This may not have been a fabulous year for me personally, but it was a great reading year. I had very few reading slumps and enjoyed a bumper number of good books. Above all it was the year for non-fiction, so much so that I’ve had to introduce a range of categories to cover all the books I feel obliged to mention. Let us look back fondly.
Best Literary Fiction
Louise Erdrich – The Round House
Siri Hustvedt – The Sorrows of an American
Best Innovative Fiction
J. R. Crook – Sleeping Patterns
Best Historical Fiction
Hilary Mantel – Wolf Hall
Best Debut Novel
Beatrice Hitchman – Petite Mort
Best Quirky Cute Novel You Can Read In An Afternoon
Alexis M. Smith – Glaciers
Best General Fiction
Maggie O’Farrell – Instructions for a Heatwave
Harriet Lane – Alys Always
Amanda Smyth – A Kind of Eden
Best Contemporary Crime
Stella Rimington – The Geneva Trap
T. V. LoCicero –Admission of Guilt
Best Golden Age Crime
Elizabeth Daly – Somewhere in the House
Best Crime That Managed To Be About More Than Crime
Attica Locke – The Cutting Season
Best Poetry Collection
Kaddy Benyon – Milk Fever
Best Creative Non-Fiction. Category: Nature
Kathleen Jamie – Findings
Neil Ansell – Deer Island
Best Creative Non-Fiction. Category: Memoir
Jennie Erdal – Ghosting
James Lasdun – Give Me Everything You Have; On Being Stalked
Kathryn Harrison – The Mother Knot
Best Creative Non-Fiction. Category: Completely Uncategorizable
Maggie Nelson – Bluets (my favorite post of the year)
Stephen Grosz – The Examined Life
Best Non-Fiction That Brought Self-Illumination
Kathryn Schultz – Being Wrong
Susan Cain – Quiet
Special Award for Services to Existentialism
(I will never tire of watching that)