Favourite books of 2012

I am a list maker, and for many years I have recorded the books I read in a year. At the end of the year I tally up how many I read, and think about my favourites. This, of course leads to another list! So favourites for 2012, and in no particular order:

Anna Funder: All that I am

John Fowles: The French Lieutenant’s Woman. (One I had read many years ago, and enjoyed as much second time around. I liked the way he played around with the concept of a novel. I also watched the film again.) 

Jennifer Egan: A visit from the goon squad

Joanne Harris: The lollipop shoes. (I read a few of hers this year, sparked off by a visit to France. All of them are good reads, but this was my favourite. The characters from Chocolat were there, living in Paris.)

Bernd Heinrich: The snoring bird (I thought I was an avid reader of books with a natural history theme, but it turns out this was one of only a few I read in 2012. Heinrich’s autobiography follows his idiosyncratic father’s life from pre-war Poland and Heinrich’s own development as a scientist.)

Alex Millar: Autumn Laing

Paula McLain: The Paris wife 

Helen O’Neill: Florence Broadhurst (Another biography. Florence reinvented herself a number of times in her life and eventually became a wallpaper designer and manufacturer in Sydney in the 70’s. She was brutally murdered in 1977.)

Teresa Waugh: The house

But my favourite for the year, and up there in my list of All Time Favourites is

Elliot Perlmann: The street sweeper

What were your favourites? What would you would recommend to an avid reader?