Favorite Books of 2022

I decided to just do a Top 10 and not separate fiction from nonfiction this year. Nonfiction definitely dominates the list. 2022 wasn't a great year for me for fiction.

My favorites in no particular order:

1. Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be, by Nichole Perkins. Her collection of essays about love, life and young adulthood was moving, genuine and very relatable for me. I love her voice and can't wait to read more.
2. When They Come for Us, We;ll be Gone, by Gal Beckerman. This book was about the effort to get Soviet Jews out of the Soviet Union. It alternated between efforts within the Soviet Union to mobilize and motivate Jewish people and the efforts of American activists and politicians to convince Soviet regimes from the 1960s forward to allow them to leave. It was page-turning and fascinating and filled in a lot of gaps for me.
   
3. After All, by Edward St. Aubyn. St. Aubyn's finale to his Patrick Melrose series was fitting and moving and wonderful. What a rewarding experience it was to read this series, which I recommend highly to all readers of adult fiction but please be warned about the extreme unlikeableness of some/most of the characters.
   
4. Summer Half, by Angela Thirkell. A delightful little trifle. If you think adult fiction is just depressed people having affairs you should read more Thirkell.
   
5. Catherine the Great, by Robert K. Massie. Fascinating biography of one of the great women of world history by a masterful, engaging writer.
   
6. The Pisces, by Melissa Broder. One of my emo favorites, a great comfort read but not for everyone please.
   
7. Birthday, by César Aira. If I read an Aira (and I always will) it will end up on my favorites list because it has to. If you know, you know- and if you don't, what are you waiting for?
   
8. The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese. Beautiful, heartbreaking novel by a writer who consistently knocks it out of the park. Look for it in late May.
   
9. El Chapo, by Noah Hurowitz. Alternately depressing and page-turning, I keep coming back to this when I think about my favorite books of 2022. Great true-crime about the Mexican drug trade and the costs on both sides of the border.
   
10. The Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers. Wonderful and more modern than I expected, this coming of age story from the author of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is one of the best things I've ever read.
    

What were your favorites this year? I don't like doing posts about what I'm looking forward to, because then I never end up reading those books and I feel like a fraud. Lol.

My "Auto-Buy" Authors

Fall book season is coming up which means lots of A-list releases are on their way.

Do you have authors whose books you will buy as soon as you see them, or without even knowing anything about the book? Like, even if you weren't planning on buying anything but you see the latest release by so-and-so, you basically just march right up to the register or drop it your online cart?

I have a few.

Margaret Atwood. My favorites of hers include Alias Grace and The Blind Assassin. I also collect her first editions and have been trying to get them all signed.

A.S.Byatt. One of my favorite all-time writers, I've been reading her since college and did my honors thesis on one of her short stories. She hasn't had a novel in a long time and I'm not sure she will again but she did just release a collection of greatest-hits short stories. Even though I have all of them in their original publications, I got it anyway.

David Grossman. The great Israeli author never disappoints. I remember when I worked at the New England Mobile Book Fair he showed up one morning to sign stock and I lost my you-know-what because no one told us and I didn't have anything for him to sign. The horror!

Jeanette Winterson. Her books are always so different and unexpected but also always wonderful. 

Ben Macintyre. His nonfiction about the world of espionage and war is always riveting and any new book of his is a special occasion. Plus my father in law and I have a little Ben Macintyre book club going so I have to keep up.

Ludmila Ulitskaya and Ludmilla Petrushevskaya. My favorite Russian writers. Very different but never disappointing.

Angela Thirkell. I'm trying to collect all of her Barsetshire novels and I'll snap up any new ones I can find. 

David Sedaris. Goes without saying that I'm going to get my favorite memorist's latest no matter what. Preferably on audio.

Cesar Aira. Always a must-read. And his books are usually short, so no excuses.

Massimo Carlotto. The King of Mediterranean Noir is an auto-buy for sure.

I'd add John Williams to the list but he's dead and I have all his books.

I'd probably also add Melissa Broder, Jean-Patrick Manchette, Robert Kolker, Patrick Radden Keefe and Deesha Philyaw to that list too but they are pretty recent favorites.

Some favorites whose books I often buy but don't always include Ian McEwan, Kristen Arnett, Ottessa Moshfegh, Patrick deWitt and Elizabeth McCracken, although I might need to bump her up to the auto-buy list after the magnificent Bowlaway.

