The best novel I read this year: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

I loved this big, bold novel. It follows a group of friends from their teen years at a summer camp in the 1970s through to middle age in the present day. It traces the evolving relationships among the group, the secrets they keep from one another and the impact of one person being more successful than another on a friendship. I fell in love with the characters in the early chapters, and eagerly followed their lives as the novel crisscrossed through the years.

I highly recommend this book for readers who love contemporary American literature. It is the kind of book that gets you thinking about ideas, life and friendship. Saying that, it’s not a challenging read, which would make it the perfect novel to read while lounging by the pool or relaxing on the beach this summer. (Warning: it is a hardback, so a little bit of heavy lifting is involved. But it’s worth it!)

The novel that made me cry: Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

is set across one day of Billy’s life. He’s a young soldier who has returned home from Iraq a hero, and he and his unit are attending the Super Bowl before being shipped back to Iraq. The narrative follows Billy through the highs and lows of his day, as well as delving into his memories of his time in Iraq and his time with his family.

There’s a particular scene in this book, involving Billy and his family, that made me cry a lot. It was utterly wrenching. Billy reminds me a little of Matt Saracen from Friday Night Lights, or Henry Skrimshander from The Art of Fielding (one of my favourite novels of 2012!): he’s the kind of young man you want to protect from the world, and the kind of character guaranteed to make me cry.

The novel I loved that everyone else hated: Tampa by Alissa Nutting

Tampa

is a novel about a female teacher in her mid-twenties who embarks on a relationship with one of her fourteen-year-old male students. Sexually explicit, darkly funny and occasionally very gross, this is a book I enjoyed. Celeste Price is a sick, crazy psychopath and I found her to be a fascinating character. In my review, I said it was ‘well written, engaging and wildly entertaining’.

For comparison, here are some quotes from randomly sourced online reviews that didn’t like the book: ‘total crap’, ‘messed up’, ‘Ugh… I’m nauseous!’, ‘This is the first time I’ve had the urge to burn a book!’, ‘you’ll need to take a shower after this one’, ‘I like my social satire with fewer penises and vaginas’, ‘possibly the nastiest book I’ve read…I feel soiled having read it’, ‘skeezy, sleezy gross’, ‘I’d advise against reading it. It’s cluttering your mind with perversions’, ‘I was frequently tempted to toss it in the trash’ and ‘total shit’.

So…you’ve been warned?

The novel I couldn’t finish (because it gave me bad dreams): The Never List by Koethi Zan

I’m not normally a baby when it comes to books. I’ve read my fair share of crime. But this book about a woman who was kidnapped, tortured and kept underground (along with three other women) really got under my skin. A few chapters in and I was starting to hestitate about whether I wanted to read any further. Then I had a nightmare about it, and decided, nope, I’m putting it aside. Life’s too short for nightmares.

That said, it’s an engaging book. Our reviewer describes it as ‘tense and horrifying’. My mother, an avid crime reader, highly recommends it. So if you are tougher than me, you’ll enjoy it.

The funnest novel I read this year: Penelope by Rebecca Harrington

I should say first up, this book definitely won’t be to everyone’s taste. Rebecca Harrington has a very particular style of writing (especially dialogue) that could quickly become grating to some. But I love a college campus novel, and this one is fairly delightful. The main character, Penelope, is embarking on her first year at Harvard. She’s socially awkward and rather odd. As a reader, you keep wanting her to do better, but she never quite does, and that’s half the charm of the novel – Penelope doesn’t really fit in, now or ever, and that’s okay.

To get a sense of the author’s deadpan style, you can read articles by her on the New York Magazine site.

Nina Kenwood