Best of 2008

I love reading best of the year lists. As each year ends, you'll find my buying the Sunday editions of newspapers I rarely read just to see what each critic has picked for their top ten. I still read the top ten movies, though I only go to two or three a year these days. Now that I have this little blog, I get to publish my own list, too.

Because of this blog, I've been reading much more than ever before. My total for this year came in at 103 books. (This does not include books I started by didn't finish even if I was only a chapter or two away from the end. Nor does it double count books I read twice in preparation for author interviews. I've only included short story anthologies that I finished. I did include books for the novella challenge.) For those of you who love statistics like these, as I do, here they are:

Fiction 60
Classics 16
Young Adult 30
Non-Fiction 5

Total 103

Some books counted in more than one category.

I'm not going to lay any claims as to which book is the best. Some of them, like Candide, have already stood the test of time, several centuries in fact, so claiming they're better or not as good as a contemporary novel seems a bit specious. And honestly, Young Adult fiction, even at it's best, can rarely compete with great adult fiction like The Ghost Road due to the fact that it is written for teenagers. So, what follows is a list of my favorite reads for 2008; books that I enjoyed and will probably keep on my To-Be-ReRead shelf.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: I've read this book with my students every year for several years and I've yet to tire of it. At this point I could almost recite it by heart which would probably be lots of fun.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan: If you don't have children, you probably do not read picture books. That's too bad because you're missing a wonderful book. The Arrival is a book with no words but it's also a book worth re-reading.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party and The Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson: A two volume novel that is simply the best piece of historical fiction I've read in many years. Inventive, detailed, imaginative, realistic, exciting. Full of historical information usually kept safely locked away from prying eyes.

Candide by Voltaire: Probably the funniest book I read this year. Some of the jokes require footnotes now due to the passage of time, but unfortunately for us, Voltaire's novel still has much to say about men and the civilizations they build. Its satire still packs quite a punch and can still leave you laughing.

Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey: If you're a fan of fantasy, then you owe it to yourself to read this book. If you're not a fan, then this just might be the fantasy for you.

Regeneration; The Eye in the Door; The Ghost Road by Pat Barker: Three books that should really be read as one novel. I found Ms. Barker's story of World War I soldiers fascinating and touching. I also found them very hard to put down.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick: It's my contention that all of the interesting experimentation in form is currently going on in literature for young adults and children. Look no further than Mr. Selznick's wonderful combination of prose and pictures for proof. And for a very good read.

The Lost German Slave Girl by John Bailey: A wonderfully readable non-fiction account of Sally Miller, a young slave in New Orleans who claimed to be German and took her owners to court to prove it. Part history, part mystery.

Resistance by Owen Sheers: A true literary thriller. The writing, the characters, the themes are all worthy of high literature, and the story is as compelling as the best airport thriller.

Saints of Augustine by P.E. Ryan: My favorite young adult novel of the year. Touching and funny. You'll find my interview with the author here.

Away by Amy Bloom: I read this book twice this year, a second time in preparation for an interview with the author. So that's my recommendation--I read it twice in one year and thoroughly enjoyed it both times.

Send Me by Patrick Ryan: I find I've been haunted by this book since I read it in preparation for an interview with the author who also writes young adult novels under the name P.E. Ryan. Of all the books listed this year, Send Me is one of the few I am absolutely certain I will re-read.

Honorable Mentions go to: Boy A by Jonathan Trigell, Capote in Kansas by Kim Powers, The Children of Men by P.D. James, Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, Freakshow by James Saint James, The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrook, Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, They Shoot Horses Don't They by Horace McCoy, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and Wise Blood by Flannery O'Conner.