My Top Six Novels of 2012

We're only a few days into the new year, but I've been totally absorbed by a number of captivating novels since Christmas. I'm in the midst of a reading spree and every spare moment is spent racing through the stories. Here are my top six. I'd highly recommend the top two.

1. The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton - the most poetic, cryptic, imaginative fantasy written since 1843. It's barely intelligible but it doesn't matter because the dense prose is such a joy, each sentence is worth reading on its own.

2.  Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock - a lyrical, deep and moving story of ancient haunted forests inhabited by otherworldly beings

3. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. I've not quite finished this one (because it's on someone else's Kindle e-reader), but it's a classic. No need to say more.

4. The Book of Dave by Will Self - a racist London taxi-driver's diary is discovered in coming centuries and revered as a new bible. A cult grows up based on his rants and ravings and mundane life.

5. Hal Spacejock by Simon Haynes - sometime hilarious space opera

6. Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes - a virtual reality theme park featuring a murder mystery. Written in the early 1980s it was way ahead of its time, yet scientifically 100% plausible.