| I’ve read 150 books this year (the image shows only a selection); according to Goodreads that’s 40,927 pages, with an average rating of 3.5. That’s slightly more books, but fewer pages, than last year. All but nine of this year’s reads were fiction, of which 19 (13% – slightly down on last year) are translations. An analysis of my first 100 reads found 71% were from independent publishers. Enough with the figures, let’s take a closer look at the year’s overall favourites. |  |
 |  | It’s no surprise there’s no non-fiction among my favourites, but plaudits to Ghachar Ghochar, about an ordinary Indian family that maintains its well-being through “selective acts of blindness and deafness”, for representing novels in translation. Another one-off is Leone Ross’s sizzling short story collection, Come Let Us Sing Anyway, one of only five short fiction anthologies I read this year. |
| Equally quirky is Xan Brooks’ debut, The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times, a mix of fairytale and nightmare, yet told with great compassion, set five years after the end of the First World War. John Boyne’s The Heart’s Invisible Furies also combines tenderness and comedy in a picaresque romp through the recent history of Catholic Ireland from the perspective of a gay man. |  |  |
 |  | The Trout also visits Ireland’s shameful secrets via the writer husband of one of the most credible fictional therapists I’ve encountered so far. The protagonist of In Extremis sees a therapist, but I appreciated this novel more for its close-up and personal depiction of life as it really is, in all its physical and mental messiness. |
| Not generally a fan of the fast-paced thriller, I nevertheless loved Epiphany Jones, with its themes of mental health, sex trafficking and the emptiness of Hollywood. I suppose I do appreciate |  |  |  |
serious subjects, especially when they’re tackled with dexterity and aplomb, which is why two other debuts, Homegoing, about the slave trade, and Mischling, about Mengele’s perverted doctoring in Auschwitz, well deserve a place on my favourites shelf.
 |  |  | Racism is one of the minor themes of Johannesburg, Fiona Melrose’s homage to Mrs Dalloway via a portrait of contemporary South Africa on the day Nelson Mandela’s death is announced. |
Two novels on my favourites shelf are extremely claustrophobic tales of communities founded on misogyny: in The Natural Way of Things it’s a cruel correction centre for women who have made the mistake of believing they are entitled to the same freedoms as men; in Gather the Daughters, another debut novel, it’s a theocracy built on a rejection of modernity.
Given that topic, I’m relieved half of the authors I’ve featured are women and a quarter, as far as I can make out, are people of colour. Independent presses big and small are responsible for just over half of my favourites with my first read from Peepal Tree, along with extremely satisfying revisits to Faber and Faber, Orenda, Atlantic, Salt, Sandstone, Allen & Unwin. Thanks to all the publicists who provide my review copies.
| As a quarter of my favourites were reviewed in December, I’m also glad I left this until almost the end of the year. You can check out the rest of this month’s reviews by clicking on the image. |  |
Finally, congratulations to In Extremis by Tim Parks and Charlotte Wood’s The Natural Way of Things for making my World Toilet Day compilation. Surely there’s no better accolade, but if you’re interested in themed quotes from novels in general, do check out my new web page.
Finally finally, thanks for reading and for following my reviews. For an overview of my own writing year, in which my second novel, Underneath, was published, follow that link. What were your own favourite reads of 2017?
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