It’s the beginning of a new year as I type this, and as I’ve often done, I plan to keep a record of the books I read this year. This time, though, I’ve decided to post it up here on my blog, and update it regularly. And then look back at the end of the year on what I enjoyed the most. So, without further ado, here’s the list.

1. Spielby David Sornig; set in Berlin, and written by an Australian writer born of German/Austrian parents, there was plenty to interest me in this novel. But I couldn’t quite believe it. First half – great, second half – so-so. Sorry.
2. Legend Of A Suicideby David Vann – a collection of short stories that’s won a few prizes. Well, they are short stories, but they are all connected, and all about the very personal theme of the suicide of the author’s father. I can already say this will be one of the best books I’ll read all year. Fans of Cormac McCarthy’s The Roadwill enjoy this. Then again, enjoy is not quite the right word. It’s a shocking, awful story at times, but so, so readable and beautifully written.
3. Prochownik’s Dreamby great Aussie writer Alex Miller. Excellent. It’s about an artist and how art takes over your life, or can; it resonated with me because my husband, who attended an art school but eventually chose to be an engineer, said one reason he did so was because being an artist wasn’t compatible with being a family man. This book certainly agrees that it’s difficult.
4. Millennium Peoplefrom J. G. Ballard, who died last year – that’s significant because I watched a bad “this decade” round-up on TV over the New Year and saw him listed in the “great people we’ve lost” section, then saw this book at the library the next day and grabbed it because he was fresh in my mind. Millennium People is kind of gritty and scary and at times a bit odd, but really well-written and really worth reading.
5. All This Belongs to Meby young Czech writer Petra Hulova, part of a series of translated works labelled “Writings from an Unbound Europe” – I’ll have to get more of them – was, somewhat surprisingly, set in Mongolia. I dug a bit deeper online and found out Hulova lived in Mongolia for a year on exchange, so that does now make sense; anyway, it was a great read, not just to learn about Mongolia but to follow a bunch of female characters who each have a strong but contrasting story to tell. Curiously there’s an entire blog devoted to this novel, which Hulova seems to be touring at the moment.
6. The True Story of Butterfishby Nick Earls. He’s a pretty well-known Aussie author who’s so often compared to Nick Hornby that it even says this in the opening para of his Wikipedia entry, so I’ll try to forget that I also had the same obviously unoriginal thought. Anyhow, Butterfish was a successful band, and after they break-up one band member, Curtis, returns to Brisbane and settles into a quiet neighbourhood … the whole story is basically about him getting to know the people next door, but it’s also a lot more than that. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
7. To Light Attainedby Morris Lurie, another Aussie. Two important things about this novel: it’s actually basically autobiographical (and therefore quite tragic; but I’m not going to tell you anything of the storyline); and it’s written in an utterly poetic style. It took me a few pages to get into the swing of it – there are strange sentence structures, lots of fragments, then tumbling long sentences, alliteration, you name it – but once I did, I raced through the book, and recommend it heartily.
8. Siddon Rock by Glenda Guest, dare I say yet another Aussie (I’m nothing if not a patriotic reader!). Fascinating book, fits the magical realism genre (something vaguely along the lines of Garcia Marquez or Rushdie, both of whom I love), and is set in a remote Australian outback town just after World War II. It’s almost like you’re just watching the town, and these people happen to pass by and create a story; it’s more setting-driven than character-driven, yet by the end you realise there was a really strong plot full of equally strong characters. Magical!
9. Secret Assetby Stella Rimington – yes, her spy novels are now a continuing obsession for me – this one is the second of her Liz Carlyle series (oh my goodness, I’m reading genre novels, and a series at that!). I read it in a day because although I kept trying to leave it so I could get on with other things that had to be done, I couldn’t stop wondering what happened next and I just had to keep reading. Surely a good sign. And yes, I’ll be reserving the third part of the series from my library now …
10. Skylight Confessionsby Alice Hoffman. A little bit fluffier than my usual reads (they reference Jodi Picoult on the cover) but enjoyable just the same. Interesting modern family saga kind of novel, with good changes in point of view (important for what I’m writing at the moment).
