I read 50 fiction books last year -- here are the ten best:

1) Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- sharp-edged caustic perceptions of modern America from a black Nigerian woman who combines superb writing with an in-depth probing of how young people come to make sense of a shifting world. Adichie finds hope for the future in the dynamic energy of the contradictions of Lagos -- and in the US social changes represented by Obama.

2) Five Star Billionaire, by Tash Aw -- focuses on another thrusting city, Shanghai, and the gritty lives of the migrants attracted to it to try to change their fates. This is a book about the enduring power of the past even when you try to run away, with a superbly structured plot that is veiled yet devastating. A nominee for the 2013 Man Booker prize.

3) MaddAddam, by Margaret Atwood -- the third volume in the author's trilogy about environmental threats to our world, this is a vivid modern version of Jonathan Swift, an allegory in which the human capacity for love and for story-telling defend us against extinction. Written vividly, with indelible characters, this will endure as a classic of world literature.

4) The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion -- this book is a delight, comic and touching at the same time. An eccentric genetics prof searches for a wife with a 16 page questionaire and meets a plucky woman with a mission to track DNA to reveal her secret father. Chaos ensues, love improbably sparkles, both sides fight against this fate -- and I found myself laughing out loud for minutes at a time as Simsion played with the consequent dilemma.

5) The Book of Stolen Tales, by D.J. McIntosh -- there has to be a mystery in any "Ten Best" list of mine, and this is an excellent one. John Madison is back, gritty and irreverent as ever, in a smoothly-written follow-up to The Witch of Babylon. A great melange of mystery, Mesopotamia, magic realism and grim commentary on the US in Iraq -- plus lots of fascinating insight on the roots of traditional fairy tales. You'll be waiting for volume three . . .

6) A Delicate Truth, by John le Carre -- this is also a fine suspense novel, but like many of the author's recent works, it's not so much a mystery as a piece of social and political criticism. The star, appropriately in the year of Edward Snowden, is a whistle-blower revealing a sordid British counter-terrorism failure which a grim private firm is trying to cover-up -- quite ruthlessly as it turns out. As always, le Carre seems to have the brooding tone and the subtexts just perfectly tuned in this book.

7) The Round House, by Louise Erdrich -- a call for action against the violence that Indian women suffer from non-Indian men, combined with a coming-of-age tale of Joe, the son of one such woman trying to avenge the attack on his mother (based on an actual incident in North Dakota in 1988.) This is a vibrantly written novel that won the 2012 US National Book Award for Fiction and brings alive a whole set of vivid characters around a driving plot. Erdrich is herself Indian through her mother's side.

8) The Garden of Evening Mists, by Tan Twan Eng -- a beautiful and multi-layered novel that explores the roles of memory, of love and of family in human life. Very powerful in its probing of the relationship between a young Malaysian woman (later to become a judge) and the Japanese gardener who had served the emperor as they work together to build a ceremonial garden in a remote rural area after World War Two. Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Asian Literary Prize for its contemplative insights.

9) The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton -- very notable as winner of 2013 Man Booker Prize plus Canadian Governor-General's Prize. A dramatic tapestry of vivid characters interacting in a historic saga of the New Zealand goldfields, with a wry backdrop of clever women mostly behind the scenes and shaping what really takes place. Skilled story-telling and fascinating social insights combine with an intricate structure based on astrology and phases of the moon.

10) Cataract City, by Craig Davidson -- set in the gritty working-class context of an Ontario city (Niagara Falls,) this is the sharp-edged story of two young men, one who becomes a policeman, while the other jumps into crime as his factory job is squeezed away. Yet in the end, their bonds pull them back together, pushed by traumatic experiences from their youth. This is a book about retribution, about risk-taking, about tragedy -- but also about friendship, presented with verve and gut energy. A nominee for Canada's 2013 Giller Prize.