Book of the year, 2025

I was nervous for a while, but a high read rate in December kept me exactly on target on reading book numbers, despite a lot of very long (and many cases very good) books. Goodreads stats tell me that though I'm almost exactly the same on number of books as last year, it's seven thousand more pages read. An exceptionally high rate of hard non-fiction topics too, with 41 (34%) history, politics or theology, only bettered in 2005 and 2010. I am thinking of reading more literary criticism next year and this will blow the segmentation.

Books of the month were less clear with a 4-5-3 split between fiction - hard - soft non fiction, though there are some outstanding novels lurking under some of the BOTMs. August was an outstanding month. I am slightly worried about whether monthly is the right way to assess it. I gave 15 five star ratings and these split 4-6-5. Either way, the big undercurrent here is the dominance of America. I wanted to read a lot in response to Trump, and I have: 17 novels (of 60), 11 historical works (of 27), 5 cultural books (of 19) were on America. The first of those is typical, the latter two very much not. For history, that's 40% of all books on US history I have ever read (previous annual record: 2) And almost all those history books were huge. 

Of all the non-fiction, it is therefore inevitable that my favourites would be American. There is a lot to be said for Nicolson's diaries and for Bayes, but this was a year dominated by Lyndon Johnson for me. I loved Caro (apart from the second one), and the best of them all was Master of the Senate. It's beautifully written, and acute on the way that people get things done in small forums. I do think it's hard to read unless you have read the earlier work though and its really really long. Sorry.

Novels were mixed this year and many of the best ones don't appear on BOTM lists. In particular, I also loved Half of a yellow sun and Flaubert's parrot (see above). They just lost out to non-fiction in July and August. The two best novels of all though were books of the month. I loved Rundell's follow up to Impossible Creatures and I think she is an exemplary and enchanting children's author. However, I thought Tan Twan Eng's House of Doors was superb. Evocative of both the people, place and time he was writing about. A jewel.

Jan: B. Wilson, The secret of cooking (2023)
Feb: H. Nicholson, Diaries and letters (2004)
Mar: R. Caro, The path to power (1982)
Apr: R. Caro, Master of the senate (2002)
May: A. Patchett, Those precious days (2021)
Jun: P. Morris, Black Butterflies (2022)
Jul: T. Chivers, Everything Is Predictable: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World (2023)
Aug: Tan Twan Eng, The house of doors (2023)
Sep: Guha, India after Gandhi (2017)
Oct: K. Rundell, The poisoned king (2025)
Nov: A. Aswany, The Yacoubian building (2002)
Dec: S. Charles, The Medieval Scriptorium (2024)

List of books rated 5*

Jan (2), B. Wilson, The secret of cooking (2023), G. Ehrlich, The Solace of Open Spaces (1986)

Feb: J. Dench, Shakespeare (2024), E. Morris, Colonel Roosevelt (2010), H. Nicholson, Diaries and letters (2004)

Mar: R. Caro, The path to power (1982)

Apr: R. Caro, Master of the senate (2002), R. Caro, The passage of power (2012)

May: A. Patchett, Those precious days (2021)

Jun: - 

Jul: T. Chivers, Everything Is Predictable: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World (2023), C. Adiche, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006)

Aug: H. Chang, Bad Samaritans (2007), J. Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot (1984), Tan Twan Eng, The house of doors (2023)

Sept: - 

Oct: K. Rundell, The poisoned king (2025)

Nov: - 

Dec: - 

Bibliography, 2024

I read 122 books in 2024, exactly the same as 2023. A second consecutive year of being back over ten books a month since the children were born. Last year, six graphic novels got me over the line; this year it was eleven children's books, most - but not all - of which the children read first.

Similar ratios: lots of fiction (though only 55 for grown ups) and cultural output still down on long run averages. Maybe I've read most of the great memoirs. A 7:5 split to fiction in Books of the Month towards fiction, and history edging out culture (though East West Street is actually both). Note also the ghastly modernity of the results. For the first time, no BOTM novels were written before I was born (of the 28 published before 1980 read this year - Baldwin's Giovanni's Room best, but edged by Morris in June).

One of the children's books made BOTM, pretty much exactly in line with overall reading volumes, but it was an outstanding book. I read Impossible Creatures first of all my novels this year, and it was my favourite of the whole year. I think it's a marvel. It helps that she's clearly read everything I've read, and then stuffs lots of it, joyously, into a single work. I also think she does it with just the right amount of whimsy. Anna tells me that she gets the Welsh wrong, but I'm pretending I don't know that. Read it, and make your children read it. Were I to choose an adult novel, I'd choose Patchett.

