My annual page listing everything I’ve read during the year, with links to my reviews.

101. Paul Bassett Davies, Stone Heart Deep (UK, 2021). Thriller set amongst a Scottish island community with a secret. [***]

100. Kasim, Affliction (England, 2016). Intriguing tale about body-swap technology. [***]

99. Inés G. Labarta, McTavish Manor (Spain, 2016). Strange and bloody Gothic tale set in 19th century Scotland. [***]

98. Connor Wray, Dear Henry (England, 2016). A father and son get to know each other through correspondence, but all is not as it seems. [****]

97. Andrea Mayo, The Carnivorous Plant (Spain, 2021 tr. 2022). Harrowing portrait of a controlling and abusive relationship. [***]

96. Alex Pheby, Malarkoi (England, 2022). The sequel to Mordew. Still an indulgence of imagination, but suffers from the same problem as many middle volumes of fantasy trilogy: the sense that it’s getting things in order for the third act. [***]

95. Hanne Ørstavik, Ti Amo (Norway, 2020 tr. 2022). Short novel about a middle-aged couple, one of whom is dying. I think perhaps I wasn’t in the right mood for this. [***]

94. Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (USA, 1969). I wasn’t sure what to expect from this – and, to be honest, I’m not sure what to make of it, either. [***]

93. Caroline Lamarche, The Memory of the Air (Belgium, 2014 tr. 2022). A woman confronts a traumatic event in her past, first obliquely, then directly. [****]

92. Harald Voetmann, Awake (Denmark, 2010 tr. 2021). A novel about Pliny the Elder and the human urge to master nature. [***]

91. Ira Levin, Rosemary’s Baby (USA, 1967). I think I’d enjoy this more as a film than a book. [***]

90. Sophie White, Where I End (Ireland, 2022). Disturbing, intimate tale of horror revolving around a young woman and her mother. [****]

89. Guy Ware, The Peckham Experiment (England, 2022). A novel of ideals and challenges in the 20th century city. [***]

88. Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Scotland, 1961). Re-read: other Spark novels have got under my skin, but not this one. I’m really not sure why. [***]

87. Natasha Soobramanien & Luke Williams, Diego Garcia (England/Mauritius & Scotland, 2022). Goldsmiths Prize winner whose protagonists ponder how to tell an urgent story that isn’t theirs. This novel crystallises for me that there’s a “Goldsmiths type” of novel that I can admire but not necessarily love. [***]

86. Bram Stoker, Dracula (Ireland, 1897). A big old classic. [***]

85. Buchi Emecheta, Second-Class Citizen (Nigeria, 1974). The story of a Nigerian woman who moves to London and fights for an independent life. [****]

84. Jónína Leósdóttir, Deceit (Iceland, 2021 tr. 2022). Engaging crime novel with a strikingly contrasting pair of protagonists. [***]

83. Katixa Agirre, Mothers Don’t (Spain, 2019 tr. 2022). A writer considers the contradictions of motherhood while investigating the case of a woman who killed her twins. [****]

82. Senka Marić, Body Kintsugi (Bosnia, 2018 tr. 2022). A woman pieces herself back together following illness. [****]

81. Yara Rodrigues Fowler, there are more things (England/Brazil, 2022). Shapeshifting novel about friendship and protest. [***]

80. Mona Arshi, Somebody Loves You (England, 2021). Re-read: fragmented tale of a girl who faces life by staying silent. [***]

79. Andrew Komarnyckyj, The Revenge of Joe Wild (England, 2022). A coming-of-age yarn set in the American West. [***]

78. Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient (Cyprus, 2019). Oh, good grief. [*]

77. Sólveig Pálsdóttir, Harm (Iceland, 2020 tr. 2022). Twisty murder mystery about the strange death of a doctor on holiday. [***]

76. Shirley Jackson, The Lottery (USA, 2022). A selection of Jackson’s stories in Penguin’s Little Clothbound Classics. Brings a real sense of eeriness to the everyday. [****]

