With the year drawing to a close, so too is our Year in Reading series. We at The Millions would like to thank all of those who contributed to the series as well as all the helpful folks who assisted us in putting together such a great group of participants.
Though we are undoubtedly biased, it was a thrill to watch the series unfold this year. We discovered that Joshua Henkin liked a book by Charles D’Ambrosio, who liked a book by Nam Le, who liked a book by Toni Morrison. We discovered that two highly regarded authors (named Charles) were fans of Slash’s memoir this year. And we saw that many of our most admired writers were rediscovering (or discovering for the first time) literary legends like Saul Bellow, James Cain, Richard Brautigan, Anthony Trollope, Dostoevsky, Melville, and the aforementioned Toni Morrison.
We’d also like to thank all of our readers for a great year at The Millions. It was another year with more visitors than we’ve ever had before, but the numbers alone shed little light on the best aspects of The Millions this year, which came through in the edifying and enlightening discussion spearheaded and spurred on by our readers, guests, and regular contributors.
We’ll do a little roundup of some of the best posts at The Millions this year in a few days, but in the meantime, we’re going to take a breather from the breakneck pace of A Year in Reading.
As we enjoy the last few days of 2008, we invite all of you to take part in A Year in Reading by finishing this sentence in the comments or on your own blog: “The best book I read all year was…”
"The best book I read all year was… The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey.
The best book I read all year was… The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson.
The best book I read all year was… also Never Let Me Go by Kasuo Ishiguro. And the best new book was Netherland by Joseph O'Neill.
Infinite Jest
Mutis' Adventures…of Maqroll, thanks to The Millions!
Fiction: Stoner by John Williams.
Non-Fiction: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.
Poetry: Ooga-Booga by Friedrich Siegel.
year of publication irrelevant!
…not yet determined, because the year isn't over yet. I probably have another two books to go, and either of those could be brilliant.
Non-Fiction: American Shaolin by Matthew Polly
Fiction: His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman. (Ignore the movie.)
The best book I read all year was "The Good Brother," by Chris Offutt.
The best book I read [for the first time] all year was Ann Patchett's "Bel Canto"; the beest book I read [again] all year was Dickens's "Bleak House."
The best book I read all year comes out of this group:
The After Life by Kathleen Stewart
The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island by Chloe Hooper
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
Disquiet by Julia Leigh
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
The Other Side of You by Salley Vickers
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Sorry, can't separate them, all unforgettable.
Cheers to The Millions!
Fiction:
#1 Edgar Sawtelle, then in no order
Lush Life-Richard Price
Cellist of Sarajevo – Steven Galloway
Out Stealing Horses-Per Petterson
The Other – David Guterson
all 5 Ripleys – Patricia Highsmith
Tenderness of Wolves – Stef Penney
The English Major – Jim Harrison
Katherine Weber – Triangle and The Music Lesson
St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves – Karen Russell
Desertion – Abdulrazak Gurnah
currently: The Quiet Girl by Peter Hoeg–so far very good
Non Fiction:
The World Without Us – Alan Weisman
The Ghost Map – Steven Johnson
The End of Food – Paul Roberts
The Soloist – Steve Lopez
Enrique's Journey – Sonia Nazario
The Good Good Pig – Sy Montgomery
The Zookeeper's Wife – Diane Ackerman
Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
A Spring Wihtout Bees-Michael Schacker
Deep Economy – Bill McKibben
To See Every Bird on Earth – Dan Koeppel
The Horses of Proud Spirit – Melanie Bowles
I retired this year and my dream came true–unlimited reading time, averaging 13 books a month. Is this heaven or what?
…The Maytrees by Annie Dillard. There's a mini-review here: http://tobeconsumed.blogspot.com/2008/02/annie-dillards-maytrees.html
Thanks to many recommendations to this blog I may finish Netherland before the year is out, in which case it will be a tie for best.
My ten favs from '08:
1) Revolutionary Road
2) The Human Stain
3) The End of Vandalism
4) The Things They Carried
5) The Prince of the Marshes
6) On Chesil Beach
7) His Dark Materials trilogy
8) Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs
9) Mountains Beyond Mountains
10) The Audacity of Hope