Best books of 2013

Holidays are a good time to read, relax and laze about, but still, time is limited. So I am making a list for you of the best books I have read in 2013. This year I have read over 90 books, an all time high. Not all were good, not all memorable but the following are definitively worth reading. Happy holidays. Aluminé

The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich
Paint your Wife by Lloyd Jones
Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons
The Sense of an ending by Julian Barnes
Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris
The cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Serena by Ron Rash
The Cove by Ron Rash
How to stop a heart from beating by Jackie Ballantyne
One foot in Eden by Ron Rash
My Own country by Abraham Verghese
The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese
Infidel by Aayan Ali
On The Map by Simon Garfield
Blow on a Dead man's embers by Mari Strachan
Olivier and Parrot in America by Peter Carey
A History of food in 100 recipes by William Sitwell
Mortal Fire by Elizabeth Knox
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Skylark by Jenny Patrick
The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel
Lottery by Patricia Woods
Navigation by Joy Cowley
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Love Wins by Rob Bell
The Other side of the bridge by Mary Lawson
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Cutting for stone by Abraham Verghese
Can it, bottle it, smoke it by Karen Solomon
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Wake by Elizabeth Knox
Can it, bottle it, smoke it by karen Solomon

And the Mountains Echoed | Khaled Hosseini

If you are only going to read one novel this year, let it be this one.
Hosseini is the author of the famous Kite Runner, and then A Thousand Splendid Suns. And yet I think this is a much better book.
The structure of the book is masterful, he manages a whole screed of characters, interwoven with the main storyline in such a way that it is a fabulous read. It could have easily been a confusion, meandering mish-mash.

The story starts with Pari and Abdullah, two children in Afghanistan. They are with their father, a poor labourer who works tirelessly to be able to survive and keep his children fed. The three of them are walking to Kabul to see Uncle Nabi, who may have work for them.

We read between the lines and sense there is something more sinister going on, which remains hidden from the children until it is too late.

We follow the children as they grow up and this is where the structure of the book is so well managed. Pari and Abdullah's story is the hub of a wheel and the spokes are made up of other Afghanis who are expats or locals, living through the difficult history of that nation and who come in contact with the hub of the story.

Any more said would spoil the plot, but it is a  wonderful and incredibly well written novel. Thoroughly recommended.