2018 Favorites

2018 was a so-so year of reading. One of my goals, which I accomplished, was to really dig into my collection of hardcover fiction and nonfiction; I have moved house twice in the last five years, and there were a lot of things that frankly I don't want to have to move again. So I spent some time late in 2017 grouping all of my hardcover fiction together and started reading it bedside, since I don't like lugging hardcovers around in my purse. I read a whole bunch! I read things that have been sitting on my shelf for ten years. And some of those books were great, but a lot of them went into the sell pile after 50-100 pages.

So a bunch of the fiction wasn't that thrilling. But some of it was, and since I didn't write a lot of reviews this year I'll tell you about those now.

I also wanted to read more nonfiction by and about women, and I did that, too. This was much more successful and some of my favorite reads of the year were stories about and by women I read because I made the time to do so.

*Drumrolllllll*

Favorite Fiction of 2018

My Cat Yugoslavia, by Patjim Statovici. Surreal and strange and almost impossible to summarize, it's about immigration, coming of age, marriage, finding love and finding yourself. It covers two generations of an Albanian family from the Balkans to Scandinavia.

Buddha, by Osamu Tezuka. Reading Tezuka's 8-volume
manga series about the live of Buddha is something I've wanted to do for years and it is so incredibly worth it. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Never Mind and Mother's Milk, by Edward St. Aubyn. The first and fourth volumes of the Patrick Melrose series are my favorites- but I have #5 still to go. St. Aubyn's writing is precise, crystalline and tight; every word counts, and boy do those words add up. His characters are pretty awful, but his style, insight and character-building can't be beat.

Waiting for Tomorrow, by Nathacha Appanah. Appanah wowed me a few years ago with The Last Brother, and her followup didn't disappoint, about a couple living in France who hires a nanny from the wife's native country of Mauritius and the fallout.

The Devoted, by Blair Hurley. This is a very well-crafted, psychologically astute story of a late-twenties coming of age, set in NYC and Boston, about a young woman leaving an emotionally complicated relationship and building a life for herself.

Babel Tower, by A.S. Byatt. The third of Byatt's Frederica Potter series may be my favorite, although it's been about 20 years since I read the first two. Frederica is married and leaving her husband, taking her young son into a new life for both of them.

Women Talking, and All My Puny Sorrows, by Miriam Toews. Both novels based on real-life situations, Toews writes about women's lives with clarity and tenderness. Women Talking is about the fallout from a series of rapes in a Mennonite community in Bolivia; Sorrows is about a young writer's relationship with her talented, mercurial and suicidal sister. Both are wonderful.

Favorite Nonfiction of 2018

Code Girls, by Liza Mundy. This is a fascinating and addictive story of the American women who broke codes during World War 2, a story I knew nothing about. Women came from all over the country and every background you can think of to help the war effort with their mathematical, linguistic and mechanical skills. It's a story that needs to be told.

Sargent's Women, by Donna Luce
y. Lucey gives us insight into the lives of privileged Gilded Age women through mini-biographies of four who intersected with famed portraitist John Singer Sargent. I loved this peek into women whose lives took very different paths.

Calypso, by David Sedaris. Sedaris's latest memoir is moving, sad and hilarious, about growing older and living with the life you've made. He has done pretty well for himself, but that doesn't mean there isn't tragedy, or loss, alongside his phenomenal success as a writer.

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, by Samantha Irby. By far the best time I had listening to a memoir this year, Irby's book is also moving, hilarious and sometimes sad, but with more of an emphasis on the funny. That said she tackles some tough stuff too, like her difficult relationship with her mother, that I found touching and real. And that poor cat. Good Lord, that poor cat.

Queer City, by Peter Ackroyd. Ackroyd's book takes us
through a history of London through the eyes of gay history and it's a really interesting and unexpected read. I enjoy Ackroyd's books about London and this is a great addition to his bookshelf.

I'm already picking my next reads for 2019. What did you love in 2018? What are you looking forward to? Tell me in the comments!

2017 Favorites

2017 was not a banner year of reading for me. I was frequently distracted, busy, running around and just not reading. And I read a lot of clunkers. But the year is winding down and it's time for my annual favorites.

What I will say is that I read a lot of excellent nonfiction. My original favorites list was eight titles, whittled down to five for balance. Fiction was tougher for me. I read a lot of TBR dust bunnies that should have been weeded. And found some treasures too.  But I kept on reading as best as I could. Here are my favorite reads this year, five fiction and five nonfiction.

Fiction

Made for Love, by Alissa Nutting. I just loved this edgy and offbeat novel about a runaway wife and a gigolo attracted to dolphins. Nothing goes the way you think, and yet it all works out, somehow. 2017 release.

