Favorite Reads 2008

What would a blog from a librarian type be without a year end review of favorite reads? As has been true for the last five years or so, the short story has ruled in my reading habits. This year featured a wonderful collection from a largely unheralded author in Jim Shepard. His collection, Like You'd Understand Anyway, is intelligent, striking, and shows a range that truly sets him apart from other short story writers. In a way, he and Ron Carlson are similar in that they are bringing fresh and original voices to historical stories that is both unique and contemporary. The other short story authors I read this year have all long since passed away, Shusaku Endo, Anton Chekhov, and Donald Barthelme. I did read stories from Jhumpa Lahiri's new collection as well this year, but still preferred Shepard's.

Now the novels....such a strange mix....and all very different. The strange thing about a list like this is they are seldom only books published this year. I finally get around to picking up books I already own or ones I always meant to read. So some really great books, that may have been the best in any given year, are all up against each other in the same year.


10. So Brave, Young and Handsome Leif Enger
9. Snuff Chuck Palahniuk
8. The Last Chinese Chef Nicole Mones
7. Peace Richard Bausch
6. Books Larry McMurtry
5. In the Garden of the Last Days Andre Dubus III
4. The Stranger Albert Camus
3. Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
2. Sula Toni Morrison
1. Invisible Cities Italo Calvino

So, the top four in the year were all not published this year while the six rounding out the top 10 were. I had not read Nicole Mones before and her book was wonderful, a perfect book club type pick. Leif Enger's would generate a lot of discussion in book groups as well, although some may be distracted by its historical and genre feel (don't let this distract you...it really is quite an interesting postmodern read if you follow how the character's own path mirrors Leif Enger's). Palahniuk is not for everybody as he is continuously pushing the limits of expression and sensibilities much like Nicholson Baker, but I read him for those very reasons. Bausch is one of my favorite authors and was up for the Iowa Writers' director when Frank Conroy passed away several years ago. This is a short novella about Peace (War) in the long literary tradition of the Stephen Cranes, Michael Shaaras, Charles Fraziers, Tim O'Briens and many others.

Strangely, I have never read McMurtry until this nonfiction book about being a lover of books and antiquarian book dealer. This book would be boring to anyone who really isn't a book junky. Fortunately for him, I am. Loved it. Really rekindles the passion for books and the written word if you ever need reminding. So that brings us to the top 5. Dubus III, most famously known for the Oprah pic and Kingsley movie, House of Sand and Fog, is a gifted author (well before Oprah). I have read a number of 9/11 fiction and nonfiction books, so this is the latest in my interest in this topic. Because large portions of the book are set in Florida where I currently live, this book has some particular interest for me. If you didn't think something could be more tragic or more sad than House of Sand and Fog, you would be wrong. However, there are some glimmers of hope that make it through In the Garden of Last Days. That said, it is a powerful read.

And then there were four. I had not read The Stranger since high school, so worth the reread. There were several pages and passages that were so rich in their complexity, I had to stop and read them numerous times. It wasn't poor writing or inadequate translation. It was my mind was not allowed to wander to what was on TV in the background or what conversations were going on around me or what I might make for dinner. The book and Camus demanded my complete attention.

Ishiguro's Remains of the Day....if there is ever a book that communicates how we can be judged by the life we choose to live and the changes one undergoes, it is this book. Amazing book...thought provoking, makes you consider the choices you make in your life and what is true and noble and right.

This brings me to Toni Morrison's Sula. To not put it as #1 really seems a disservice. I read Song of Solomon when I was teaching school as a part of a teacher's book club. It was great. This one however had what I consider to be the best opening chapter of any I have ever read in literature. Really amazing....read it several times before moving on. May have read it to my wife and others. Did not put it down after that. Read in a day, or a half day, or hours....as fast as I could read it.

But, Calvino's Invisible Cities was my favorite book this year because it was so difficult for me. It was hard to figure out his direction. It was almost impossible to not give up, that it was either too over my head or I was trying too hard for something that really wasn't that great. And then, after getting about half way through the book of hating it, despising it, almost stopping reading it, something turned. It was as though Calvino had been setting some groundwork with the reader the entire time and something in the word choice, the small vignettes, the connections, the puzzle pieces all start to form an entire picture. The reader is finally able to navigate his map of the Invisible Cities, both the individuals they encompass and the life they take on all their own.