Five Best Reads of 2013

I read 60 novels from 15 countries  in 2013, with the most being by British authors (31), followed by USA (8). This compares to 69 novels from 36 countries in 2012.

One of my 2013 Reading Resolutions was to be more focused, to complete trilogies or series, and to explore more deeply (if less widely). I didn't actually do much exploring, but I did read more than one novel by several authors, and I read 15 non-fiction books that weren't work-related.

Although I got increasingly frustrated by a five star rating system - too little nuance - I was pleased to have given the full five stars to ten novels (exactly the same as in 2012).

I gave four stars to 29 books, so I rated over half my reads as above average... 

Based on the the criteria of good writing, strong characterisation, memorable insights and straightforward enjoyment, my Top Five Reads of 2013 were, in alphabetical order of author:

Pierced, by Thomas Enger

Montecore, by Jonas Hassan Khemiri 

Sweet Tooth, by Ian McEwan

The Last Hundred Days, by Patrick McGuinness

Norwegian by Night, by Derek B Miller

Last year, my best read was A Death in the Family, by Karl Ove Knausgaard, and if I had read the last 50 or so pages before December 31, I think there is a good chance A Man in Love would have topped my list, for the same reasons - the sheer power of the writing and the relentless, if destructive, honesty of delivery. 

This year, I will go for Norwegian by Night, just pipping Sweet Tooth, but none gave me more pleassure than Roger Hermiston's quite brilliant biography of the spy George Blake, The Greatest Traitor. The account of Blake's jail break was worthy of Le Carre at his best.

Comments

[Eileen Wise]

I agree - the biography of Blake is brilliant and reads more like a novel than a biography - a real page-turner...