Beautiful Animals, by Lawrence Osborne. If you love literary fiction and you're not reading Lawrence Osborne, it's
really time to start. His latest is a firecracker about the refugee crisis in the form of a taut thriller about a scam that goes very very wrong. 2017 release.

See What I Have Done, by Sarah Schmidt. This is just a terrific page-turning thriller based on a real life murder, the case of Lizzie Borden. No big surprises here but a tight, moody story to keep you up at night. 2017 release.

The Literary Conference, by César Aira. Haha the best. I love César. I just love his stuff so much. If you like Carlos Fuentes you may have strong feelings about this story of a mad scientist and his project that goes very very wrong.

Dinner, by César Aira. If you didn't get enough already, indulge in this sweet treat about the zombie apocalypse.

Nonfiction

In the Land of Invented Languages, by Arika Okrent. Fascinating and fun story of languages that people made up, and how they fared, or didn't. I started learning Esperanto after reading it. Maybe you'll want to learn Klingon or Lojban.

The Romanov Sisters, by Helen Rappaport. This is a sad but also engrossing story of the four doomed daughters of the last czar of Russia.

Theft by Finding, by David Sedaris. I did this one on audio
and I recommend that you do, too. Audio is the best way to experience Sedaris's humor and storytelling flair. This volume excerpts his diaries from 1977-2002. I can't wait for the next compendium. 2017 release.

American Gypsy, by Oksana Marafioti. I loved this coming-of-age-in-America
story about a young Roma girl who comes to Los Angeles from Russia in the 1980s. Charming and fun.

A Very Expensive Poison, by Luke Harding. Read this for a gripping and horrible story about what happened to one man who crossed Vladimir Putin. 2017 release.

Stay tuned for the annual statistical recap, coming soon.

My Favorite Reads of 2016

2016 has been kind of a lackluster reading year for me. Personally 2016 has been pretty good; we bought a condo, I got a job in a local bookstore and I've messed around with background acting and even shown up on TV once or twice. But reading? Meh. I've been reading at a slower pace than usual and loving less than usual of what I've been reading. Which is not to say I haven't found some favorites. In no particular order here they are. Links are to my reviews.

2016 Releases I Loved 

Baba Dunja's Last Love. Alina Bronsky's latest is her best since Broken Glass Park, a bittersweet story about a Chernobyl survivor and her black-comedic search for meaning, dignity and family.

The City of Mirrors, Justin Cronin's finale to his show-stopping trilogy is a fitting ending to a series destined to be a classic.

The Pirate, Jon Gnarr's coming of age story set in 1970s Iceland is funny, heartbreaking and wonderful.

Charlotte Bronte: A Fiery Heart, Claire Harman's page-turning and fascinating biography of one of my favorite writers is now one of my favorite books.

Best of the Backlist

The Crossroads/As God Commands, by Niccolo Ammaniti is an amazing, emotionally shattering read.

The Passage, is the first book in Justin Cronin's Passage trilogy and one of my all-time favorites.

The Sparrow. Mary Doria Russell's literary-science fiction epic is a tough book but worth the effort.

Chocolates for Breakfast, by Pamela Moore, is a better-than-expected coming of age story set in California and New York.

Places of My Infancy, by Giuseppe di Lampedusa is beautiful and sweet memoir about his privileged Sicilian childhood.

A Man of Good Hope, by Jonny Steinberg, is a tremendous piece of journalism and biography set in Africa and the United States and essential reading in my opinion,

The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith, kept me turning the pages like mad and marveling at her brilliant prose and grasp of the psychology of madness.

Empire of the Summer Moon, by S.G. Gwynne, is an immersive if too-short history of the fall of the Comanches and their charismatic standard-bearer, Quanah Parker.

So there, that gets me to twelve favorites in no particular order. What were your favorites of 2016? And what are you looking forward to reading next?

My Favorite Reads of 2015

It's been a great year of reading, with old favorites and some new-to-me writers making the list. Ludmila Ulitskaya is virtually guaranteed a place on any of my best lists, and the big deal for me this year was the end of Amitav Ghosh's Ibis Trilogy with the magnificent Flood of Fire. But I fit in a lot of books in 2015 and there might even be time for one or two more before the end.

But for now in no particular order, here are my favorite reads of the year.