75. Zhou Daxin, The Sons of Red Lake (China, 2008 tr. 2022). A novel of tourism and the temptations of power. [****]

74. Gwendolyn Brooks, Maud Martha (USA, 1953). Snapshots of an ordinary life, made extraordinary by the writing. [****]

73. Charles Lambert, The Bone Flower (England, 2022). A good old (new!) Victorian ghost story from an always-intriguing author. [****]

72. Patrick McCabe, Poguemahone (Ireland, 2022). An epic verse novel chronicling the lives of an Irish family in England. [***]

71. Claudia Petrucci, The Performance (Italy, 2020 tr. 2022). Two love rivals try to rescue a woman from the depths of illness by writing their own script for her life. [***]

70. Mark Andryczyk (ed.), Writing from Ukraine (Ukraine, 2017/22). An anthology of Ukrainian poems, stories and essays. [***]

69. Yoko Tawada, Scattered All Over the Earth (Japan, 2018 tr. 2020). Exuberant tale of characters travelling Europe in search of new ways to belong. [***]

68. Susanna Clarke, Piranesi (England, 2020). A man wanders through a mysterious house, his identity an intriguing puzzle. [****]

67. Nona Fernández, Space Invaders (Chile, 2013 tr. 2019). Short novel about a girl who disappeared under the Pinochet regime, and the unreliable memories others have of her. [****]

66. Selby Wynn Schwartz, After Sappho (USA, 2022). The lives of historical feminists are reimagined in this exuberant novel. [****]

65. Various Authors, My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird (Afghanistan, 2022). A varied collection of new stories by Afghan women. [***]

64. Richard Matheson, I Am Legend (USA, 1954). Re-read: still a taut, propulsive novel of survival, but I also feel its age. [***]

63. Manuel Astur, Of Saints and Miracles (Spain, 2020 tr. 2022). To be quite honest, this one went over my head.

63. Laura Vogt, What Concerns Us (Switzerland, 2020 tr. 2022). Raw tale of two sisters and motherhood. [***]

62. Kay Dick, They (England, 1977). A ‘lost classic’ dystopian novel that felt too diffuse for me. [**]

61. Sayaka Murata, Life Ceremony (Japan, 2019 tr. 2022). A characteristic story collection: starts off ordinary, then gets under your skin with its strangeness. [****]

60. John Marrs, The Passengers (England, 2019). A thriller about driverless cars. It passes the time, but the subject matter deserves more. [**]

59. Ágota Kristóf, The Third Lie (Hungary, 1991 tr. 1996). Third in the trilogy: identity breaks down. [****]

58. Ágota Kristóf, The Proof (Hungary, 1988 tr. 1991). Second in the trilogy: powerfully evokes the unspoken effects of trauma. [****]

57. Ágota Kristóf, The Notebook (Hungary, 1986 tr. 1989). Re-read: still a quiet nightmare, brittle and compelling. [*****]

56. Liam Bell, Man at Sea (Scotland, 2022). Intriguing historical thriller about wartime Malta. [***]

55. Brenda Lozano, Witches (Mexico, 2020 tr. 2022). A journalist and a traditional healer tell each other their stories. [***]

54. Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch (USA, 2022). The tale of a Midwest apartment building and its inhabitants. [***]

53. Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo (Mexico, 1955 tr. 1993). Re-read: I grasped more of it this time, but it still proved too elusive for me. [***]

52. Anees Salim, The Bellboy (India, 2022). A new job at a hotel changes young Latif’s life drastically. [***]

51. Valeria Luiselli, Faces in the Crowd (Mexico, 2011 tr. 2014). Fragmentary tale of a life (lives?) that won’t be pieced together easily. Reading it was a rush. [****]

50. Isabel Allende, A Long Petal of the Sea (Chile, 2019 tr. 2020). A novel about Republicans fleeing Spain for Chile during the Spanish Civil War. Interesting, if a little dry at times. [***]

49. Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine (USA, 1988). The lunch hour of a man preoccupied with the minutiae of mechanical systems. [***]

48. Max Frisch, Homo Faber (Switzerland, 1957 tr. 1959). The account of a rational man facing irrational events. I think this was another book I didn’t catch at the right time. [***]

47. Darina Al Joundi, Marseillaise My Way (Lebanon/France, 2012 tr. 2022). Sequel to The Day Nina Simone Stopped Singing, which sees the protagonist Noun trying to obtain French citizenship. [****]

46. Jeanette Winterson, The Stone Gods (England, 2007). This was my first Winterson, and maybe not the best place to start. A futuristic tale of recurring lives, which I think I didn’t catch at the right time. [***]

45. Frederik Pohl, Gateway (USA, 1977). It was since I’d read this, and I discovered on the re-reading that I remembered very little about it. A science fiction tale of an abandoned space station with pre-programmed craft that may lead you to a fortune… or not. [***]

44. Max Porter, Lanny (England, 2019). Vivid tale of a nature spirit seeking attention and the imaginative boy who gets in the way. [****]

43. Janice Hallett, The Appeal (England, 2021). Enjoyable epistolary mystery. [***]

42. GauZ’, Standing Heavy (Côte d’ivoire, 2014 tr. 2022). A panoramic view of the world of Black security guards in Paris. [****]

41. Hanne Ørstavik, Love (Norway, 1997 tr. 2018). The lives of a mother and son diverge on a fateful evening. [****]

40. Roy Heath, The Murderer (Guyana, 1978). A lonely man finds love, but jealousy and paranoia cause him to unravel. [***]

39. Russell Hoban, Turtle Diary (USA, 1975). Intriguingly ambivalent exploration of finding meaning in life, framed around two characters who dream of rescuing sea turtles from London Zoo. [****]

38. J.O. Morgan, Appliance (Scotland, 2022). Excellent novel-in-stories that explores our relationship with technology through the development of a matter transporter. [*****]

37. Jon McGregor, Reservoir 13 (England, 2017). Re-read: still a dazzling symphony of lives. [*****]

36. Stine Pilgaard, The Land of Short Sentences (Denmark, 2020 tr. 2022). Wryly amusing tale of a woman adjusting to life in a small rural community. [***]

35. Sara Baume, Seven Steeples (Ireland, 2022). A couple fade into the landscape. [****]

34. Chitra Ramaswamy, Homelands (England/India, 2022). Affecting account of the author’s friendship with a Holocaust survivor. [****]

33. Laura McVeigh, Lenny (Ireland, 2022). A tale of loss, family and belonging set in Louisiana and Libya. [***]

32. J.O. Morgan, Pupa (Scotland, 2021). A novel that alters the human lifecycle to explore what it means to cross a social divide. [****]

31. Fernanda Melchor, Paradais (Mexico, 2021 tr. 2022). A teenager’s terrible scheme unfolds. [***]

30. Violaine Huisman, The Book of Mother (France, 2018 tr. 2021). Autobiographical novel exploring the traumatic life of the author’s mother. [***]

29. Geetanjai Shree, Tomb of Sand (India, 2018 tr. 2021). A dazzling cascade of language in which an old woman finds a new lease of life. [****]

28. Stephen King, The Green Mile (USA, 1996). I’ve never really got into Stephen King, and this didn’t change my mind. [***]

27. David Grossman, More Than I Love My Life (Israel, 2019 tr. 2021). Secrets of an Israeli family with roots in the former Yugoslavia. [***]

26. Mieko Kawakami, Heaven (Japan, 2009 tr. 2021). Novel about two teenagers brought together in friendship because they’re both bullied. [***]

25. Bora Chung, Cursed Bunny (South Korea, tr. 2021). Sometimes strange, sometimes creepy,  always compelling stories… I loved this. [*****]