Choosing non-fiction is a straight duel between Teddy Roosevelt and the medieval church. It is possible that the appeal of Morris and Heather's books may be reduced if you have less affection for the subjects than I do, but they are both important, and brilliantly done. I think achievement of Christendom is the greater, given the complexity of the material. It was my favourite of all. I think it's right, but even if you don't agree with it, it's a masterful grand narrative of a central narrative of Christianity and the many streams that gave us the medieval catholic church.

Jan: K. Rundell, Impossible Creatures (2023)

Feb: R. McCrum, Wodehouse: a life (2004)
Mar: M. Conde, Crossing the Mangrove (1989)
Apr: P. Sands, East West Street (2016)
May: P. Fitzgerald, At Freddie's (1982)
Jun: E. Morris, The rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979)
Jul: M. Lee, Eight lives of a century-old trickster (2023)
Aug: M. Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000)
Sep: S. Harvey, Orbital (2023)
Oct: Leaman & Jones, Hitting against the spin (2021)
Nov: P.  Heather, Christendom (2022)
Dec: A. Patchett, The Dutch House (2019)

Bibliography, 2023

A triumph! For the first time since the children, I read over ten books a month. Six of them were graphic novels (comics), so it's not quite the unambiguous result I was hoping for, but I will take it.

The breakdown is atypical. Lots of fiction (70 books) and lots of 'hard' non-fiction. History alone was 28 books. But much less cultural output than usual (only 19). It's a split comparable to my nadir-year of 2017, though the volumes were almost twice that. Books of the Month were even more extreme. Seven were non-fiction, all history, with only five fiction. Interestingly, though 80% of my fiction reading was of white authors - as usual - three of those five were by black writers.

Two of those vied for my favourite fiction of the year. I thought Segu was a marvellous book, but I think A grain of wheat is a great one. It brings real immediacy to a time that is unfamiliar, but is nuanced and thoughtful around it. It's striking to me how good the plot is too. This is not a cipher for a story of colonialism, this is a great story.

Non-fiction was much much harder. Several of these were outstanding. Townsend was brilliantly illuminating; Hoschchild ruthlessly compelling. I almost gave BOTY to Shapiro's masterpiece about Shakespeare, and I do think it is a masterpiece. The concept alone is worth a lot. It's an original and effective way into well known texts, and really sets up a much richer and real engagement with them. I loved it. I would recommend it to anyone who has even a passing interest in the topic. I would not recommend Peter Wilson's book on the Holy Roman Empire on the same basis. It is much denser and more technical, and requires a decent working knowledge of a lot of German history. But I loved it, and it is brilliant, and bold, and has transformed how I think about the Empire. I suspect I will come back again and again to it.

Jan: P. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire (2016)
Feb: M. Ormrod, Edward III (1990)
Mar: Ngugi wa Thiong'o, A grain of wheat (1967)
Apr: A. Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost (1998)
May: O. Butler, Kindred (1979)
Jun: C. Townsend, Fifth sun (2019)
Jul: C. Powers, In the memory of the forest (1997)
Aug: J. Shapiro, 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare (2005)
Sep: S. Alexievich, Second hand time (2013)
Oct: P. Lynch, Prophet Song (2023)
Nov: M. Mazower, The Greek revolution (2021)
Dec: M. Conde, Segu (1984)

Bibliography, 2022

Within touching distance of my target of ten books a month, I finished on 118, with three in progress. Next year, next year... 

Curiously, it was exactly 50% fiction, though with non-fiction more weighted to cultural than historical reading, with a lot of memoir this year. BOTMs were almost the same, with five non-fiction (all from the first five months of the year) and seven fiction (from the remainder of the year). This did not in any way reflect the actual reading volumes.

The fiction is straightforward this year. I read Old Filth on Anna's recommendation and I am so glad I did. The sequels are nowhere near as good, but this is an exceptional, and exceptionally precisely written, book. It deserves to be much more well known than it is. 

Usually, non-fiction is harder to call, and there are several non-fiction works that deserve talking about, including ones that weren't books of the month. However, they are all easily overtopped by The Power Broker. It's reputation preceeds it, and it can't really be better known amongst its target audience, but the consensus is correct. 

