class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">There is more fiction than non-fiction on this list, but that’s only because my non-fiction reading this year has been dominated by a succession of esoteric obsessions. I encountered some very good books that way, but the mini-reviews for all of them would have gone something like “A good book if you happen to be interested in Albania/imperial Russia/Japanese fiction/the British Raj/post-colonial Africa.” I have chosen instead to concentrate on books that appeal to the general reader. I have also omitted books already reviewed on this blog, otherwise The Adventures of Sumiyakist Q, Letters from Russia, The Stammering Century, An Ambiguous Adventure, and Mike Hoare’s Congo memoirs all would have made the cut.