This year started out slowly as I was recovering from a pretty bad period of poor mental health at the tail end of 2020. At the very start of the year I took a walk up to the benches at the start of the Midshires Way and started reading Pushkin. People aren’t lying when they say those Russian masters are good for you. And that spot is a great spot to be in.

Belper got a new indie bookshop this year. Bearded Badger books is a super cool little unit with a gent of an owner who got me hooked on Charco Press and instantly became my monthly supplier of books as my brain switched back on piece by piece and I started to really chew through novel after novel.

Loads of highlights this year. Most of those Charco ones, especially Selva Almada (who is now one of my favourite writers) and Gabriela Cabezón Cámara. Ben Pester was the funniest and weirdest. Jon McGregor was special as always.

Here’s this year’s full list of books:

1. Dobrovsky

   Alexander Pushkin
2. We Have Always Lived In The Castle

   Shirley Jackson
3. The Krull House

   Georges Simenon
4. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

   Carson McCullers
5. Klara And The Sun

   Kazuo Ishiguro
6. The Midnight Library

   Matt Haig
7. Girl, Woman, Other

   Bernadine Evaristo
8. The Wind That Lays Waste

   Selva Almada
9. Lean Fall Stand

   Jon McGregor
10. 84, Charing Cross Road

    Helene Hanff
11. Male Tears

    Benjamin Myers
12. Summer

    Ali Smith
13. Am I In The Right Place?

    Ben Pester
14. Shuggie Bain

    Douglas Stuart
15. The Glass Hotel

    Emily St. John Mandel
16. A Musical Offering

    Luis Sagasti
17. Dead Girls

    Selva Almada
18. Zed

    Joanna Kavenna
19. In The Shadow Of The Phosphorous Dawn

    Rob True
20. A Perfect Cemetary

    Federico Falco
21. Patience

    Toby Litt
22. Havana Year Zero

    Karla Suarez
23. Elena Knows

    Claudia Pineiro
24. English Pastoral

    James Rebanks
25. Feebleminded

    Ariana Harwicz
26. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

    Ocean Vuong
27. The Cockroach

    Ian McEwan
28. Insignificance

    James Clammer
29. The Adventures of China Iron

    Gabriela Cabezón Camara
30. Holiday Heart

    Margarita García Robayo
31. At Night All Blood Is Black

    David Diop
32. Junglist

    James T. Kirk & Two Fingaz
33. The Rooftop

    Fernanda Trías
34. The Bass Rock

    Evie Wild
35. The Every

    Dave Eggers
36. Brickmakers

    Selva Almada
37. Gentleman Overboard

    Herbert Clyde-Lewis