Jan: P. Short, Mitterand: a study in ambiguity (2013)
Feb: F. Dunlop, Sharks fin soup and sichuan pepper (2009)
Mar: B. Lenon, Much promise: successful schools in England (2017)
Apr: R. Caro, The power broker (1974)
May: S. Ritchie, Science Fictions: the epidemic of fraud, bias, negligence and hype (2020)
Jun: J. Lahiri, The namesake (2003)
Jul: C. Isherwood, A single man (1964)
Aug: J. Gardam, Old Filth (2004)
Sep: D. Simmons, Hyperion (1989)
Oct: M. Renault, Fire from Heaven (1969)
Nov: K. Miller, Augustown (2016)
Dec: C. Brenchley, Dust up at the crater school (2021)

Bibliography, 2021

Tantalisingly close to the pre-baby benchmark of ten books a month, in the end I fell short by five. If I'm honest, I would have been a hollow victory, bulked up with a lot of science fiction and fantasy (28 books, more than any year since 2002). Much of that was excellent, and I am very glad I did a strong run through of golden age Sci-Fi too. It is, however, a) easier to read and b) doing nothing for my aim to hold down my white men percentage in fiction. 

Fiction in general was high. I actually read a little less non-fiction than last year, and it should also be noted that I read nine books by or about the Mitfords, which is probably too many. For the first time in a while, BOTMs were roughly in line with reading rates. Fiction about half my BOTMs (four of which were science fiction). History and cultural books three each.

Choosing a favourite novel was only slightly difficult. I do love Foundation and Dune, and Shipstead I thought was robbed of the Booker, but this was a straight choice between Achebe and a loving Martian pastiche of the Chalet School. I loved the latter, but Anthills of the Savannah was outstanding. I wish people talked about this more than Things fall apart.

Again this year, non-fiction was overwhelmingly harder. Three outstanding books in Didion, Trevor Roper and Alexievich. They are all massively famous which makes it embarrassing that I'd read none of them before. Of all of them Alexievich is the one that everyone should read. It's immediacy and remorseless illumination of a completely invisible part of World War Two is essential reading. But, for me, and for any historian I suspect, Trevor Roper's analysis of the end of that war is just an exemplary piece of writing and the historical method. I don't think schoolchildren should study the War, but if they are going to, I find it baffling that they aren't forced to read this.

Jan: The Mitford sisters (ed. C. Mosley), Letters between six sisters (2007)
Feb: C. Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah (1987)
Mar: H.R. Trevor Roper, The last days of Hitler (1947)
Apr: R. Heinlein, Double Star (1956)
May: S. Sturluson, The prose edda
Jun: S. Alexievich, The unwomanly face of war (1985)
Jul: L. Sprague de Camp, Literary swordsmen and sorcerers (1976)
Aug: J. Didion, The year of magical thinking (2005)
Sep: I. Asimov, Foundation (1951)*
Oct: M. Shipstead, Great circle (2021)*
Nov: F. Herbert, Dune (1965)*
Dec: C. Brenchley, Three twins at the Crater School (2021)

Bibliography, 2020

At one point this year, it looked like lockdown was going to deliver a post-baby record level of reading, but Autumn put paid to that, and the last few months have been mediocre, so I finished one behind. Still, I have kept myself at the relatively high level of post-doctoral reading. And a strong mix of reading too; I haven't read this much 'hard' non fiction (History, Philosophy, Politics) since 2010. And I'm glad I did that. Fiction was weak, accounting for only three of my BOTMs; it did mark the first time I read more women than men, though I don't think the two are related. Six other BOTMs were cultural, and three 'hard' non-fiction (all history).

This makes fiction pretty straightforward. I briefly wondered if there was an excellent piece of fiction sitting in other months, but there wasn't. The best two novels I read were both Mantel, and the best one remains Wolf Hall. I don't think it needs any more analysis from me, save that I liked it even more this time than I did first time round. I'd also note that a decade on we sort of take it for granted, and we shouldn't.

Non-fiction was overwhelmingly harder. I could make a case for at least three of these, but with mentions for Pope-Hennessy and Cohn, Meetings with remarkable manuscripts is an absolutely gem of a book. It's stylistically interesting, taking a complex and highly inaccessible subject and making it informal was a stroke of genius. But it's also robust, illuminating (pun intended) and important. I've never really been interested in manuscripts (or physical editions of books at all), but this made me look at the whole thing afresh. And I read it on kindle, when you can't even see the lovely pictures.

Jan: T. Salih, Season of migration to the north (1966)
Feb: J. Child, My life in France (2006)
Mar: P. Paphides, Broken Greek (2020) 
Apr: C. De Hamel, Meetings with remarkable manuscripts (2016)
May: V. Moore, How to Drink (2010)* 
Jun: J. Pope-Hennessy, The Quest for Queen Mary (2018)
Jul: H. Mantel, Wolf Hall (2009)*
Aug: L. Lee, A Rose in Winter (1955) 
Sep:  J. Gillingham, The Wars of the Roses (1981) 
Oct: M. Mengiste, The Shadow King (2020) 
Nov: C. Stevens, Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams (2010)
Dec: N. Cohn, Awopbopaloobop Awopbamboom (1969)

Bibliography, 2019

Disappointingly, despite a very strong first eight months (averaging just shy of ten books a month), the back third let me down (seven book average) and I ended the year on slightly less reading than last year. And a lot more fiction, which accounted for over half of the reading, though I had pretty poor returns in terms of quality. BOTMs were not reflective of this reading at all. Five were fiction (from 56 fiction books read); six were cultural (from 26) and one lone historical work (from 15).

