A pretty magnificent year in reading, with some firm new favourite authors and publishers.

The University of East Anglia’s publishing imprint Boiler House Press has been knocking it out of the park again and again with both their contemporary fiction and Recovered Books imprints.

I didn’t get to see Openheimer at the cinema this year, but I did read Little Boy – the same story but told from the point of view of the chunk of Uranium-235 that went into the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Weird, wonderful, and really affecting.

Gertrude Trevelyan died in the blitz of that war and was long forgotten until now. Her two books from the Recovered Books imprint are both devastating and brilliant marvels of style and substance. Her characters are so deeply realised that I think of them most days since reading about them. She is a revelation, and I can’t wait for more of her books to be found and reissued.

A few more of Simenon’s non-Maigret novels. I love these. They’re so dark, depraved and paranoid.

I think I must’ve read at least a few books where Anthony Powell’s A Dance To The Music of Time is mentioned. I found the first two parts in a charity shop in the summer and devoured them while on holiday in Dorset. As soon as I got back I started ordering them one after the other from my local bookshop. I never thought I’d be into a between-the-wars tale of London high society, but from the viewpoint of narrator Nick Jenkins it’s addictively detailed, peculiar, funny, relatable and heart-breaking. I really do love being in the world of Jenkins, Widmerpool et al. And while you might find yourself 100 pages into an unbroken account of a peculiar incident at a party thinking, “where is this going”, Powell will bring the whole thing to a close with a sentence that reframes the whole thing into a lesson about the human condition. Incredible. I’m halfway through the 12-novel sequence and looking forward to more in 2024.

Whenever Jon McGregor does a blurb on the front of someone else’s book, I’ll read it. I haven’t yet been dissapointed. The Way The Day Breaks is utterly brilliant and real and sad, about a family living with mental illness. After reading this I had to order more from Weatherglass Books, and all of them were fantastic reads – each on very unique and very very my kind of thing. Whether it’s kids seeing angles, a grieving pianist or an artist working as a secretary who goes down a dark road of obsession – each one was addictive and memorable.

Other highlights include Leonard & Hungry Paul (believe the hype – this will change the way you see the world), Joel Lane (somebody adapt him for TV please), David Keenan (back on form with a prequel to This Is Memorial Device), Fernanda Melchor (never going to be not-brilliant) and Benjamin Myers (likewise).

Onwards.

1. The People Opposite

   Georges Simenon
2. The Hand

   Georges Simenon
3. The Snow Was Dirty

   Georges Simenon
4. Three Bedrooms In Manhatten

   Georges Simenon
5. Aliss At The Fire

   Jon Fosse
6. Industry of Magic & Light

   David Keenan
7. Here Be Icebergs

   Katya Adaui
8. The Man From London

   Georges Simenon
9. The Forgery

   Ave Barrera
10. Byobu

    Ida Vitale
11. Two Sherpas

    Sebastián Martínez Daniell
12. Never Did The Fire

    Diamela Eltit
13. The Trees

    Percival Everett
14. Dr. No

    Percival Everett
15. The Twilight World

    Werner Herzog
16. Of Cattle And Men

    Ana Paula Maia
17. Fresh Dirt From The Grave

    Giovanna Rivero
18. Do Start: How to Create & Run a Business (That Doesn't Run You)

    Dan Kiernan
19. The Way The Day Breaks

    David Roberts
20. Sleevenotes

    Joe Thompson
21. Two Thousand Million Man-Power

    Gertrude Trevelyan
22. Beeswing

    Richard Thompson
23. A Little Luck

    Claudia Pinero
24. Cuddy

    Benjamin Myers
25. Loop

    Brenda Lozano
26. Fever Dream

    Samantha Schweblin
27. Cold New Climate

    Isobel Wohl
28. The Ghost Variations

    Damian Lanigan
29. The Angels of L19

    Jonathan Walker
30. Leonard and Hungry Paul

    Rónán Hession
31. Panenka

    Rónán Hession
32. The Men

    Sandra Newman
33. Paradais

    Fernanda Melchor
34. The Venice Train

    Georges Simenon
35. How to Be a French Girl

    Rose Cleary
36. Little Boy

    John Smith
37. This Is Not Miami

    Fernanda Melchor
38. A Question of Upbringing

    Anthony Powell
39. A Buyer's Market

    Anthony Powell
40. The Acceptance World

    Anthony Powell
41. William's Wife

    Gertrude Trevelyan
42. From Blue to Black

    Joel Lane
43. Scar City

    Joel Lane
44. The Woman In Me

    Britney Spears
45. At Lady Molly's

    Anthony Powell
46. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant

    Anthony Powell
47. The Kindly Ones

    Anthony Powell
48. Not A River

    Selva Almada
49. Mini Movies to Millions

    Daniel Edelstyn