24. Badr Ahmad, Five Days Untold (Yemen, tr. 2021). Harrowing tale of war. [***]

23. Sang Young Park, Love in the Big City (South Korea, 2019 tr. 2021). Tales of a young queer man’s personal life. [***]

22. Paulo Scott, Phenotypes (Brazil, 2019 tr. 2022). Densely written novel about the complexities of racial identity in Brazil. [***]

21. Adrian Barnes, Nod (Canada, 2012). Re-read: not quite as powerful as the first time. [***]

20. Darina Al Joundi, The Day Nina Simone Stopped Singing (Lebanon/France, 2012 tr. 2022). Dramatic monologue spoken by a rebellious young woman in wat-torn Beirut. [****]

19. Graham Swift, Here We Are (England, 2020). The story of a 1950s love triangle involving a stage magician and his colleagues. It has its moments, but this book and I will be no more than passing acquaintances. [***]

18. Tété-Michel Kpomassie, Michel the Giant: An African in Greenland (Togo, 1977 tr. 1981). Fascinating travelogue. [****]

17. Ryan Dennis, The Beasts They Turned Away (USA, 2021). This tale of a farmer is well-written but so, so bleak. [***]

16. Jonas Eika, After the Sun (Denmark, 2018 tr. 2021). These stories were not for me at all. [**]

15. Katja Oskamp, Marzahn, Mon Amour (Germany, 2019 tr. 2022). Tales of a chiropodist’s patients: a composite portrait of a community that might otherwise be overlooked. [****]

14. Gerald Murnane, Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs (Australia, 2005). An essay collection that shed light on its author’s world, and changed me subtly but surely. [****]

13. Nadifa Mohamed, Black Mamba Boy (Somalia/England, 2010). Re-read: a gripping parade of a novel, inspired by the life of the author’s father. [****]

12. Dani Shapiro, Inheritance (USA, 2019). Fascinating memoir whose author discovers she cannot be biologically related to her father, and has to come to terms with a new sense of identity and family. {****]

11. Jaimie Batchan, Siphonophore (England, 2021). A whirlwind of a novel in which a fictional character hopes his terminally-ill writer will stay alive long enough to get him home. [****]

10. Damon Galgut, In a Strange Room (South Africa, 2010). Finally, I got around to reading Galgut, and… I didn’t enjoy the experience quite as much as I’d hoped. There are some vivid moments in this account of a writer on his travels, but something didn’t quite click. [***]

9. Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth (France, 1867). A classic that had its longueurs, but also some wonderful moments. I’m glad to have read it. [***]

8. Nathacha Appanah, The Sky Above the Roof (Mauritius/France, 2019 tr. 2022). A short, sharp novel (my favourite kind!) about a family falling apart and piecing itself together. [****]

7. Yuko Tsushima, Territory of Light (Japan, 1979 tr. 2018). Story cycle about a young woman living with her daughter and separating from her husband. Some stark imagery. [***]

6. William Golding, Pincher Martin (England, 1956). The first Golding I’ve read, and I want to read more – but I really wish I hadn’t known the ending in advance. [****]

5. Malorie Blackman, Noughts & Crosses (England, 2001). I wish I’d been able to read this as a teenager, but it was still interesting – and I did not expect that ending. [****]

4. Jacqueline Roy, The Fat Lady Sings (England/Jamaica, 2000). This tale of two women living in a psychiatric unit is powerful and serious, but with moments of humour and light. [****]

3. Paul Griffiths, The Tomb Guardians (Wales, 2021). Re-read: still as powerful. [*****]

2. Bel Olid, Wilder Winds (Spain, 2016 tr. 2022). A Catalan story collection from the Republic of Consciousness book club. Not really my cup of tea. [***]

1. Toshiki Okada, The End of the Moment We Had (Japan, 2007 tr. 2018). A pair of stories exploring human connection. [***]