For this and other reasons, this makes fiction in particular hard to discuss. I found all the fiction listed below worthwhile, and I'd add recommendations for a string of Science fiction and fantasy  Susan Copper's Dark is Rising series, Jemisin's science fiction trilogy, and Addison's The Goblin Emperor also good. So, for the second year running, the monthly system has let me down. Jemisin's opener, The fifth season, was exceptional. Imaginative, different, and fully fleshed out, it took a great premise and executed brilliantly. They are garlanded with multiple awards for a reason.

Also like last year, fiction and non-fiction were from the same month as the non-fiction winner. Here, I had an embarrassment of riches. I would heartily recommend all my non-fiction BOTMs. In fact, I've already bought them for people. But Bob Stanley's Yeah Yeah Yeah was never in doubt. Its scope and range are vast; yet for such a long book it retains a lightness of writing without sacrificing its seriousness. It's a masterpiece.

Finally, as a coda. It's now 2020. So for the decade past:

• This year's non-fiction may be a masterpiece, but it, and others, lose to Eminent Victorians (from 2012). It is fine-tuned for my interests, though I defy anyone not be enthralled by it. 
• For fiction, Gilead (from 2015) is the best book about Calvinism I've ever read. It may be the best novel I have ever read. 

Books of the Month:
January: B.Stanley, Yeah yeah yeah (2013)
February: A. Kurkov, Death and the penguin  (1996)
March: D. Levy, The cost of living (2018)
April: P.G.Wodehouse, Mike and Psmith  (1908)
May: J. Jeffs, Sherry (6th ed) (2016)
June: Y.N. Harari, Sapiens (2011)
July: W. Goldman, Adventures in the screen trade (1983)
August: A.A. Gill, Pour me (2015)
September; A. Maalouf, The rock of Tanios (1993)
October: B. Wilson, The way we eat now (2019)
November: D. Lessing, The grass is singing (1950)
December: W. Self, Umbrella (2012)

Bibliography, 2018

Back over 100 books in the year for the first time since the children; I am very proud of myself. My ratios aren't quite as healthy: I meant to read lots of 'hard' non-fiction, i.e., history, politics and theology, but that's down in percentage terms, if up in volume. Fiction is down too as I've read a awful lot of what I call cultural output*, mostly about cricket. This comes across in the BOTMs, with only four fiction, and five of the eight non-fiction were cultural (though only one was about cricket).

I had a plethora of riches in non-fiction, but politics and political history dominate. All out War was fantastic - a masterful pulling together of the Brexit campaign which continues to help make sense of what is happening now. However, Team of Rivals was absolutely exceptional. The contours of the story are well known, but the detail was riveting, and the context hugely enhanced my understanding of the American Civil War and of America in general. It has claims (from others) to wider relevance, but for me stands as a brilliant piece of political history.

In fiction, for the first time, none of the books of the month were book of the year. I do love The Leopard, which is the best thing on the list here, but I have read it before, and so Milkman was the novel I am most glad I read this year. By coincidence it was from the same month as Goodwin so it doesn't appear below. In general fiction has been a real vindication of the Booker prize. I read two shortlists this year, and the three of the four best novels I read came from them.

Books of the Month:
January: S. Middleton, The Daysman (1984)
February: T. Shipman, All out war (2016)
March: D. Sandbrook, Never had it so Good: 1956-63 (2005)
April: G. Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard (1958)*
May: L. Booth (ed.), Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2013)
June: P. Mathiessen, The tree where man was born (1972)
July: W. Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs (1964)*
August: A. Hartley, The Zanzibar chest (2003)
October: D.K. Goodwin, Team of Rivals (2005). 
September: R. Powers, The Overstory (2018)
November: J. Morris, Trieste and the meaning of nowhere (2001)
December: J. Lahiri, The Lowland (2013)

*This year, Sport (20), Travel (11), Memoir and contemporary history (9), Food (4), Literature (3)

Bibliography, 2017

I come across this summary of a year's reading, which is in a far better format than this, but it's too late now. Regardless of format, it's been my worst year for reading since records began (67 books),  but a year of non-fiction triumphs. Fiction still accounted for the majority of my reading, but at the lowest level since the children. Books of the Month were evenly split, but the quality differential was high. As a result, I'm resolved to read much more non-fiction next year, especially history and economics.