Flood of Fire, by Amitav Ghosh. I'll admit parts of this chunkster were a slog, but overall it was a fantastic end to a fantastic series, the capstone to a significant literary achievement. The Ibis Trilogy, of which this is the final volume, is incredible, immersive historical fiction and a must-read for literary readers. Start with Sea of Poppies and finish here. Ghosh tells the story of the First Opium War and the founding of the modern world via the opium trade through the adventures of a large and varied cast of characters. Read it, get lost in it, love it. (2015)

The Big Green Tent, by Ludmila Ulitskaya. Ulitskaya's latest is also immersive historical fiction, written in the style of interlocked short stories, about a group of friends whose lives she charts through 20th century Russia. So much to enjoy here. She's a top-shelf writer whom more people should be reading. (2015)

How the Dead Dream, by Lydia Millet. Millet is like Margaret Atwood before she went all science-fictiony- solid, insightful and beautifully-crafted stories about people and the way they interact with the world, especially the natural world. This book is the first in a series and tells the story of an entrepreneur turned environmentalist, his family and his attempts to find connection and meaning. She's just great, that Lydia Millet. (2009)

A Pigeon and a Boy, by Meir Shalev. Shalev has written a truly beautiful and moving story set in the
present and past of Israel, about lovers and families and the search for meaning. Its use of animals as a metaphor for connection has something in common with Millet's work. Anyway I loved this book, which survived five years of weeding and a move to stay in my TBR pile long enough for me to finally get to it. You should too. (2009)

Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles, by Fabio Bartolomei. Just a good time, this silly book about a group of middle-aged losers who open a B&B in the Mafia-infested Italian countryside would make a hilarious arthouse movie. It's great for a mental getaway anytime. (2012)

Elders, by Ryan McIlvain. Insightful and unexpected, I loved this novel about two Mormon missionaries trying to find themselves in the streets of Brazil. (2013)

What Ends, by Andrew Ladd. Probably my hands-down favorite this year, this beautifully written and absorbing novel is perfect for literary readers who love character-driven novels. Ladd tells the story of a Scottish famly on a fictional Hebrides island and their diminishing way of life in luminous prose. It's the book I'd recommend most to other booksellers and writer friends. (2014)

The House on Moon Lake, by Francesca Duranti. At first suspenseful and then just kind of weird, this is my off-beat pick of the year. A translator finds an unknown manuscript that becomes a runaway hit; what happens next would also make a great movie. (2000)

The Conversations, by Cesar Aira. Unless you've read Aira before, you haven't read anything like

him. This book documents a debate between two friends about a movie neither of them really paid attention to and it's hilarious. (2014)

The German Mujahid, by Boualem Sansal. Probably the most emotionally challenging book I read this year, Sansal's book is required reading. Covering the Holocaust and Islamic fundamentalism and their impact on an Algerian-German-French family, it's unforgettable. (2009)

Blood Drenched Beard, by Daniel Galera. A slow-moving suspenser from Brazil, this is a great book to read in wintertime when you need to feel warmer. A man searches for his lost grandfather amid a quietly hostile landscape and finds something and nothing at the same time. (2015)

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, by Zac Bissonnette. My one and only nonfiction pick, this is a great book about business, society and Beanie Babies of course. I loved its breezy style and the fascinating, sad and crazy story he tells.  (2015)

13 Best of 2014 & Best of the Backlist

*Drumroll*

Top Favorites of 2014, In No Particular Order

• Time Present & Time Past, by Deirdre Madden (Europa Editions) A superb family story and meditation on how history influences the present day.
• World of Trouble, by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books) A nonstop crime novel and a moving, suspenseful and a beautiful end to a great series.
• Cemetery of Swallows, by Mallock (Europa Editions) Another crime novel, this one mixing reincarnation and horror.  A hot mess I couldn't put down or forget.
• On Leave, by Daniel Anselme (FSG) An unusual book about a seldom-treated topic, the French war in Algeria, from the perspective of soldiers on leave.
• Carsick, by John Waters (FSG) Hilarious. It's John Waters-what more do you need?
• Pushkin Hills, by Sergei Dovlatov (Faber & Faber) Pointillist perfection, the story of a writer working in a tourist trap, dealing with his life.
• The Unknown Bridesmaid, by Margaret Forster (Europa Editions) Painful and psychologically astute portrayal of a woman who never believed anyone loved her.
• Stone Mattress, by Margaret Atwood (Random House) Devastating, funny and horrifying collection of stories from the master herself.
• Widow Basquiat, by Jennifer Clement (Random House) A cool, fascinating, tragic and hopeful read, a biography of Suzanne Mallouk, muse and lover of Jean-Michel Basquiat and fascinating woman in and of herself.
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan (Random House) Tough but wonderful story of World War 2 and trauma.
• Not My Father's Son, by Alan Cumming. (Canongate) Not your typical celeb-bio, Cumming's book will make you cry from sadness and joy.
• The Fall, by Diogo Mainardi (Other Press) Beautiful, redemptive story of a father's love.
• Augustus, by John Williams (NYRB) It just doesn't get much better than this epistolary novel of the Roman emperor who brought two centuries of peace to the empire.