11. The Vagrantsby Chinese (now living in the US) writer Yiyun Li. I previously enjoyed her collection of short stories – A Thousand Years of Good Prayers – so I was pretty pleased to find she now has her first novel out. Life under Chinese communism is an endlessly fascinating topic to me, and Yiyun Li grew up in Beijing, leaving just in 1996, so she is obviously writing from experience. The Vagrants is set in 1979 and follows quite a number of characters from one town as the Democratic Wall movement in Beijing impacts on them; it’s beautifully written and cleverly, too, weaving the stories of each character together so well. Highly recommended and I really look forward to her future novels.
12. She Played Elvis, a travel narrative by Shady Cosgrove, is the first non-fiction book I’ve read this year (and the first time I wondered if I’d put them on this list or not – and I’ve decided I will, because I learn just as much from reading non-fiction as I do from reading fiction). This is a travel narrative documenting a pilgrimage to Graceland for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of Elvis, but it’s so much more than that – a great story, with emotional reflections on Cosgrove’s life, especially in regard to her absent father and her immigration to Australia.
13. Illegal Actionby Stella Rimington, yep, the third of her Liz Carlyle series, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop until I’ve read all five … plus whatever she brings out next. Similar to the previous stories, good solid spying with enough interesting factual history and setting to make me enjoy it, and good to learn how to write a real page-turner!
14. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfallby Kazuo Ishiguro, one of my favourite writers – this is his newest, and it’s a collection of five short stories all based on the theme of music and musicians. Beautiful to read, only problem is I heard an interview and he originally had more stories (seven or nine I think) but cut several – I would have liked to have more, please!
15. Absolutionby Olafur Johann Olafsson; I have an odd obsession with Iceland so when I came across this novel billed as Olafsson’s “dazzling literary debut in the English language” I had to read it. Later I discovered Olafsson also makes time to be Executive Vice President of Time Warner. Impressive. Anyway, Absolution is a brilliant novel, the story of an old (Icelandic) immigrant to the US, looking back on his life – several different time threads run through the story, cleverly done, keeping us in suspense.
16. The Book Thiefby Markus Zusak. This has been sitting on my bedside table for a while but I was put off it because it was quite thick – only now do I realise what I’ve been missing out on all these months. It’s gorgeously written, it’s a great story, the characters are perfect, the style is unique, the only thing wrong with it is that it ends. I wish I was still reading it. Zusak is Australian (yay!), but the book is doing big stuff in the big wide world as well. Curiously it’s being marketed as Young Adult in the States, but “normal” adult here. Read it however old you are. It’s a story set in southern Germany in the Nazi era, but don’t think that it’s a story like you’ve ever read before. I can’t stop raving about it.
17. Revolutionary Roadby Richard Yates. I’ve been on the library reserve list for this book for almost a year, after it was recommended on the First Tuesday Book Club. Worth the wait – it’s a kind of tragic and depressing tale about 1950s suburbia in the States. I felt like I was surrounded by 1950s-style posters as I read it, if that makes any sense.
18. The Easter Paradealso by Richard Yates (I was on a roll!). Not quite as good as Revolutionary Road, but very readable and a similar style. It follows the character of Emily who faces similar dilemmas of how to be satisfied in life, and doesn’t quite figure it out. I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re feeling down about your own life, though, it probably would make things worse!
19. Like Trees, Walkingby Ravi Howard, a novel based on the true story of the lynching of a teenager in Mobile, Alabama in 1981 (yep, long after you’d think that kind of behaviour was done with). It’s narrated by the brother of a guy who found the body and works in his family funeral home. Quietly written, sad in parts, and a good read.
