Best Books of 2016

2016 closing out. And thank God before any more celebrities die. 

Interestingly, our of fifty three books I had less 'favorites' than ever before. 

The other thing I noticed which was obviously influenced by the election, is so many of the books I chose I called 'relevant' to what was happening in the country. That and I'm sure at times I got lazy in writing reviews. 

As always not everything was written this year, and the following are in no particular order.

2017 for me is definitely going to mean reading more, and spending far less time on social media than I have in the last year.  I wish you all a hopeful, safe, and loving New Year for you and yours.

And please let me know what books you've loved! You can find what I'm reading on Goodreads.

Best

Brett 

I loved this book and what a daughters senior year applying to Harvard does to what seems like the family who has it all. Nora and Gabe are both highly successful in their respective professions. They live in Marin County, have three beautiful girls, yet when their oldest, Angela begins to go through the process of applying to college, the wheels come off the bus. Over a year the narrative switches between members of the family with each of them struggling with their own individual hurdles. Fast paced, funny, and imbued with a load of heart this is the perfect summer read, and or book club pick.

https://www.amazon.com/Admissions-Meg-Mitchell-Moore/dp/1101910143/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483215050&sr=8-1&keywords=the+admissions

First time novelist Yaa Gyasi has knocked it out of the park with this literary debut. Effie and Esi are two sisters born into different tribes in Ghana. One gets married to a white man and begins a life of splendor, while the other is sold as a slave and shipped to America. Through alternating chapters we watch their descendants through the years as tribal clashes continue through Africa and in America wars lead to slavery to the great migration. This is a book to be swallowed in big gulps for maximum impact, with each generations story even more fascinating than the one preceding it. Gyasi is a truly writer to take notice of, and I can't wait to see where her imagination takes her next.

https://www.amazon.com/Homegoing-novel-Yaa-Gyasi/dp/1101947136/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483215719&sr=1-1&keywords=homegoing




This summer I said that Nathan Hill had just written one of the best books if not the best of the year. For me it was all that. Big, expansive, and terribly funny, he satires everything from politics, to the Internet, to online gaming, and the media. Spanning fifty plus years the story centers on Samuel Andresen-Anderson, an unhappy college professor, struggling writer, and player of 'World of Elfquest'-a vaguely veiled, 'World of Warcraft' game. With his novel deadline now passed, and a publisher ready to sue for breach of contract, he desperately ends up turning to the one person who abandoned him over thirty years ago and is now at the center of the media firestorm for assaulting a conservative governor-his Mother. Despite Hill's book taking place in the sixties before the Democratic convention and in 2011 before the Republican one, Hill's commentary can't help but feel painfully relevant to today such as: "it's no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it's sanctimony", and when Walter Cronkite is watching the riots taking place in Chicago before the Democractic convention, 'Anyone who thinks television can bring the nation together to have a real dialogue and begin to understand one another with empathy and compassion is suffering a great delusion.' Hill is being compared to Irving and I think that's a legitimate claim, both in his absurdist humor and his touching way he threads the delicate and complicated lines between parents and their children. It's not just a great first book, but a great book period, that's soon to begin production on HBO with Meryl Streep as the estranged mother. 

https://www.amazon.com/Nix-novel-Nathan-Hill/dp/110194661X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483045710&sr=8-1&keywords=the+nix+nathan+hill



There were multiple times in Tim Murphys sprawling, ambitious, yet hugely intimate novel that I expected these characters to cross paths with Jude and Willem from Yanigahara's, 'A Little Life', or any one of Maupin's colorful cast of 28 Barbary Lane. And if, like me, you loved those two worlds then this should feel like visiting an old friend. Murphy's backdrop is the lower East side in the eighties at the start of the AIDS epidemic, and it's the disease that propels so many of these characters into inevitable intersections. It starts with a young bohemian couple who are both artists, Milly and Jared, who live in the Christodora, a rehabbed condo building adjacent to Tompkins Square Park. Their neighbor is a hunky gay latino whose personal tragedies move him to AIDS activism which drives the center of the story. The thread that links them is a young abandoned boy named Mateo whose mother died of the disease soon after she gives birth to him. The book stretches over fifty years as these people grapple with identity, family, life, death, drugs, and loss. And despite writing what could feel overwhelmingly depressing, Murphy manages to infuse a massive shot of hope into the story, leaving this reader more than satisfied

https://www.amazon.com/Christodora-Novel-Tim-Murphy/dp/080212528X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483051465&sr=1-1&keywords=christodora