So strong was the non-fiction field that I struggled to make a choice. At least three were pretty much everything you could want of their genre. Lost in Translation is amongst the best memoirs I have ever read, and Bowling Alone made me take (some) sociology seriously. However Piketty was brilliant, insightful and loaded with data. It wasn't the book I expected at all, though some conclusions were in line with some of my existing thinking. It has shaped and refined how I think about a range of issues and shows brilliantly the importance and possibilities of historical analysis. It is deservedly lauded, even if some of the conclusions both in the book and especially outside are dubious.

After all that, fiction was easy. The best thing I read was Mahfouz's Palace Walk. The first of his Cairo trilogy, and the best, is captivating. I've been meaning to read them for ages, and I wish I'd done so earlier. 

Here's the list by month:

January: U.K. Le Guin, Rokannon's World (1966)
February: N. Mahfouz, Palace Walk (1956)
March: U.K. Le Guin, A wizard of Earthsea (1968)
April:N. Mandela, Long walk to freedom (1994)
May:R. Adams, Watership Down (1972)*
June: R.D. Putnam, Bowling alone (2000)
July: M.F.K. Fisher, The Gastronomical me (1943)
August: A. Bennett, These Twain (1918)
September: T. Piketty, Capital in the 21st century (2013)
October: J. Morris, Spain (1964. Revised 1979)
November: R. Irwin, The Alhambra (2004)
December: E. Hoffman, Lost in Translation (1989)

Bibliography, 2016

A reminder:

Jan: G. Maxwell, The ring of bright water (1960)

Feb: H. Trevor-Roper, The hermit of Peking (1976)
Mar: R. George, The Big Necessity (2008)
Apr: R. Graves, Goodbye to all that (1929)
May: T. Capote, In cold blood  (1966)
Jun: E. David, An omelette and a glass of wine (1984)
Jul: P.K. Dick, Flow my tears the policeman said  (1974)
Aug: P. Frankopan, The Silk Roads (2015)
Sept: E.L. Carr, A month in the country (1980)
Oct: P. Beatty, The Sellout (2016)
Nov: H. Jeffreys, Empire of Booze  (2016)
Dec: J. Rayner, The Ten (food) commandments (2016) 

It's been a terrible year. I've read 75 books, ten below my previous low. Two thirds were fiction, and half of that was SF/Fantasy - some of which were outstanding, but too much was comfort reading. I blame the doctorate.

Fiction has taken the brunt of this and, despite the weight of reading, mustered only three BOTMs,m one of which was pretty much by default. I read a lot better works of fiction than Flow my tears... this year, just nothing in July. So sparse are the fiction pickings that, for the first time, I feared my monthly ranking is inadequate to the task. I briefly wondered if the best novel I read this year was Kathryn Stockard's The Help, which lost to Maxwell in January. However, that isn't the case. And although comparisons between the two options I have here are invidious - it is hard to line up a novella about English villages and churches with a freewheeling satire on US race relations in LA - I would plump for Carr on England, above other contenders. It's a gem.

Non-fiction should be harder. The list above is packed with quality, and is probably one of the most consistent of any year, both the famous and the obscure. I'd give honourable mentions and strong recommendations about Maxwell, Trevor-Roper, Capote and Jeffreys, but my favourite was Graves. It was probably always going to be.

Bibliography, 2015

As ever, my list. I've put dates on because I think it's the kind of minor detail everyone is crying out for. A very good showing for recent books this time:

January - M. Cunningham, The hours (1999)
February - J. Wood, The Fun Stuff (2013)
March - P. Barker, The Ghost Road (1995)
April - P. Lively, Moon tiger (1987)
May - M. Robinson, Gilead (2004)
June - M. Pollan, Cooked (2014)
July - F.M. Ford, No More Parades (1925)
August - J.B. Priestley, English Journey (1934)
September - Cao Xuequin, Story of the Stone: the golden days (C18)
October - M. James, A Brief History of Seven Killings (2015)
November - H. Yanagihara, A Little Life (2015)

December - E. de Waal, The white road (2015)

Overall levels are slightly up on 2014 despite a very poor end and I read more books this year than any year since I've had a baby. However, it was absolutely dominated by fiction (75% of all reading; two thirds of BOTMs), a level not seen since 2012 - last time I had a small baby. Quality however, was much better and the months Feb to August outstanding.

A lot of the fiction was genuinely brilliant. However, my favourite by some distance was Gilead which I've bought for several priests and was beautifully done, and indeed beautiful. It's her masterpiece. It clearly gains from my religion - next time someone lets me preach I shall be using this wonderful passage about existence - but I can't imagine it loses much for the godless. Honourable mention for A little life and especially Moon tiger.

