It’s finally time for me to share my favourite books of the year with you. It’s always a difficult and enjoyable decision to make! I read 1?? books this year, of which I awarded 10/10 to 22 titles – many more than last year, and indicating some good reading choices; an awful lot of other titles 9 or 9.5. I allowed myself a baker’s dozen of best books again this year with a few runners up plus one special inclusion. But regardless of score – not all of them were 10/10 reads, here are the books that resonated the most with me this year (links to full reviews in titles).
And would you believe it? I started drafting this post the weekend before Christmas, and a book I’ve read since has forced its way onto the list. I’ve kept to my baker’s dozen by making the Best Cover of the Year a separate award – cheeky eh!
Best SF/Spec Fiction – In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
This is my favourite kind of science fiction these days – soec fiction set in the near future. The story of Leigh, a marine biologist specialising in algae starts off in the mid Atlantic where scientists are investing a new vent in the ocean floor, the deepest yet they think, then later goes to work for a secret research institute into scaling the algae up for human consumption on interplanetary missions now they have discovered a faster method of propulsion. The writing is beautiful, the imagery reminded me of Orbital. The story is powerful with much to think about.
Best Actor’s Memoir: Making it so by Patrick Stewart
Stewart’s memoir starts from the humble beginnings in Yorkshire, discovering a love of acting as a teenager, and getting a lucky break with a grant to study at the Bristol Old Vic (alongside Brian Blessed). Lots of bit parts, build up to bigger ones and lots of Shakespeare and classics. Then TV beckoned and pilot for a Star Trek sequel series that no-on expected to get picked up did and ran for years… Throughout it all, Stewart is really honest, humble and a nice man. Runner-up: A Mind of My Own by Kathy Burke.
Nicest author I met this year and their book: Children of Radium by Joe Dunthorne
Combining wit and self-deprecations, Dunthorne’s memoir of exploring his family history, his great-grandfather’s in particular also has plenty of moving moments. Siegfried was a chemist and after inventing a radium toothpaste was working on chemical weapeons as the Nazis rose to power. Dunthorne doesn’t shy away from the dark side either, achieving a rare balance that is totally engaging for the reader.
Best Coming of Age story: Muckle Flugga by Michael Pedersen
Another wonderful cover – with a lighthouse and swirls of colour. Muckle Flugga was the northern most inhabited island in the Shetlands. It’s a coming of age story of the lighthousekeeper’s son, a sensitive sort who misses his mother (presumed dead). When they take on a young man who is a bird watcher artist as a lodger, it upturns everything… Beautifully written, lovely descriptions and a poetic feel, I loved this.
The Annual Bowie or Beatles Award: Bowieland by Peter Carpenter
Peter Carpenter’s Bowieland was a wonderful tour through the locations that feature in Bowie’s life and work. Originally conceived as a way of walking back to fitness, Carpenter sees all the locations as they are now, but manages to catch up with those who were there at the time too.
Most jazzy novel: TonyInterruptor by Nicola Barker
Barker’s latest is typically uncategorisable, taking a serious question about authenticity, into the world of jazz improvisation and then running with it and a cast of fab characters. It’s crazy, very funny, dialogue driven and fab.
Most Deranged Governess: Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Jane Eyre meets American Psycho – need I say more, except you never met as mad a narrator as Governess Winifred Notty.
Best translated crime novel: Red Water by Jurica Pavičić.
Pavičić’s bio says he is ‘known for hjs unorthodox thrillers and crime novels which mix social analysis with deep insights into morally complex situations and human destinies.’, and that’s certainly the case here. A quiet novel spanning 1989 to 2017, told chronologically following the disappearance of a young woman, and the ripple effects through the years of that. Very strong. Runner-up: A Lethal Legacy by Guðrún Guðlaugsdóttir
Darkest picture of a marriage: The Cat by Georges Simenon
I haven’t reviewed this yet, but those who can’t cope with animals being mistreated won’t want to read this one. It’s one of his romans durs, and is the portrait of a long-married couple who are at war with each other. It’s bitter and twisted and darkly bleak. In a new translation by Ros Schwartz.
Best Alt-History concept: Pagans by James Alistair Henry
This thriller stayed with me, because of its concept, set in Britain that is still divided along tribal lines. The Saxon and Celtic police will have to work together to solve a complicated murder. A real page-turner and superb crime novel – I hope he’ll write more
The Best Doomed Romance: The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
A beautiful novel – a western too – about a doomed romance and love on the run. When Irish balladeer Tom first sets eyes on Polly, a mail order bride for the mine captain, you know it can’t end well. I wish there were more atmospheric Western romances like this, for I loved The Heart in Winter.
Best Spy: A Sting in her Tail by Mark Ezra
What do old spies do after they’ve retired? As it begins, seventy-something Felicity Jardine is planning to end it all at the river – when she sees a car baby seat go past – with a baby in it! Her plans change in an instant and she manages somehow to rescue the child and gets involved in a complicated adventure. What a wonderful character Ezra has created, a great narrator, snarky, witty, not suffering fools gladly. The author also wrote me a lovely email after seeing my review which was hugely appreciated. Runner-up: Slough House / Bad Actors by Mick Herron
Best historical thriller: The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
This is the book that elbowed itself in at the last minute. Set in Georgian London, Hannah Cole is a new widow, after her husband was murdered, and trying to make ends meet in her posh confectionary shop on Piccadilly, when she learns that her late husband had come into some money. Everyone will try to the money, from a charismatic con man, to magistrate Henry Fielding (the author did become one!). I can’t say more except that the cons are all multi-layered and brilliantly conceived.
Those are my baker’s dozen. But I’ve added a fourteenth in recognition of a huge talent, cruelly lost a few weeks ago:
Best RIP author and their book I read: A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever by Rob Reiner et al
It was a terrible shock to wake up and find that Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle had been murdered (by their troubled son Nick, it appears). That remarkable run of movies Rob had in the 80s into the 90s began with This is Spinal Tap in 1984, followed by Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men just to name a few of them.
I include his book, co-written with the Tap trio that came out at the same time as the sequel film as a tribute. It is actually hilarious and a wonder that the film ever got made; doubly so if you flip the book over. You get the four of them in character in mockumentary style looking back at their lives.
Best Book Cover Award: Lost in the Garden by Adam Leslie
This cover says it all to me – and this amazing debut novel blends a weird reality with some potent folk horror and zombies, complete with that Wicker Man vibe.
But which of these fourteen books was my ‘BOOK OF THE YEAR’ ?
