I thought I’d read quite a few books this year, and a lot of newly-published ones, too, and yet the best-of lists remain full of titles I haven’t got around to, or have never even heard of. So while my wish list takes a battering, here’s my chance to return the favour. I know I ought to wait until the end of the month but something about this time of year just provokes the urge to tot up the balance sheet. It’s been an excellent reading year, as what follows will show.
Alice McDermott – Someone
Jill Dawson – The Tell-Tale Heart
Naomi Wood – Mrs Hemingway
Jane Smiley – Some Luck
Heather O’Neill – The Girl who was Saturday Night
Eleanor Catton – The Luminaries
Curtis Sittenfeld – Sisterland
Best fiction recommendation I gave Mr Litlove
Monique Roffey – Archipelago
Magda Szabo – Iza’s Ballad
Best general fiction
Liane Moriarty – Little Lies
Patricia Ferguson – Aren’t We Sisters
Best historical fiction
Laurie Graham – The Grand Duchess of Nowhere
Elizabeth Fremantle – Queen’s Gambit
Best books that made me laugh
Graeme Simsion – The Rosie Project
Rebecca Harrington – Penelope
Tom Barbash – Stay Up With Me
Best crime fiction
Eva Dolan – Long Way Home
Frances Brody – Death of an Avid Reader
Joanna Rakoff – My Salinger Year
Barbara Taylor – The Last Asylum
Best memoir of any year
Hilary Mantel – Giving Up the Ghost
Best non-fiction about mental health issues
Christine Montross – Falling into the Fire
Richard Benson – The Valley
Margalit Fox – The Riddle of the Labyrinth
What a year for the women! Only two male authors made it onto the list this year. But a formidable year overall. Before Christmas I might mention a few stinkers too, and the books I liked least this year. You have been warned.