Non-fiction is smaller, but well contested. Essentially it's a three way showdown between Priestley, Polland and Wood. Wood wins from Pollan, though it's the latter who has caused me to bake bread, there were a few hippie infelicities in it. I can't remember any from Wood. It may be that I don't read enough literary analysis, but almost all of his collected essays were illuminating and insightful; some were revelatory.All were elegant. Most importantly, he also seems to have similar dislikes to me.

Bibliography, 2014

So, here's what I said:

Jan - J. Crace, Harvest

Feb - L. Hughes-Hallet, The Pike

March - N. MacGregor, A history of the world in 100 objects

April - D. Hendy, Life on Air

May - P.L. Fermor, Between the woods and the water*

June - B. Wilson, Consider the fork

July - A. Solomon, Far from the tree

August - M. Kundera, Life is Elsewhere

September - D. Brown, Bury my heart at wounded knee*

October - E. Waugh, Men at Arms*

November - R. Flanagan, The narrow road to the deep north

December - S.S. Tepper, The gate to Women's country

To be honest, it's been the worst reading year of my adult life. The monthly average is down to seven, and it's propped up with some, shall we say, lighter efforts. Fiction dominated, though actually less than the last two years (61%). Also worth noting was the strengths of the rereads. Three BOTMs were rereads, and I could easily have had a fourth in December. Anyway:

I read a lot of novels, but the list is majority (7:5) non-fiction. This should make fiction easier to award, and it's really a Booker duel. Harvest, which should have won 2013's prize, was better than the actual winner of the 2014 edition. For me, it remains as astounding evocation of the medieval rural world. A fitting swansong for Jim Crace. Idiot Booker judges.

Non-fiction is a lot harder. Almost all of the monthly non-fiction were astounding. I even cried at some of them (actually two of them, and one was about Radio 4), and choosing one of them is very hard. In the end though, it came down to another duel of two great enterprises, both asking us to re-imagine how we think about America (Bury my heart at Wounded Knee) or children (Far from the tree). Both were transformatively brilliant. Solomon edges it by being a) about children when I had a pregnant wife and b)being read for the first time.

Bibliography, 2013

For handy reference, here were my books of the month:

January - D. Athill, Instead of a letter
February - M. Atwood, The Blind Assassin
March - G. Orwell, Burmese Days
April - J. Crace, The Devil's Larder
May - M. Gellhorn, The Weather in Africa
June - R. Young, Electric Eden
July - G. Orwell, Coming up for air
August - J. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom
September - A. Patchett, Run
October - A. Munro, Runaway
November - A. Sisman, Hugh Trevor - Roper
December - W. Dalrymple, Nine Lives

First, the numbers. Only a very slight improvement on last year's volumes. 90 books overall, against 85 in 2012. Both well down on the long term average (125), though I think we know who to blame for that. Next, the ratios: seven fiction BOTMs, and only one history. That's broadly reflective of the overall numbers, exactly two thirds of the reading was fiction and I only read five history books this year. That's obscene; and it's changing from now.

Despite all these novels, there was no real contest over fiction book of the year. Atwood's Booker prize winner was outstanding. Certainly the best I've ever read of hers. Suspenseful, clever, and enchanting. It makes me want to go back to some of her works I've rejected in the past. Even the ones about Women.

Non-fiction was harder, but came down to two: McPherson and Sisman. They were both monumental works, though of varying subjects. Even here though, while part of me would love to say the biography of don was better than the one of a war, it is impossible. Battle Cry of Freedom was magisterial. Though long, it rattled by, brilliantly anatomising the Civil War and especially the long term causes. I'd recommend it for reading to anyone save for two things. Firstly, anyone who is interested has probably read it, I'm not the first to point to its brilliance. Secondly, it may make Marxist determinists of young historians reading it. Consider how good it must be to trump that caveat.

Bibliography, 2012

End of the year time. Here were my books of the month:

January - A. Burgess, Earthly Powers* 
February - J. Le Carre, The honourable schoolboy
March - D.L. Sayers, Gaudy night 
April - M. Lewis, Moneyball 
May - Duflo & Bannerjee, Poor economics 
June - T.Penn, Winter King 
July - P.G. Wodehouse, Uncle Fred in the Springtime
August - P. Krugman, End this depression Now
September - C. McCullers, The Heart is a lonely hunter
October - L. Strachey, Eminent Victorians 
November - P.G. Wodehouse, Service with a smile
December - A. Spiegelman, Maus

It almost doesn't need saying that this has been a terrible year for reading. In the previous seven years, I've chalked up an average of 127 books; this year it was 85, and while I don't have a lightweight percentage to hand, it would be higher than ever before. There's certainly more fiction - 64/85 or 75% - though this hasn't really shown up in the BOTMs, which fell 50:50. One minor upside, it did make Books of the Year easier to pick. Too many months had only good rather than great books as their best.

