So, my grand plans for participating in the blogosphere regularly and in earnest this year have gone the way most of my New Year’s resolutions go: absolutely nowhere. In the first week of January I found myself suddenly with 5 jobs, and sadly wasn’t even able to post the last of my 2012 lists. So, because I still have not had time to do proper capsule reviews for my favourite literary reads of the year, I am just going to give you the list. If you trust my judgement, you should definitely pick these up. If you don’t trust my judgement (yet, because it is just a matter of time, really), you should look these titles up and get more feedback. I have no reservations at all in whole-heartedly endorsing every book on this list. They might offer something quite different from one another, but each title is moving and interesting or innovative in its own way. These are the books I would like to force on all my friends:
The Other City – Michal Ajvaz
Dublinesque – Enrique Vila-Matas
Varamo – César Aira
The Following Story – Cees Nooteboom
Spilt Milk – Chico Buarque
The Ocean Sea – Alessandro Barrico
The Man Who Walked Through Walls – Marcel Aymé
Man in the Holocene – Max Frisch
Circus Bulgaria – Deyan Enev
Train Dreams – Denis Johnson
Glaciers – Alexis M. Smith
Radio Iris – Anne-Marie Kinney
Tell the Wolves I’m Home – Carol Rifka Brunt
The Emperor of Paris – C.S. Richardson
Love and the Mess We’re In – Stephen Marche
Let me know if you agree. If not, that’s great too, because one of my favourite things about literature is that encourages debate and discussion. Happy reading!
The Wandering Bibliophile 
Hi Nat,
I’ve been scrolling through your reading lists and love that I do not know more than a few of these – time to bibliowander I guess.Nooteboom was a favourite a few years back – standout for me was All Soul’s Day.
Hi Paul! How are you? Hope all is well. I haven’t read all Soul’s Day yet, so I’ll have to pick that up soon. I really enjoyed The Following Story and have read a couple others. What have you been reading lately? I miss having folks around for book chats.