Books of the Year 2013

Dear All,

It's been another good year in terms of happiness and stability in both life at home and at work. It's also been a superb year for reading. Lots of aeroplanes (to Australia via Thailand on holiday and then to Hong Kong, Singapore, the Middle East, Israel and much of Europe for work) as well as many enjoyable evenings on the sofa at home have seen me consume over 50 works, nearly all of which have been successes. I am also delighted that my children have already begun to show a keen interest in reading a passion that will hopefully be nurtured further when they commence nursery in January.

This year's best novel was an unambiguous winner. Ever since I first encountered Haruki Murakami in 2002 (when I read "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle), I have been enchanted by this author, arguably the most talented writing anywhere in the world today. Few others have such vividness of imagination, linguistic dexterity or innate expertise in the deployment of simile and metaphor. He also tells an amazing story. First-prize then to "1Q84", arguably his magnum opus.

In any other year each of the next four names on the the list could have made it to poll position. John Lanchester's "Capital" is an excellent novel depicting the multifarious nature of contemporary London; Lionel Shriver's "We Need To Talk About Kevin" a fascinating insight into the nature versus nurture debate, albeit with incredibly dark undertones; "May We Be Forgiven" by A. M. Homes has more action in the first 30-pages than almost anything else I have read and then develops into a superb state of the (US) nation novel along the lines of Jonathan Franzen or Siri Hustvedt; and, William Boyd's "Waiting For Sunrise" demonstrates an author at the top of his game and as comfortable writing about pre-War Vienna as modern-day England.

My top non-fiction reads were all also remarkable and memorable in their own rights - and also very different to each other. One concentrates on how we think and another on how we 'ought' to raise children. At the other end of the spectrum, "People Who Eat Darkness" is an experienced journalist's account of the murder of Lucie Blackman in Japan in 2000. It is a fascinating story as well as a damning indictment on the Japanese police/ judicial system. The tragedy and impact of her death also had much broader ramifications that one might imagine and perhaps what was most shocking to me was simply that the events narrated were 'fact' rather than 'fiction.' Finally, for anyone interested in London, Iain Sinclair's "London Orbital" is a must-read, a journey undertaken on foot around the M25 motorway, an insight into the neglected and the forgotten. Maybe a medium-term project for me too...

Full lists below.

Top fiction read in 2013 (in order) - 

Top non-fiction read in 2013 (in order) -