The gay coming of age novel is pumped with new and invigorated life with the addition of Haddad's terrific and exciting debut 'Guapa'. Told over the course of a single day in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, young Rasa is not only trying to find his cultural identity in a country torn apart from war, but his awakened sexual identity, as he and his lover are discovered one morning by his overbearing and severe grandmother. Told over the course of one turbulent day with flashbacks, Haddad has written a story that feels overwhelmingly relevant with the current political discourse about Muslims, xenophobia, and homophobia, and one that deserves a broader audience than its limited target.



 https://www.amazon.com/Guapa-Saleem-Haddad/dp/1590517695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483140763&sr=8-1&keywords=guapa

 Spanning nearly fifty years in the lives of two families that come together after an affair, Patchett again shows what a terribly gifted writer she is. The non linear story telling shifts back and forth across decades focusing mostly on the various children and what happens to them over time. There's a beautiful simplicity to her writing, with characters I felt were so familiar and fully realized, from the beautiful Beverly who leaves her husband for her neighbor Albert, to the sons and daughters whose lives are now forced together and ultimately bound by tragedy. I absolutely loved these people and the places they inhabited.

https://www.amazon.com/Commonwealth-Ann-Patchett/dp/0062491792/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483055987&sr=1-1&keywords=commonwealth+ann+patchett
























Cries of black lives matter resound through this brutal history lesson told through the eyes of a young slave Cora who escapes from her hellish life on a Georgia plantation. Whitehead portrays the railroad as a literal thing with stations hidden under trap doors in houses or abandoned buildings many of which the young heroine works through in her attempt to escape the clutches of slave catcher Ridgeway. Whitehead has written a tough but necessary history lesson about race that continues sadly to play out on our modern landscape.

https://www.amazon.com/Underground-Railroad-National-Winner-Oprahs/dp/0385542364/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483216294&sr=8-1&keywords=the+underground+railroad

Nominated for the prestigious Prix Goncourt in France, this sexy, page turner follows two friends Samuel and Samir who are in love with the same woman, Nina. When Nina chooses Samuel, Samir moves from Paris and relocates to New York where he becomes a highly successful lawyer. But the story only begins there as we see what the next twenty years has in store for this threesome, and how time and circumstance shapes their futures both together and as individuals. So smart,darkly funny,and so utterly compelling, it's a timely read for what's currently happening throughout the world.

https://www.amazon.com/Age-Reinvention-Novel-Karine-Tuil/dp/1501125648/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483217986&sr=8-1&keywords=the+age+of+reinvention

"When you start to see the seedy underbelly of America, it makes you want to live in Canada." So says one of the characters in Jodi Picoult's provocative, emotional and timely new novel. Picoult's go to is tackling an issue with high emotional stakes and relatable characters caught in impossible and heart wrenching odds. This time she must have had a crystal ball to hone in on the current atmosphere of ugly white nationalism sweeping the country with the President elect. In Picoult's novel an African American labor and delivery nurse is asked to to care for a newborn in the hospital, the child of white supremacists. One incredibly busy night at the hospital leaves Ruth, the only available nurse on duty, watching over the child who has just been circumsized, and in a freak moment dies under her watch. What follows plays out as riveting courtroom drama, but the bigger larger discussion Picoult has at play here is race. And it's messy. And uncomfortable. Picoult has more success narrative wise with her chapters involving Ruth and her Public defender, an ambitious white woman named-subtly?intentionally?-Kennedy. Turk, the white supremacist is a hard character to feel sympathetic to and the author tries her best creating incidents in both his past and his wife's that have contributed to who they are today. Like any Picoult book there are moments thick with melodrama. Yet I have to praise the author for daring to tackle this subject so head on, and perhaps sparking discussions among people who might otherwise feel this has nothing to do with them.

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Great-Things-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0345544951/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483217291&sr=1-1&keywords=small+great+things

ALSO:

Best Bio: 

Because you know she can make you laugh your ass off, but she'll also make you cry like a baby. Listen to her read it on audio and tell everyone you read it.

https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Lower-Back-Tattoo/dp/1501139886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483217679&sr=8-1&keywords=the+girl+with+the+lower+back+tattoo

Best Young Adult Book:

Because we're all sick of dystopian novels with star crossed angst, and McGee has essentially and smartly created The Jason Bourne story with teenagers.

https://www.amazon.com/Ryan-Quinn-Rebels-Escape-McGee/dp/0062421646/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483218228&sr=1-1&keywords=ryan+quinn+and+the+rebel%27s+escape

Best Trilogy Ending:

Because Stephen King deserves all the praise he gets for rising above so many genres and continuing to churn books out like butter.