20. Henry’s List of Wrongsby John Scott Shepherd. This was just a novel I grabbed at the library on account of liking the title; for the first three chapters I liked it, for the next two or three I hated it, and then it all came together very enjoyably, apart from the very ending – it went a few paragraphs too far and became a bit Hollywood-ish. It’s about a high-flyer who realises he’s trodden on too many people to get where he is and goes around making things right – but it’s better than it sounds and the writing is really snappy. Just stop reading a few paras before the end and it’ll be even better.
21. Friends Like Theseby Danny Wallace – another non-fiction travel narrative – and not a bad one. The premise was that Wallace found his childhood address book with twelve names in it, and set out to travel the world to reunite with his long lost friends – a sweet story.
22. Anna Kareninaby Leo Tolstoy. It’s been a while since I sunk my teeth into a meaty classic, and I really enjoyed it. I still wonder, of course, if books like that would get published today – I’m sure most editors would send it back for some serious revisions (and reductions).
23. The Writing Classby Jincy Willett is something I’d been wanting to read for ages. It’s a lot of fun – it’s a kind of murder mystery with all the characters belonging to a writing class, so for a writer like me there’s a bunch of extra interesting stuff to read as they go about their writing, too.
24. The Woman from Bratislavaby Leif Davidsen, something I picked from the library catalogue purely on the strength of it having “Bratislava” in the title – I came across it while I was trying to decide on my own novel’s title. Davidsen is a well-known Danish crime writer (I gather) and this spy story which travelled all over eastern Europe was great. What is it about Danes and crime writing – here on TV we see heaps of Danish crime shows and they’re always really good. Hmm.
25. Dancing Backwardsby Salley Vickers arrived on my desk by way of the library reservation shelf and I wasn’t sure why I’d reserved it – it looked like a bit of a trashy romance novel! It turns out that Vickers was booked for the Perth Writers Festival and that’s why I’d got the book, and while it wasn’t exactly my genre – it was definitely a romance-style book, although not trashy – I enjoyed it. It followed the cruise journey of a woman from the UK to New York over a week or so, but had cleverly done flashbacks to give the broader story.
26. The Imperfectionistsby Tom Rachman is definitely a recommended read from me. It’s all about an international newspaper based in Rome, and is cleverly told – most chapters are almost independent short stories, each about a different character connected to the modern-day version of the paper (but you still learn the “big picture” story), blended between historical flashbacks about the paper’s development. A little difficult to explain, but trust me, it’s good.
27. 10 Short Stories You Must Read This Yearby a bunch of my favourite Australian authors – this book came outt as part of the Books Alive 2009 campaign. Yes, so “this year” is actually last year, but it doesn’t seem to have done me any harm to read them a year late! If you like Aussie literature, or wonder if you do, it’s a great sampler.
28. Hunting and Gatheringby Anna Gavalda. A sweet story, translated from the French original, about a bunch of quite different people who end up living together. Nine tenths of it is good, the last bit is too soppy – and the blurb on the front cover is a giveaway there: “Hunting and Gathering stops at nothing to make the reader feel good”. Well, it *should* stop at something. Eek.
29. The Book of Raptureby Nikki Gemmell, one of my all-time favourite writers, and it lives up to my expectations. Her language is so prosaic, yet really spare and restrained, I always wish I could write a little more like her. Highly recommended.
30. The Lovely Bonesby Alice Sebold; I read this not because of the movie version coming out, but because I found I’d bought a copy from the library discard sale last year! Anyway it was a great read, something a bit different which is always refreshing, and I’d even be interested in seeing the movie.
31. Juliet, Nakedby Nick Hornby, one of my favourite writers in the sense that I always know I’ll enjoy whatever I read of his. Juliet, Naked is again about music and musicians, obviously one of Hornby’s favourite themes, and it was a real pleasure.
32. Conditions of Faithby Alex Miller (second Miller book for this year, although it’s one of his earlier ones). Set back almost a century and switches between France and Tunisia – a bonus for me as Tunisia’s one of my favourite places and Miller describes several places I’ve visited. But that aside, it’s an excellent novel, following the story of a young Australian woman who marries and moves to Paris and can’t quite get used to being a wife. I’ve heard Miller tell the story a couple of times that readers of this book expected “Alex” to be a woman, and I can understand why, his ability to write from a woman’s perspective is really impressive.
