Year’s Best

A stack of 3 closed books (left); an open notebook with a pen on top (right). Title: The Best Books I Read in 2023

The Best Books I Read in 2023

I was very picky about the books I chose to read this year. As a result, I read a lot of good books—so many that putting together this list was an agonizing process. In past years, I’ve kept my best books list to a total of 15, usually a top ten list plus five honorable […]

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stack of 3 books plus open book with pen. Title: Top Ten Tuesday

#TopTenTuesday : The Best Books I Read in 2022

Goodreads insists that I read 44 books in 2022, but my records indicate 46. Whichever number is correct, here are the best ones: 10 best + 5 honorable mention. Listed alphabetically by author’s last name. The 10 Best Connelly, Michael. Desert Star This latest installment in Connelly’s overlapping Harry Bosch/Renée Ballard series finds the detectives

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A stack of three closed books. Next to them lies an open notebook and a pen. Title: 2022: A Literary Review

2022: A Literary Review

‘Expressive times’: Publishing industry an open book in 2022 “In 2022, the story of book publishing was often the industry itself,” writes Hillel Italie for AP News. A Novelist’s Review of the State of 2022 Literary Fiction Mateo Askaripour is a Brooklyn-based writer whose first novel, Black Buck—which Colson Whitehead calls a “mesmerizing novel, executing

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Lists: Best Books of 2019

More Best Books of 2019 Lists

Best Books of 2019 I put this Goodreads list at the very top of this entry because it’s “the only major book awards decided by readers.” Check out the winners in a whole bunch of categories. The Ultimate Best Books of 2019 List And here’s the list made up from other lists. Literary Hub editor

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The Best Books I Read in 2011

Listed alphabetically by author Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games Connelly, Michael. The Fifth Witness Donoghue, Emma. Room Egan, Jennifer. A Visit from the Goon Squad Harbach, Chad. The Art of Fielding Hillenbrand, Laura. Unbroken Hoffman, Alice. The Story Sisters McLain, Paula. The Paris Wife Shapiro, Alison Bonds. Healing into Possibility Watson, S. J. Before I

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The Best Books I Read in 2009

Listed alphabetically by author Corrigan, Kelly. The Middle Place Didion, Joan. Slouching Towards Bethlehem Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique Genova, Lisa. Still Alice Hoffman, Alice. The Story Sisters Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo O’Connell, Carol. Bone by Bone Sarton, May. Journal of a Solitude Stockett, Kathryn. The Help Zaslow, Jeffrey. The Girls

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The Best Books I Read in 2008

Listed alphabetically by author Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby Goldberg, Natalie. Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir Hood, Ann. Comfort: A Journey through Grief O’Farrell, Maggie. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox Saks, Elyn R. The Center Cannot Hold:

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Best Books I Read in 2007

My favorite end-of-the-year activity is compiling my annual list of the best books I read during the year. Making this list is both pleasurable and painful: pleasurable because it allows me to revisit and remember each book; painful because I have to cut some books I really enjoyed to get the list down to the

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The Best Books I Read in 2007

Listed alphabetically by author Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights Butler, Octavia E. Kindred Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking Follett, Ken. The Pillars of the Earth Gilbert, Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, Love Hood, Ann. The Knitting Circle Kallos, Stephanie. Broken for You Lippman, Laura. What the Dead Know Rowling, J. K.

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