https://www.amazon.com/End-Watch-Novel-Hodges-Trilogy/dp/1501129740/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483218344&sr=1-1&keywords=end+of+watch

Best Books of 2015

Happy New Years!
My New Years resolution is read more books! Actually I never make any resolutions, because I'll never be able to keep them, unless it's gain too much weight during the holidays! 
This year had some amazing books (and some clunkers to be fair), and for the first time on this list I started with my favorite just because it was such a tremendous stand out to me. I also feel I cheated a bit because two of my choices were by the same author, but looking back, they were both excellent books on their own merits regardless of the fact they were part of a planned trilogy. 
Finally, this was also the year that I listened to my first books on audio on the road between LA and Palm Springs. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the three terrific books I listened to vs read because they were all 'pefformed' by their authors and all are highly recommended. Seriously now:
a) Amy Poehler's, "Yes Please" cause I love her, and she's hilarious.
 

b) Rob Lowe's "Stories I Only Tell My Friends" because I grew up in the 70s and 80s and if you like the Outsiders, Saint Elmo's Fire or know who the brat pack were it's necessary listening. btw he's an amazing story teller.














c) Leah Remini's "Troublemaker" because I'm obsessed with anything to do with scientology, and she's brave and crazy and so so so funny. Oh and lots of crazy Tom Cruise stories.



and now, the list:



1) "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara
This is the kind of book you want to share, and have someone else experience so you can simply talk about it. It's been awhile since I've felt so completely absorbed by something I've been reading. Certainly nothing I've read this year or probably last year comes close. I read Yanagihara's,'People of the Trees', and didn't think much of it, but this was really monumental. At it's most simplistic it's the story of four male friends over the course of roughly forty years. But early on the focus narrows to Jude,a physically and emotionally damaged, beautiful, brilliant man who has endured a simply horrific past. Yanagihara doesn't indulge the violence, but she doesn't shy away from it either creating this underlying tension throughout the narrative as Jude's past begins to slowly be revealed. It's a powerful book not for the faint of heart that brought me to tears at times more by scenes of tenderness and grace between characters than the disturbing abuse.This is simply a stunning literary accomplishment, as shown by it's inclusion in almost every major literary prize list this year as well as year end lists.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_13?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=a+little+life+by+hanya+yanagihara&sprefix=a+little+life%2Cstripbooks%2C191


2) "A God in Ruins" by Kate Atkinson
Atkinson views this book not as a sequel to her highly praised 'Life After Life' but instead a companion piece, and indeed it truly is seeing as it centers on Teddy, the brother to protagonist Ursula from the former novel. In a beautifully shifting narrative, older Teddy reflects back on his life a bomber in the RAF during World War II. Paired with this is his transition to civilian life after the war that includes a wife and a self absorbed daughter whose own children play such an important role to their grandfather. Atkinson has written another sweeping historical novel that feels both vast and intimate at the same time. A simply marvelous writer.

http://www.amazon.com/God-Ruins-Novel-Kate-Atkinson/dp/0316176508/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451678054&sr=1-1&keywords=god+in+ruins

3) "The Nest" by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Sometimes a book comes along and it's exactly what you need to be reading at that moment. This was one of those books for me. The Plumb siblings are plagued by various financial mishaps that will hopeful all be rectified when from the youngest sibling,Bea, turns forty and their joint trust fund becomes available to them all. However when an accident happens with oldest son Leo,the 'nest' is left decimated, being used to cover medical and attorney fees of the young female passenger he maimed in the accident. How the children grapple with their new reality is the meat of the story, and where it finds all its heart, wisdom, and redemption. A simple but smart, insightful book from a talented new writer.

http://www.amazon.com/Nest-Cynthia-DAprix-Sweeney/dp/0062414216/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451678192&sr=1-3&keywords=the+nest


4) "Purity" by Jonathan Franzen
Long, it meanders from past to present and back again and expects your utmost attention all the while feeling vaguely misogynistic with a cast of mostly unappealing characters, especially his women. And yet. I liked it, and found myself thinking about it a lot afterwards, and what a real literary genius Franzen is in constructing a story. Sure I struggled at times and felt at the mercy of his pinballing ideas from internet privacy, to parenting, and rogue journalism to name a few but it was worth it. Purity, or Pip, as she's known, follows a near modern Dickensian search for the father she never knew. But her story is only the launching pad for a series of stories linking her to a host of supporting players who all have rich and varied stories of their own. Some are more engaging than others but as complex and wordy as the narrative can be at times, Franzen threads it mostly together by the end in a simple understated finish.

