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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

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My twelve favourite reads of 2017 #amreading

29/12/2017

8 Comments

 
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.

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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.

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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
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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.
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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.
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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.


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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.
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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?
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
8 Comments
Kate Evans
1/1/2018 01:53:13 pm

Thanks for this Anne. I will be posting about my 'year in books' next week - you are ahead of me! - and at least a couple of my reads have come from your recommendations. I do enjoy non-fiction and can recommend is Horatio Clare 'Down to the Sea in Ships' - which ably illustrates the complete madness of our consumerist society - if it needs illustrating. Here's to a creative 2018. Do let me know if you would like to come on my blog at some point, I am drawing up a tentative schedule.

Reply
Annecdotist
3/1/2018 05:24:25 pm

Thanks, Kate, I look forward to reading about your favourite reads of the year. Not sure that would work for me – fiction doesn’t make me quite so angry! I wonder what will happen to those ships now the Chinese aren’t accepting all our plastic. Maybe dump it on the beaches, although hopefully not yours.
My short story collection is out in November so that might be a good time to guest on your blog if that suits you. I’ll email you.
Happy New Year!

Reply
Kate Evans
4/1/2018 03:49:57 pm

Oh yes, do get in touch about the guest blog in November. Here's to a creative 2018 for both of us!

Charli Mills
1/1/2018 04:21:06 pm

And I believe I read most if not all your reviews, making me feel as if I stayed current on 2017 literary reading! I've long appreciated the value of reading your reviews to keep up on current affairs in between literature. I believe you do a service to both readers and writers. Thank you!

Reply
Annecdotist
3/1/2018 05:20:20 pm

Thank you, Charli, I really appreciate your support. Happy New Year!

Reply
Norah Colvin link
12/1/2018 06:12:17 am

How nice to see a review of your 2017 reading and reviews here, Anne. What a diversity of reading. I'm sure you do it again in 2018. Best wishes.

Reply
Annecdotist
13/1/2018 04:38:17 pm

Thanks, Norah, and for all your reading with me over the years.

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    Anne Goodwin's books on Goodreads
    Sugar and Snails Sugar and Snails
    reviews: 32
    ratings: 52 (avg rating 4.21)

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    ratings: 60 (avg rating 3.17)

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    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.56)

    GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4 GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4
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    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.44)

    The Best of Fiction on the Web The Best of Fiction on the Web
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 3 (avg rating 4.67)

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