thrilled to see
Laski
Adam
Godden
Drabble
Christie
Ayckbourn
Wodehouse
Fitzgerald
Lively
Nicola Beauman
Garnett
Stegner
Cunningham
Trillin
Sedaris
Bennett
Although no
Murdoch or Hadley
Many thanks!
Glad we have so much overlap with books we love! I’m afraid I haven’t much liked the Murdochs I’ve read, and haven’t read any Hadley – will have to rectify that. I used to own a couple, but think they went during a cull.
I think the Queen would like The Nice and The Good — everything is so neatly and satisfyingly tied up at the end. I’m sorry that you haven’t enjoyed Murdoch. Give The Nice and The Good a try! It took me two years to read her latest/last novel, then much later I found out the sad reason that it was unreadable.
I still have a copy of The Millstone by Margaret Drabble, but I’m not sure I have ever read it all the way through. Otherwise, I don’t know any of these books, I’m afraid.
So many books to enjoy!
I love this! Such a great idea. And I love her, too!
Cemented by the wonderful Paddington moment
Aw… I could have given you some excellent books published this year! I already have five 5/5 star reviews of 2022 books. But bravo for this list!
I’ll have to go and see what I’m missing…
I was pleased to see Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen–others too, but that made me smile
One of the funniest titles, let alone the wonderful content :)
I’ve read 23 of these and lovely to see Linda Gillard on there!
Such a good book!
Fantastic list, Simon. What a terrific idea! I love your recommendations so definitely keeping a copy.
Lovely, thanks Antoinette!
Is that Jon Godden, Rumer’s sister? Been meaning to read Two Under the Indian Sun for years.
It is indeed! I’ve also got Two Under the Indian Sun unread.
What a wonderful list. I’ look forward to exploring your suggestions.
Thank you Robin!
This is a lovely selection of books, Simon. You must have had such fun putting it together! I’ve read quite a few of them (Comyns, Fitzgerald, Taylor and the Dorothy Baker, of course) while several others definitely appeal. Something for me to bookmark for future reference!
It was very fun! All the work of putting correct dates in my LibraryThing paid off :D
What a great idea for a post, love it! I’m not sure I’ve read any apart from Bridget Jones but that means it’ll become a reference point!
Thanks Jane! I was so pleased I could find this many books I loved for each year.