http://www.amazon.com/Purity-Novel-Jonathan-Franzen/dp/0374239215/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451678331&sr=1-1&keywords=purity+jonathan+franzen





5) 'The Tsar of Love & Techno" by Anthony Marra
Anthony Marra is one of those crazy talented writers who like David Mitchell cause a near spiritual devotion, and there's good reason. Crafting a series of linked stories in the Soviet Union that feels very much like something Mitchell would do, Marra has raised an already lofty literary bar from his earlier, "Constellation of Vital Phenomenon"  and crafted one of the years best books.

http://www.amazon.com/Tsar-Love-Techno-Stories/dp/0770436439/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451678363&sr=1-1&
keywords=anthony+marra+the+tsar+of+love+and+techno



6) "Villa America" By Liza Klaussmann
Real life expats Gerald and Sarah Murphy became the inspiration for F Scottt Fitzgerald's, 'Tender is the Night', and in fact the book is dedicated to them. Fabulously wealthy, they built a house on the French Riviera, called Villa America which became the centerpiece of a host of parties regulary atttended by the up and coming literary elitle including the aforementioned Fitzgerald and his troubled wife Zelda, as well as posturing, macho Ernest Hemingway. Klaussmann imagines what went on at these gatherings but the real focus is on Gerald, Sarah, and the fictionalized loner pilot named Owen Chambers who comes into their lives. The brainy banter and WASPY repression feels vaguely reminiscent of Amor Towles 'Rules of Civility', while subbing out Manhattan for the Cote d'Azur. Klaussmann's descriptive prose can be as sensuous as the setting, and the story while tragic manages to avoid the maudlin and sad, ultimately delivering a satisfying denoument, for an better than average beach read.

http://www.amazon.com/Villa-America-Novel-Liza-Klaussmann/dp/0316211362/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451678400&sr=1-1&keywords=villa+america



7) "Disclaimer" by Renee Knight
Everyone seems to be looking for the next 'Gone Girl', and the cleverness of shifting narratives that eventual reveal the whole story seem to be a popular technique, especially with the success of 'The Girl on The Train'. That said, this was more sucessful than '...Train' to me, and I polished this off in nearly one breathless sitting. When Catherine Ravenscroft finds a manuscript on her bedside she can't remember receiving, she reads it and is horrified to find it's about her and an incident in her past that she has hidden from her husband and son. To say much more would take away the fun of discovering it yourself, but Knight has written the best thriller of the year that has most cerntainly already been snapped up for a feature.

http://www.amazon.com/Disclaimer-Novel-Renée-Knight/dp/0062362259/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451678456&sr=1-1&keywords=disclaimer


8) "Natchez Burning" by Greg Iles
Natchez Burning is a big sprawling immersive, troubling, deeply captivating reading experience. Anyone who has followed the previous lawyer turned author turned mayor, Penn Cage will be familiar enough with the players involved in the deep south of Natchez Mississippi. However this time it turns personal, as Penn's revered and highly respected father, the towns' doctor is accused of murdering an African American woman who forty years ago worked closely by his side as his nurse. Iles doesn't hold anything back is his honest, unflinching, and at times just plain horrifying depictions of the deep seeded racism that has rooted itself in this towns history, and has caused the past to rise to the present like a bloated corpse. But the book also plays as a terrific thriller, that will leave you guessing, even as the end only wraps up certain elements as this is the first book in a planned trilogy. A great read, which should make anyone hungry for the next installment.

http://www.amazon.com/Natchez-Burning-Novel-Penn-Cage/dp/0062311085/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1V6NZ3W3HEK7CNV2Y1RB



9) "The Bone Tree" by Greg Iles
It takes immeasurable talent to follow up a massive page turner (the first of a planned trilogy) with another massive page turner that picks up immediately where the first left off and doesn't let you go until eight hundred pages later. It's exhausting to read, so I can't begin to imagine what went into writing it. -And I mean exhausting in the best possible way.
Greg Iles could have just made this book, this trilogy, about the deep seeded evil racism in the Southern town of Natchez Mississippi. How earnest lawyer turned author turned Mayor, Penn Cage, tries to get to the bottom of the accusation leveled at his father for allegedly murdering his former nurse, an African American woman whose history with Cage's dad is another layer on the onion to be peeled.
But Iles has a much bigger endgame at play that toys with American history in a convincing and unsettling way. Let's just say I had to crack Wikipedia a few times to see if some of the players he was referring were real. (They were.)
Lies depiction of racial violence is terribly disturbing to read, but it's never feels overly gratuitous. By the end,there are such massive plot movements in this book, it's hard to believe that there's one more to come. That said, I'll be waiting with anticipation to see how he wraps it all up.