Marie's Best of the Backlist 

• Equilateral, by Ken Kalfus (Bloomsbury USA). Strange, entrancing literary science fiction.
• Heavenly Bodies, by Paul Koudonaris (Thames & Hudson) Fascinating religious history about strange and beautiful artifacts.
• Seven Houses in France, by Bernardo Atxaga (Graywolf) Black, black comedy about imperialism and race.
• The Bell, by Iris Murdoch (Penguin Classics) Iris Murdoch is always a treat to be savored.

And my favorite book of 2015 (so far)

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute, by Zac Bissonnette (Portfolio) Unputdownable business and social history.

Holiday Traditions & My Favorite Cookbooks

The holiday season starts soon!

At Thanksgiving and Christmastime, tradition takes over from the chaos of everyday. My family and I plan get-togethers and parties, and we all have our favorite foods to bring and enjoy. Thanksgiving is low-key and homey; I bake a cheesecake for Thanksgiving, then muffins and scones and cake for family gatherings the following weekend. When Christmas hits, everything just gets more sparkly. I bring out the sparkly pins, sparkly sweaters and cover my home in decorations. My cooking gets in on the sparkles, too, as I plan and execute my yearly cookie spread.

The grandmother of all baking books is the Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking. It's out of print and hard to find, and my copy is all cracked and falling apart, but it's still the one I turn to for the basics and even the not-so-basics. You'll get all your classic cookies here plus fun things like a Christmas-tree-shaped cinnamon bread and more. I don't know what I would do without it.

For Thanksgiving, my family loves for me to make the scone recipe from this book; for Christmas, the Mexican wedding cake cookies and gingersnaps, peanut kiss cookies and coconut macaroons are standbys.

These "Cranberry-Orange Pinwheels" are a beloved staple of my Christmas cookie table, always made with Nantucket cranberries straight from the bogs.

The Gourmet Cookie Book is a collection of recipes from the storied magazine, and not just any recipes. This volume collects the "single best recipe" from 1941-2009. It's not just a cookbook but a little bit of social and culinary history. Each cookie has a story, and the cookies range from the easy to the difficult, the classic to the exotic.

I've made black and whites, strawberry tarts and discovered a new family favorite in the "Mocha Cookie," a rich chocolate cookie with an espresso-powder kick. And it's a really fun book to read to boot.

When I worked in synagogues I came across Marcy Goldman's A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking and it's become one of my favorites. For post-Thanksgiving brunch my family loves the "Delicatessen-Style Classic Sour Cream Coffee Cake," a rich, buttery bundt cake laced with nuts and spices and topped with an almond-flavored glaze. It's amazing! And this is another can't-go-wrong cookbook.

This photo shows the coffee cake on the left and the scones from the Pillsbury book on the right, on our Thanksgiving buffet table a few years ago. The cranberry corn bread in the center is from a book  I no longer own and whose title I don't remember.

Now that we've moved, I'm not sure what's going to happen to our holiday traditions. This will be the first year either my husband or I have had to travel for holidays and I've already decided not to bake and transport a cheesecake. Instead, I  ordered a chocolate babka from a New York baker and had it shipped home.

And my cookie spread? I don't know. It would be nice to think I could round up enough New York friends for a holiday party, but it's hard enough to get together every day. So we'll see. I definitely want to bake- I just need to make sure there will be people who will eat! 

Get Your Look-Away Look Ready- Here's Some Reading to Creep You Out

As the fall creeps in and the temperatures drop and the leaves begin to change, we reach for a good spinetingler to curl up with along with our cardigans and hot apple cider. I always love a good creepy thriller, and so I'm going to share with you some of my favorites.

For great horror you can't beat the grande dame, Shirley Jackson. I loved We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the short but oh-so-scary tale of Merricat and Constance, two sisters who live with their cat and elderly uncle. Everything is fine- just fine- until Cousin Charles arrives to destroy the castle the sisters have built.

