My Top Books of 2012

Although my commute, and therefore reading time, has doubled since I moved South of the River, I've read slightly fewer books this year than previous years, for much the same reasons I saw fewer films: moving house takes up a lot of time and so does being busy. I did, however, have some Evernote issues a few months ago, and I had to reconstruct my June, July and August books from memory; I think I remembered most of them, but I probably missed two or three. And one final disclaimer: two of the books on my list are from the Game of Thrones series and are so long they should count for at least two entries each.

And so to the top five; where I've reviewed the book previously on this blog, I've linked to my review.

1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This seems like an obvious choice and I'm slightly surprised to be picking it as my favourite book of the year, but it definitely belongs in my top five and I just enjoyed it more than the other four. Compelling and disarming, this is a great thriller, especially for anyone interested in unreliable narrators.

2. The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne. As I noted in my original review of this book, it combines the best bits of the better of Jodi Picoult's courtroom dramas and much darker works, such as We Need To Talk About Kevin. The protagonist, Daniel, is also a solicitor, which helps to satisfy my maybe-I-should-have-been-a-lawyer tendencies.

3. Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Elanor Dymott. Another thriller set in the legal world, Every Contact Leaves a Trace is similar in some ways to The Guilty One, but it differs too. Alex is a thirty-something lawyer whose beloved wife Rachel is murdered brutally when they return to their old Oxford college. While trying to deal with his grief, Alex is soon drawn in to the mystery surrounding Rachel's death--and indeed her life. As Sean Bateman in Bret Easton Ellis's The Rules of Attraction puts it, "No one ever ever knows anyone." The truth in this story definitely has the potential to hurt.

4. You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Maksik. A charismatic young teacher at an international school for privileged students in Paris finds himself falling for one of his female students. It's one of the oldest stories in the book, but Maksik's sharp and keenly observed prose, with the narration alternating among several key characters, made this book stand out for me.

5. A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks. It's unusual for me to rate short stories or even novellas so highly, but I've always been a sucker for Faulks and even though I didn't enjoy all five of these musings on the nature of being and existence--not in a Sartresque way, don't worry--I did like most of them and I also enjoyed them as a set piece. If you enjoy Faulks, and even if you don't, give A Possible Life a try--and don't be put off if you don't enjoy the first story.

Token non-fiction: John Lanchester's Whoops! Many books have claimed to be able to explain the recent financial crisis in a straightforward and even entertaining way, but this is the only one I've read that succeeds. Plus it's really short, which is always a bonus.

And here's the full list of books I read this year:

• The End of Everything — Megan Abbott
• The Family Fang — Kevin Wilson
• How To Lose Friends and Alienate People — Toby Young
• Anthropology of an American Girl — Hilary Thayer Hamann
• PopCo — Scarlett Thomas
• The City and the City — China Mieville
• How To Be an American Housewife — Margaret Dilloway
• American Tabloid — James Ellroy
• We Had It So Good — Linda Grant
• The Moment — Douglas Kennedy
• You Deserve Nothing — Alexander Maksik
• The Uncoupling — Meg Wolitzer
• Before I Go To Sleep — SJ Watson
• The Pleasures of Men — Kate Williams
• The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins
• The Paris Wife — Paula McLain
• The Reversal — Michael Connelly
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen — Paul Torday
• The Woman in Black — Susan Hill
• Catching Fire — Suzanne Collins
• Blue Monday — Nikki French
• Mockingjay — Suzanne Collins
• The Brass Verdict — Michael Connelly
• Lone Wolf — Jodi Picoult
• This Is Life — Dan Rhodes
• One Good Turn — Kate Atkinson
• The Scarecrow — Michael Connelly
• Phantom — Jo Nesbo
• Maine — J. Courtney Sullivan
• Hanging Hill — Mo Hayder
• Capital — John Lanchester
• Every Contact Leaves a Trace — Elanor Dymott
• The Dud Avocado — Elaine Dundy
• Whoops! — John Lanchester
• Mystic River — Dennis Lehane
• Academy X — Andrew Trees
• The Sins of the Father — Jeffrey Archer
• Waiting for Sunrise — William Boyd
• Never Mind — Edward St Aubyn
• The Final Judgment — Richard North Patterson
• Ape House — Sara Gruen
• Stranger Than Fiction — Michael Crick
• A Visit from the Goon Squad — Jennifer Egan
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close — Jonathan Foer
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks — Rebecca Skloot
• Empire Falls — Richard Russo
• Word Freak — Stefan Fatsis
• A Game of Thrones — George RR Martin
• Gone Girl — Gillian Flynn
• The Spire — Richard North Patterson
• Dare Me — Megan Abbott
• Eclipse — Richard North Patterson
• Fall From Grace — Richard North Patterson
• Bad News — Edward St Aubyn
• Next to Love — Ellen Feldman
• Battle Royale (manga) — Koushun Takami
• A Clash of Kings — George RR Martin
• My Last Duchess — Daisy Goodwin
• The Kingmaker's Daughter — Philippa Gregory
• A Son of the Circus — John Irving
• Landfall — Helen Gordon
• The Silence of the Lambs — Thomas Harris 
• A Clear and Present Danger — Tom Clancy
• Sweet Tooth — Ian McEwan
• The Leftovers — Tom Perrotta
• A Possible Life — Sebastian Faulks
• Tigers in Red Weather — Liza Klaussmann
• Telegraph Avenue — Michael Chabon
• Winter of the World - Ken Follett
• We Need To Talk about Kelvin — Marcus Chown
• Yes, You Cannes — Marie-Laurence de Rochefort
• Into the Abyss — Carol Shaben
• A History of Modern Britain — Andrew Marr
• Berlin Game — Len Deighton
• Mexico Set — Len Deighton
• London Match — Len Deighton
• The Life and Loves of a She-Devil — Fay Weldon
• Battle Royale — Koushun Takami
• The Tiger's Wife —  Téa Obreht
• The Language of Flowers — Vanessa Diffenbaugh
• The Lake of Dreams — Kim Edwards
• Ordinary Thunderstorms — William Boyd
• The Night Train to Lisbon — Pascal Mercier
• Miracle Cure — Harlan Coben
• Alex's Adventures in Numberland — Alex Bellos
• My Beautiful Genome — Lone Frank
• The Dinner — Herman Koch
• The Guilty One — Lisa Ballantyne
• Sacrilege — SJ Parris
• Bad Pharma — Ben Goldacre
• The Poisonwood Bible — Barbara Kingsolver
• Crash — JG Ballard
• The Hydrogen Sonata — Iain M. Banks
• Solar — Ian McEwan
• Perlmann's Silence — Pascal Mercier
• Perfect Match — Jodi Picoult
• Degree of Guilt — Richard North Patterson
• Protect and Defend — Richard North Patterson
• Paranormality — Richard Wiseman
• The Historian — Elizabeth Kostova