I’ve read 55 books this year. This is feeble compared to numbers read by professional readers of books, but the best I’ve managed since I was a child (when I read far more quickly than I do now).

I read @jonathancoe's #MrWilderAndMe in a sitting & would've happily read it again instantly. Sarah Moss's #SUMMERWATER is her funniest book by far, and Maggie O'Farrell's #HAMNET (recommeded me by Sarah Moss) is a lesson in historical fiction done well.

Brilliant biographies and memoirs this year: @TheReacherGuy by @drheathermartin (stunning!), #IWannaBeYours by @official_jcc (fucking hilarious), #RambleBook by Adam Buxton (endearing as the podcast).

Talking of funny books, I really recommend @SueClarkAuthor's #NoteToBoy (a stablemate at @unbounders to my 2018 effort). I won't have read two @LevParikian books - not quite - but #IntoTheTangledBank was the most enjoyable nature writing of the year.

So many more... Fellow Midlander @wurdsmyth's feelgood media-industry romance #OurStory. The end of Ali Smith's amazing Four Season's sequence, #Summer. Joseph O'Connor's riproaring tale of behind-the-scenes at the Lyceum with Bram Stoker and Henry Irving, #Shadowplay...

Read all of these as well. #WolfHall was a set text in my MA, and the first book I read in 2020. What an extraordinary accomplishment. #BringUpTheBodied #TheMirrorAndTheLight