The Liszts by Kyo Maclear & Júlia Sardà

One of the most beautiful books of the year features a family who are in the throes of hypergraphia and seem to be ripped from the pages of Edward Gorey and Tove Jansson.

That they spend their days making eclectic lists is a plus. That the book opens to a list of Bowie Songs and Shades of Black is another plus. That it breaks the mold of conventional picturebook narrative structure and presents the reader with some big existential and illogical questions is another example of Reasons to Love This Book.

It nails its colours (mostly black) to the mast and celebrates the obsessive-compulsive and the offbeat and the uninvited guest in all our lives. Warning: may induce glazomania.