The list of books I have read during 2023. A hyperlink on a book title will lead to a review, a hyperlink on an author will lead to an author’s biography. Authors are listed by A-Z of surname. This list will obviously become more populated as the year goes on.

A

• The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

B

• The Middle Kingdom – Andrea Barrett
• The Triple Echo – HE Bates
• Exit – Belinda Bauer
• Carrie’s War – Nina Bawden
• The Wombles – Elizabeth Beresford
• John Betjeman Selected Poems – John Betjeman (edited by Hugo Williams)
• Paddington At Work – Michael Bond
• The Lost Continent – Bill Bryson

C

• The Trouble with Goats and Sheep – Joanna Cannon
• Nottinghamshire Folk Tales – Pete Castle

D

• The Pachinko Parlour – Elisa Shua Dusapin
• Magpie – Elizabeth Day
• Breakthrough – Daphne Du Maurier

E

• The Black Ball – Ralph Ellison

F

• A Fool’s Alphabet – Sebastian Faulks
• The Wych Elm – Tana French

G

• Caraval – Stephanie Garber
• Television was a Baby Crawling Toward that Deathchamber – Allen Ginsberg
• The Diddakoi – Rumer Godden

H

• How to Stop Time – Matt Haig
• The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah
• The House by the Lake – Thomas Harding
• Clay – Melissa Harrison
• Out of Silence – John Harvey

I

• Strange Shores – Arnaldur Indridason

J

• The Happiest Man on Earth – Eddie Jaku
• Moominvalley in November – Tove Jansson
• Heatwave – Victor Jestin

K

• The Great Hunger – Patrick Kavanagh
• Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Tales from the Cafe – Toshikazu Kawaguchi
• Burial Rites – Hannah Kent
• Letter from Birmingham Jail – Martin Luther King Jr
• The Legend of the Sleepers – Daniel Kis
• Notes on an Execution – Danya Kukafka

L

• The Three Electroknights – Stanislaw Lem
• Karlson on the Roof – Astrid Lindgren
• The Ghost of Thomas Kempe – Penelope Lively
• The Body in the Mist – Nick Louth
• The Body in the Stairwell – Nick Louth

M

• Faceless Killers – Henning Mankell
• Under Attack – Edward Marston
• The Snowdonia Killings – Simon McCleave
• The Red House Mystery – A A Milne
• A Medal for Leroy – Michael Morpurgo
• War Horse – Michael Morpurgo
• Private Peaceful – Michael Morpurgo
• Billy the Kid – Michael Morpurgo
• The Elephant in the Garden – Michael Morpurgo
• Arthur High King of Britain – Michael Morpurgo
• The Black Mountain – Kate Mosse
• Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries – Kate Mosse
• After the Quake – Haruki Murakami

N

• Blood on Snow – Jo Nesbo
• The Mind’s Eye – Hakan Nesser
• The Veiled Woman – Anais Nin
• Collected Poems Volume One – Henry Normal
• Loving Sabotage – Amelie Nothomb
• The Silk House – Kayte Nunn

O

• Notes on Nationalism – George Orwell
• The Man Who Died Twice – Richard Osman

P

• The Custard Heart – Dorothy Parker
• The Firework-Maker’s Daughter – Philip Pullman

Q

• Stairway to Doom – Robert Quackenbush

R

• Till September Petronella – Jean Rhys
• Daughters of the House – Michele Roberts
• The Summer That Never Was – Peter Robinson
• Holy Island – LJ Ross

S

• A Certain Smile – Francoise Sagan
• The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton – Elizabeth Speller
• Food – Gertrude Stein
• Anything is Possible – Elizabeth Strout
• Red Sky at Night – Jane Struthers

T

• The Daughter of Time – Josephine Tey
• Miscellany One – Dylan Thomas

U

V

• Begars Abbey – VL Valentine
• The Dressmaker’s Gift – Fiona Valpy

W

• The Optimist’s Daughter – Eudora Welty
• Charlotte’s Web – E B White
• The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead
• The Chrysalids – John Wyndham

X

Y

Z

ANTHOLOGIES

• The Anthology of English Folk Tales – Various (edited by Nicola Guy)
• Demos Rising – Various
• Michael Rosen’s A to Z – Various (edited by Michael Rosen)
• Poems for Refugees – Various (edited by Pippa Haywood)
• Up the Garden Path – Various (edited by Laura Stoddart)
• Three Japanese Short Stories – Nagai Kafu, Uno Koji and Akutagawa Ryunosuke
• All for Love – Various (edited by Laura Stoddart)
• Off the Beaten Track – Various (edited by Laura Stoddart)