33. The Death of Bunny Munroby Nick Cave, who I know better as a singer. It’s a “rough” story in the sense of there being plenty of swearing and sex, but I really enjoyed it – “Bunny” (such a funny name for a tough guy) loses his wife to suicide at the opening of the book (he was too busy spending the night with a prostitute to understand what his wife’s phone call could mean …) then takes his little boy, Bunny Junior, on the road.
34. The Paperbark Shoe by Goldie Goldbloom, released in the United States as Toads’ Museum of Freaks and Wonderswhich, I think, gives it quite a different tone! – but anyway, it’s a book set right here in country Western Australia during the second World War when Italian prisoners of war were sent to work on farms. It’s got really fascinating characters and a good storyline, but I’m afraid to say the most amazing thing I learnt is actually that Goldbloom wrote this beautiful novel while raising her EIGHT children. I’m having trouble writing and taking care of my two cats.
35. My Life on A Plateby India Knight was a fun, fluffy piece of chick-lit which I read in one night (in the middle of the night, thanks to some pregnancy insomnia) – I occasionally like a light piece of chick-lit and this one hit the spot without being spectacular.
36. Washington Squareby Henry James. From chick-lit to a classic, I have to say I enjoyed this more. I’ve always liked James’s writing style and Washington Square is interesting in that it follows just a single, simple story about a plain young woman who may or may not get married to a maybe or maybe-not gold-digger, and although nothing of great excitement happens it’s a story you want to keep reading.
37. The World Beneathby Cate Kennedy was the ONLY novel I finished during April (thanks to the rather momentous birth of our son). Great story, well told, love her stuff – and a good setting in Tasmania, too. Highly recommended.
38. After the Fallby Kylie Ladd, yet another Aussie writer. This was the only novel I finished in either May OR June, thanks to momentous event of having to look after said son. It follows two couples whose lives are dramatically changed when two of them have an affair – the fall of the title is falling in love, clever, hey? Great read.
39. What I Talk About When I Talk About Runningby Haruki Murakami, oh how I love this man! One of my favourite writers, although this is different – it’s a non-fiction memoir about his experiences as a long distance runner and how they relate to his work as a novelist. Very honest, very interesting and almost enough to make me take up running. Almost, but not quite.
40. Omega Parkby Amy Barker is another Aussie novel – yep, I love ‘em – set mainly in a lower class housing estate, or at least an area that has become one of them – interesting characters and a good plot too.
41. The Pactby Jodi Piccoult is not something I’d choose to read myself, because I keep thinking Piccoult is “too mainstream” for my tastes – my mother lent me this while we were travelling – but I really couldn’t put it down. A really intriguing plot and I had to know what happened. I wasn’t so satisfied with the ending though, it seemed to stop a bit too suddenly for me.
42. Nice Workby Jana Wendt, the Australian journalist I idolised as a teen. And this copy is personally signed, from a launch event I attended just a couple of weeks after my baby was born – so it has special sentimental value! It’s non-fiction, I should add, but very interesting – Wendt spent time shadowing people doing various different jobs, from CEOs to boxers, and makes some fascinating observations.
43. The Rehearsalby Eleanor Catton, one of a bunch of great new novels I won through a Facebook competition! It’s a little unusual in style and I was sometimes unsure when I was reading about a performance and when I wasn’t, perhaps that’s the point, and I felt like I learnt most of the story too early on, but it still made for an interesting read.
44. The Boy In the Striped Pajamasby John Boyne. So, so awful and so, so good. Not sure why Holocaust novels always get me, but they do. I won’t say anything about it, except that if you haven’t read it, do. (I haven’t seen the film, but I can’t imagine it could have the same impact as the book, so I’d definitely read the book first! Well, I always do anyway.)