I like to try and keep a record of novels, plays and short stories I read through the year as a nod to nostalgia and perhaps even as a personal recommendation to you reading this. As always, a few classic re-reads that I couldn’t resist and a few unexpected delights found on dusty bookshelves and quiet library floors. I’ve even painfully shortlisted my favourite five reads of the year, each marked with an asterisk.
Our Country’s Good – Timberlake Wertenbaker
Dennis Kelly: Plays One (Debris, After the End, Love and Money)
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing (Unfinished!)
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Matilda – Roald Dahl*
Chocolat – Joanne Harris
Warhorse – Michael Morpurgo
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
The Elephant Vanishes – Haruki Murakami*
Strange Pilgrims – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Empty Space – Peter Brooks
The Isle of Youth – Laura Van Den Berg*
The Slap – Christos Tsiolkas*
Notes on an Exhibition – Patrick Gale
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
The Humans – Matt Haig*
Kelly Punton 