Last year one of my favorite writers published one of my favorite creepy books. Jeannette Winterson's The Daylight Gate is a modern classic almost-true witch and ghost story set in 17th century Lancashire. You simply must read this book this month if you want a scary time between the covers.

William Lindsay Gresham's Nightmare Alley is a fantastically scary crime novel set amid circus folk during the Great Depression. The American backwaters of the 1930s never seemed so sinister!

Mallock's The Cemetery of Swallows is a scary crime novel set in the Dominican Republic and France that includes elements of both supernatural and all-too-real horror, about a man murdered by a total stranger for no apparent reason. It will have you clinging to the edge of your seat and turning the pages wildly for sure.

For a more comedic horror experience, can I suggest the "Bad Rides" portions of John Waters' recent memoir/fiction, Carsick? Because some of those bad rides- and even some of the so-called "good rides" are the stuff of nightmares for sure. He gives us stalkers, serial killers, mutilation, disease and more. And the stuff that won't gross you out is pretty funny. Oh, and- get the audio. His narration is worth every penny.

Finally, I'd like to recommend Jeff VanderMeer's genuinely creepy Annihilation, first of his Southern Reach trilogy, all of which are out and
available now (I have yet to finish the series). This first book takes place in a future world where a group of scientists must chart an uncharted region and report back on what they find. But how uncharted is this place, and what is it? And what happened to the last dozen research teams sent there? This book asks- and starts to answer- some very scary questions. Arresting, absorbing and disturbing fantasy about Area X, a secret place filled with the bizarre and supernatural. The book was like a cross between Christopher Priest and Lovecraft, strange beings and happenings written in a luminous, complex and immersive style. It will certainly affect the quality and quantity of your sleep!

My Favorite Reads of 2013

I feel like this year was a slower reading year for me than others; I haven't done the actual statistics yet, but I've only reviewed 26 releases from 2013, which is lower than previous years' counts for current releases. Rather than pick a top 10, I eyeballed the list of books I've read and jotted down those that stood out as, well, outstanding. Without further ado, and in no particular order,

My Favorite 2013 Releases

MaddAddam, by Margaret Atwood. One of my favorite living writers brings her post apocalyptic
trilogy to a close with the best book of the bunch. Not to sound like a teenager, but it gave me all the feelings.

The Daughters of Mars, by Thomas Keneally. I was just talking about this book with a coworker. We agreed that it's top-notch literary fiction about World War 1 that will set your brain and your heart on fire.

The Dinner, by Herman Koch. Love it or hate it, but no book published in 2013 will get you revved up like this one!

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, by Mohsin Hamid. The book has a silly title but it's actually a bittersweet, moving and brilliant story of two lives and a changing world.

A Dark Redemption, by Stav Sherez. Wow. Just, I mean, if you like crime, it doesn't get much better than this. Set in London and the first in a series, it's a showstopper.

Summertime, All the Cats are Bored, by Philippe Georget. Also crime, this one mixes sunshine and shadow in a riveting and movie-ready story about murder in the south of France.

The Son, by Philipp Meyer. A multigenerational story about Texas and America, The Son is destined to be an American classic. Read it now!

The Daylight Gate, by Jeanette Winterson. Jeanette Winterson's books remind me just how good good writing can be. This historical-horror novel manages to be razor-sharp, ice-cold and searing-hot all at the same time.

Best of the Backlist

Daniel Stein, Interpreter, by Ludmila Ulitskaya. I love Ulitskaya's books so much, and this is the best one I've read. Love.

My Traitor's Heart, by Rian Malan. This essential book on South Africa should be on everyone's required reading list. If you have been reading about Mandela lately, read this too.

In a Strange Room, by Damon Galgut. Galgut has a new book coming in the spring and they're already talking Booker about it; this one will give you some insight into why.

Happy Ending, by Francesca Duranti. This bittersweet, beautiful family story set in Italy will break your heart and stitch it up again.

Agent Zigzag and Double Cross, by Ben Macintyre. Ben Macintyre is officially my favorite historian with his page-turning, immensely enjoyable histories of World War 2 espionage. Read one and you'll want to read them all.

Corelli's Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres. This is a historical-fiction epic of the old school, a book to fall in love with and get lost in.

How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahill. I loved this light introduction to the history of my favorite country. I learned a lot and it helped me on my trip, too!

Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal, by Jeanette Winterson. Winterson just knocks it out of the park with this memoir about her two mothers. I just don't know what to say. Incredible.


So that's it for my favorites. If I can get around to it, I'll do a statistical roundup and some reading reflections. What are your favorites this year? Tell me in the comments!