In fact, if you'd shown me the list in advance I could probably have guessed fiction this time last year. I loved Earthy Powers eight years ago, and I loved it again this time. Like other monumental works, it repays rereading as while the shape remains constant, one's engagement with the characters and the issues changes over time - Carlo seems much more fragile, and more flawed than he did in 2004. Regardless, it's a magnificent book, and I'm already looking forward to rereading it in about 2020.

Non-fiction was a surprise, though it shouldn't have been. Non-fiction was better as a whole than fiction despite its low numbers. But, excellent though Penn was, nothing could touch Eminent Victorians. I suspect if I'd read it at 18, I'd have taken more modern papers at university. And, by implication, fewer Byzantine ones. I can think of no greater praise than that.

Bibliography, 2011

My summary of the year in books:

January - H. Lee, To kill a Mockingbird
February - U.Eco, The Name of the Rose*
March - J. Steinbeck, East of Eden*
April - C.L.R. James, Beyond a Boundary
May - H. Mantel, Wolf Hall 
June- P. Leigh Fermor, Mani*
July - K. Fox, Watching the English
August - T. Snyder, The Reconstruction of Nations Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus 1569 - 1999 (K)
September - E. Ladurie, Montaillou
October - S. Graubard, The Presidents
November - M. Bowden, The Best Game ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL
December - A. Agassi, Open

I can't help but notice the first half was a lot better than the second.  The overall stats show much less reading this year. Only 124, and absolutely dominated by fiction - 60%, higher than ever before. Interestingly that doesn't show in the BOTM which is 4:3:5 (fiction : history : other non-fiction). And two of those those fiction were rereads. Which essentially means I've read a lot of low grade fiction. Actually, I'm not sure that's true - part of the problem is Wodehouse, who I started to read this year and possibly overegged it a bit. 14 of my books, over 10% were Wodehouse: all were wonderful, but none could snatch a BOTM. 

Anyway, for the vanishingly small  number of people who care, it's book of the year time.

Fiction was remarkably easy.  I hesitated over East of Eden, because it is the most sustained piece of brilliant writing I read this year, but a) it's a reread, and b) it's not To kill a Mockingbird, which was just better. It's shorter, and I think the talent to make something so evocative and powerful is greater without the grand canvas that Steinbeck uses.  But it's also better, and more important.

Non-fiction was much harder. James, Leigh Fermor and Fox were all excellent. However, the one I found myself repeating in conversation most has been Snyder, The reconstruction of Nations. There's an unfamiliarity bias here, as it's a fascinating topic, even more so as the Euro collapses. The westerner and the medievalist in me needs to be reminded that nationhood is still in flux in most of world, and it requires work. That book did it exceptionally well. It's a challenge to make an essentially unfamiliar topic accessible and interesting without becoming a bit patronising and dull, so additional plaudits for that.

Bibliography, 2010

As before, here my summary of the year

January - E. Burke, Reflections on the revolution in France
February - R. Gildea, Children of the Revolution
March - N. Gordimer, None to remember me
April - Homer, tr. Lattimore, The Iliad
May - V. Seth, The Golden Gate
June- D. Erasmus, Praise of Folly
July - L. Sciascia, The wine dark sea
August - M.Banffy, They were found wanting
September - G. Elliot, Scenes from clerical life
October - W. Faulkner, Go down, Moses
November - M. Druon, La Louve de France
December -J. Banville, The Untouchable

Interesting. I read a lot this year (145 books, just short of 2008's record 148), but very differently. Must less fiction, only about a third, compared to well over half in the last three years. A lot of history - more (for fun) than fiction for the first time since 2005. However for BOTM, a different picture. No 'cultural' books, and a step up in fiction and history: last year's 6:5:1 has been replaced by 0:8:4. The fiction / non-fiction divide here is a little blurred, but the Iliad should be History, and Druon is historical fiction. Neither are books of the year.

Instead, Fiction has to go to The Golden Gate - a modern classic, even if it has taken me about eight years to read it since someone recommended it to me. Banffy was great too, but nothing like the unrestrained exuberance of what surely will be Seth's only real survival in a generation. His other stuff is fine, but limited. An honourable mention to Banville, but it's just not as good.

Non-fiction is more finely poised: Burke, Erasmus and Gildea were all excellent. But Burke's treatment of the revolution is magisterial, and his language a glory to behold. Brilliant. Everyone should read it; even if everyone doesn't agree. I, of course, did.

