Top 5 reads of 2013

I know it's only the beginning of December, and the festive season is just starting to kick into gear, but I don't want to wait until after Christmas to share with you my top five reads of 2013. 

After a bleak 2012 during which I did not read a five star book, (one day I am really going to go to town on the number of allegedly five star books in existence), 2013 brought me more joy, and a little difficulty when it came to narrowing the field to only five books. The battle for places was not as intense as I may be leading you to believe, however. I have read nineteen books altogether so far this year, and most of them were average - entertaining, interesting and definitely worth reading - but not outstanding. 

Without further ado, here are the five books I most enjoyed in 2013.





It's shocking and repulsive, intriguing and bizarre, and all gloriously factual, albeit coloured with cynicism and sarcasm. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18179458-girt

Such a magnificent literary tome surely begs, and should quite rightly and without equivocation receive a review of such extraordinary length, virtue and perspicacity, so as to render all other book reviews of spurious consequence. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3836.Don_Quixote




An epic saga told from three points of view, bursting with extraordinarily beautiful and powerful language, Frankenstein is a harrowing tale of two tormented souls. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18490.Frankenstein

Part mystery, part fantasy, part science fiction and all delivered with a good dose of humour.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15731639-above-his-station









   Time Flies is a laugh out loud collection of anecdotes about aging by a        great comedian. 

   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/186618.Time_Flies

EOFY Top 5 books

Most people do these kinds of lists at the end of the calendar year but I have a strange fascination with a new advertising phenomenon called End Of Financial Year (EOFY) marketing. Consumers are being urged to grab bargains before the end of the financial year because...there won't be any good deals available in the new financial year. It used to only apply to vehicles and the businesses who bought them in order to write off the purchase for taxation purposes. Now everyone's getting in on the act. Nevertheless, I digress.

I review most books that I read unless they are "bad". If I like it I review it. I review on Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2380830-d-a-cairns?page=1&shelf=read  and on purchase sites where applicable. Sometimes, I post reviews here on Square Pegs as well. I rarely award five stars and it is equally rare for me to not finish a book or, having managed to finish one I didn't really like, to not review it. Writers have a much different appreciation for books. I'm fussy in the sense that I am hard to impress, but not picky when it comes to what I read. I'll give just about anything a go, and I'll do so with an open mind.

What makes a "good" book for me, and I suspect for most serious readers, is emotional connection to at least one of the characters. If I don't care, the best a writer can hope for from me is three out of five. If it makes me laugh or cry, if it makes me lose track of time, if I re read a line or a paragraph because it was so good, if it teaches or inspires me, if it challenges me, if it speaks to me about myself...now we're talking. All of this is entirely subjective of course, and the interesting thing is that the book does not have to be especially well written, although strangely all of the books I give high ratings to are, in my opinion, very well written.

Without further ado, here are, in no particular order, the top 5 books that I read this financial year.

1. Above his Station by Darren Craske
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
3. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
4. No Regrets: A Rock and Roll Memoir by Ace Frehley
5. The Gallant (vol. 8 of The Australians) by William Stuart Long

What is the best book you have read this financial year? What makes a book 'good" ?