Amanda Patterson's Top Five Books of 2013


  1. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson – What if you could go back and start again? Beautifully written, with complex, interesting, and fulfilling characters. 
  2. Standing in Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin – Rebus is back. I never realised how much I missed him until I read this book. I never realised how much I missed the writing skills of Ian Rankin writing about Rebus. I do now.
  3. Levels of Life by Julian Barnes - The story of the profound love Barnes has for his wife, Pat Kavanagh, who died in 2008. It is also the story of the opposite of that love, which is a grief equal in depth.
  4. Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E. Thomas - The book is readable, as charming and seductive as the sociopath who is writing it
  5. Night Film by Marisha Pessl - Beautifully-written. Pessl’s intelligence shines through her words. She is profound and funny. This psychological mystery and thriller is vivid, mind-bending and makes you wonder about everything.

I want to mention three books I loved by South African Authors: Back to the Bush by James Hendry - If you simply want to read good South African fiction & The Space Race by Alex Latimer - The novel is a funny, thrilling, completely South African caper & A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz - Schwarz creates a Steampunk world that includes history, magic, alchemy, romance, and fantasy.