Bibliography, 2009

Here are my books of the year by month

January - R.Musil, the Man without Qualities
February - J. Heller, Catch 22
March - B. Bryson, Life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid
April - J. Lees-Milne, Another Self
May - A. Trollope, Phineas Redux
June - P.M. Kendall, The Universal Spider
July - J. Barnes, Cross Channel
August - A. Burroughs, Dry
September - G. Tremlett, Ghosts of Spain
October - B. Bryson, A Walk in the woods
November - G. Greene, A sort of life
December - G. Greene, The ministry of Fear

I'd stand by these, though Barnes feels lightweight set against the others. In fact, the list as a whole is a little lightweight. This is driven in part by lack of time and volume (in 2009, I read a mere 111 books, compared to 2008's record 148), but also by the moratorium on new books, which has meant that quality has tailed off a little

Anyway, last year I split this into a fiction and non - fiction category, and I'll do the same here, but I'm struck by the imbalance of genre - six are what I term Cultural (mostly memoir plus a couple of travel), while five are fiction and only a single historical work.

Of the fiction, it's a straight fight between Musil and Heller's masterworks. Both astonishing, both overlong and both entirely unwritable by anyone else. Catch 22 has an enduring resonance in popular culture, which makes it compelling, but - despite its length, the Man without Qualities is simply astonishing and resurfaces in my mind on a frequent basis. I have a feeling it will repay rereading again and again.

In non-fiction terms, the prize is harder, though I think that's a reflection of the lack of stellar performer, rather than jostling for position. With regret, I leave at the last, Kendall's masterly account of Louis XI, excellent though it it, I'd be voting for the subject not the book. Instead, I'd look to reread Tremlett's Ghosts of Spain, which made real for me the complexity and tensions inherent in modern Spain in a way only a few pieces of work have done for any country.

Bibliography, December 2008

Books bought / received (15)
B. Bryson, Made in America
L. Cohen, The Favourite Game
J. Darwin, After Tamerlane
M. Druon, Le Roi de fer
M. Druon, La Reine étranglée
M. Druon, Les Poisons de la Couronne
M. Druon, La Loi des mâles
M. Druon, La Louve de France
M. Druon, Le Lis et le Lion
M. Druon, Quand un roi perd la France
R. Gildea, Children of the Revolution
R. Kapuscinski, Shah of Shahs
H. Rasky, The Song of Leonard Cohen
F. Wheen, How Mumbo-Jumbo conquered the world
A. Wheatcroft, The enemy at the gate

Books read (13)
M. Bywater, Big Babies
B. Chatwin, The Black Hill
L. Cohen, The Favourite Game
A. Enwright, The Gathering
W. Goldman, The princess bride
M. Hamid, The reluctant fundamentalist
S. Jordison, The Joy of Sects
D. Lessing, The Golden Notebook
A. Powell, At Lady Molly's
A. Powell, Casanova's Chinese restaurant
A. Powell, The Kindly Ones 
H. Rasky, The Song of Leonard Cohen
J. Tiptree, Her smoke rose up forever

December has been a good month. Christmas has not been too overbooked - coming away with less than twenty acquisitions is good work - and I've read some crackers, with one major exception - Bywater was terrible, bile-strewn, illogical ranting drivel. Do not read it. Ever.

I wanted BOTM to be Powell, and Casanova's Chinese restaurant almost made it. It's well constructed, without the disjointedness of the early volumes, or the slightly clumsy deliberate structural contrast that marr The Kindly ones. However, it was eclipsed by Chatwin's surprising novel (For a man who made his reputation as a travel writer and student of nomads, the last novel I would have expected was a tour de force of a claustrophobic setting of the lives of a pair of twins in rural Wales), and especially by the Golden Notebook.

Now, I really didn't want to like Lessing's masterwork. It's been sitting reproachfully on my shelves for a year because it is a) long, b) about communism c) and femminism, and d) structured in what can only be described as experimental. It is however also excellently written, gripping, and insightful. For an 'old red' as Lessing describes herself in the preface, it's an unflinching examination of the bankruptcy of the party during and especially after Stalin, but it's great strength is how it deals with the main protagonist and her disordered, fractured mind - hence the notebooks. It took me many days, but it's worth it.

As a final postscript, I should probably cover off the year in this post as well. As the Whitbread (sorry Costa), I've split this up, though more simply - into fact and fiction.

• Novel of my year was V. Nabokov, Lolita which was as good as it is controversial and the first half is probably as close to perfection as writing gets
• I had real trouble with factual between several great books, but in the end, J. Berendt, Midnight in the garden of Good and Evil edges out D.Brown, Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. Both American, and both with some similarities, but the quality, detail and warmth of Berendt's book make me to long to visit and to reread.