As with last year, these are my favourite books of my personal reading year, regardless of publication date.
First, far and away, is The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. I adored this book way back in January and nothing came close to knocking it off its first-place perch all year.
Then there was The Glass Book of the Dream-Eaters, which I was apparently the only person in the world to like, Carter Beats the Devil. And the adorable City of Thieves and the flawed but intriguing Forest of Hands & Teeth.
I also liked Anathem and The Graveyard Book by a pair of Neal/Neils, and Lamb by Christopher Moore. And I discovered David Weber.
Michael Chabon provided me a good run this year, with The Final Solution, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Summerland and Gentlemen of the Road. Chabon has such a sweetly sly sense of humour.
In non-fiction, there was Peter Carey’s narrative non-fiction 30 Days in Sydney, Enough by John Naish, and Birth: A History by Tina Cassidy. Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare was surprisingly solid (hey, his English language books are a bit iffy on the research). And Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial provided a damn good introduction to how the scientific method and clinical trials work while demolishing alternative medicine. Michael Chabon gets another mention for his essay collection Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands. Lastly, The Devil’s Picnic was an enjoyable exploration of forbidden substances from runny cheese to absinthe and From Baghdad with Love had a cute puppy in it.
