Non-fiction
Broadstairs: Heydays and Nowadays, by Nick Evans (2012)
Ireland Under the Tudors, by Richard Bagwell (2014)

Non-genre
The History of Richard Calmady, by “Lucas Malet” [Mary St Leger Kingsley Harrison] (2008)
A House for Mr Biswas, by V.S. Naipaul (2008)
The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens (2013)
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, by Maggie O’Farrell (2014)

SF
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (2007)
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien (2009)
Rogue Queen, by L. Sprague de Camp (2014)

Doctor Who
Beast of Fang Rock, by Andy Frankham-Allan (2016) [Lethbridge-Stewart novel]
Adorable Illusion, by Gary Russell (2019) [Bernice Summerfield novel]
The Waters of Mars, by Phil Ford (2024) [Tenth Doctor, novelisation]

Best
Not gonna make any excuses; The Hobbit is my favorite of all of the above. Not perhaps substantial enough for three epic films though… (Review; get it here)

Honorable mentions
Brave New World is justifiably a classic of science fiction. (Review; get it here)
The Vanishing of Esme Lennox is a brilliant short book about hidden Scottish family history. (Review; get it here)

The one you haven’t heard of
The History of Sir Richard Calmady is a great novel about a privileged man, born with only vestigial legs. Published in 1901, it is frank about sex, disability and religion. An overlooked and neglected classic. (Review; get it here)

The one to avoid
Rogue Queen was hailed as breaking taboos on sexual themes in sf when it was published in 1951, but to today’s ready it is dull and off-target. (Review; get it here)