Some favorite books of the year (and more below)
My husband and I started making “Best of the year” lists in the ’90s. We typed them up in an amateurish newsletter and mailed them to friends. Our friends laughed at our lists and made counter-lists. Did we really think the best book was X, the best movie Y, the best restaurant Z? What you do then is look them in the eye and say, “WOULD WE LIE TO YOU?” Then there is much good-humored bickering. The one thing we agreed on in 1997 was that Ulee’s Gold was the best movie of the year.
I miss pre-internet days. In the ’90s we had AOL and dial-up and the server was unable to reach the internet. We read fewer publications and probably read more deeply. Things were more personal. We knew the people we exchanged lists with. Now I have access to lists in book pages of newspapers around the world, online magazines, blogs, Goodreads, list-and-podcast oriented sites like Book Riot, public library websites, and more.
I must have read at least 20 lists so far. But the one I most look forward every year is complied by the daily New York Times critics, Michiko Kakutani, Dwight Garner, Janet Maslin (now freelance), and Jennifer Senior. I requested and received three books from this list for Christmas : Michael Chabon’s Moonglow (recommended by Kakutani) and Jennifer Haigh’s Heat and Light and Paulette Giles’ News of the World (recommended by Maslin). This is the only list that translates into sales at my house. Again, it’s because it doesn’t look like a shopping list. It is published a couple of weeks after Black Friday
Well, WE DON’T NEED ANOTHERNARCISSISTIC BLOGGER’S “BEST OF” LIST. But I’m not going to deny myself the fun of it! So here it is.
mirabile dictu 
I read La Femme de Gilles this year too – probably due to your review.
I love the best of lists I admit. It’s also great making the list- looking back over the year and remembering what was particularly good. My list will be up tomorrow.
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Such a stunning book! I adore lists and look forward to yours.
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Interesting list Kat – you do read a very varied selection! I find it hard to pick a top 10 so I’m just going to post some favourites tomorrow!
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It’s hard to keep it to 10. I made a lot of categories so no one would notice I can’t do it!
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I don’t think it’s narcissistic for bloggers to compile “best of” lists — the ones I know are not arrogant enough to present them as some kind of declaration of universal value. I love seeing what each person picks.
I’ve got to reread How I Got To Be Perfect — I have not read Jean Kerr since I was married and had kids myself, but she was a favorite in our house growing up. And I’ve been meaning to look into more of E. Nesbit’s adult books. I keep eyeing that e-book collection, I should just go ahead and get it.
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I really like Jean Kerr. Domestic columnists don’t seem to be “in” this year, but I also enjoyed rereading Shirley Jackson’s Life among the Savages. I remember some very serious feminists in the ’70s who thought women shouldn’t laugh at themselves. I wonder if that influenced domestic columns.
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