http://www.amazon.com/Bone-Tree-Penn-Cage/dp/0062311115/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451678504&sr=1-1&keywords=the+bone+tree+by+greg+iles



10) "Golden Son" by Pierce Brown
Speaking of sequels,  having now read the two books back to back, first off I can't believe I have to wait for a third now, and secondly what a engaging delight to read. There's no letdown with this second installment, no drag before the payoff. It's bigger than the first book, much more complex with higher engineered war sequences that at times left me flipping back so I could follow along with the expansive collection of characters he continues to amass while systematically wiping others out. Comparisons to The Hunger Games should effectively be eliminated at this point. Hunger Games was a very good trilogy but this is more brutal, more unforgiving. If anything this begins in tone where the Hunger Games ends. This sequel demands your attention which shouldn't be hard cause Brown is now supremely adept at following one breathtaking sequence with another. I really hope these books continue to find a mass audience and give this guy the recognition he deserves.

http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Son-Book-Rising-Trilogy/dp/0345539834/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451678567&sr=1-4&keywords=pierce+brown

11) "Fates & Furies" by Lauren Groff

Groff has manufactured a complex portrait of a long term marriage. To say too much would spoil any sense of discovery that comes as the book progresses, but the success here is in searingly insightful prose. Lotto and Mathilde have been married for twenty four years, and through the 

he said she said narrative Groff peels back the layers built up between actor turned playwright Lotto and his loving supportive wife, exposing what truths we choose to not tell our spouses.

http://www.amazon.com/Fates-Furies-Novel-Lauren-Groff/dp/1594634475/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451678595&sr=1-1&keywords=lauren+groff

Best Books of 2014

After I typed this list up I looked back at them and thought: What a weird mix of titles this year. Dystopian dramas, mixed with espionage, and supernatural sci-fi, against World War Two. We all have types. I obviously chose a few similar ones in my books. I loved all of these for various reasons but the first two were truly special. Happy reading in 2015.

Brett

Beautiful seems to be the adjective most used when describing this book, and it truly is. The book alternates between two different lives, a young blind French girl living in Paris right before the German occupation, and a young German boy who has a gift for fixing radio receivers and is recruited into Hitlers youth academy. Heartbreaking and powerful, Doerr has created a story with unforgettable characters that should be required reading, and personally the best I've read this year.

http://www.amazon.com/All-Light-We-Cannot-See/dp/1476746583/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901211&sr=1-1&keywords=all+the+light+we+cannot+see+by+anthony+doerr

If you're looking for a post apocalyptic dystopian novel about a group of hard scrabble survivors savagely learning to live in a new cruel world a la, 'The Walking Dead', this is not the book for you. Instead, Mandel writes what I feel is a meditative and highly moving take on what it means to survive,and what it is to remember, and cherish, and regret, and love and lose. I'm certain the book added an additional resonance in this current day of ebola hysteria, building momentum with every passing hour, but I found myself constantly wondering what if something like this Georgia flu in the story really happened? How would the world and it's survivors fare in a before/after scenario. There's also such terrific writing in her juxtaposition between the purity of art as we follow this ragtag band of performers who move from each small survivor town bringing music and Shakespeare, and the flashbacks of a mega superstar actor and the trappings of fame before his heart attack on stage that opens the book. I loved this book. Loved its haunting sadness, and its ability for its characters to find the beauty in the everyday, in the simple.

http://www.amazon.com/Station-Eleven-Emily-John-Mandel/dp/0385353308/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901102&sr=1-1&keywords=station+eleven

Damn you Pierce Brown! Not only are you movie star handsome, but at only twenty six you've managed to write one of the most compelling, thrilling and heart pounding novels this year. Add to that it's already in development as a feature and that you're writing the screenplay, could make someone green with envy if you weren't so bloody talented. Oh you fans of 'The Hunger Games', forget your Katniss and come meet Darrow. He's lives on Mars, drilling into it's depths to find the resources to make the entire planet habitable for everyone. He's smart, young, happily married, and somewhat content despite a life a hardship under a rigid caste system. And then a cataclysmic event transpires that turns his life upside down, and propels him into a life beyond his imagining. A life that's fueled by rage, revenge, and a quest to topple the corrupt leaders of The Golds-(the highest level in the caste system) and to set an oppressed people free. War, politics, intrigue, it's all here, and told with a breathtaking pace that will spin your head. The second book come out this week, and I can't wait to snap it up.

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Book-Trilogy/dp/034553980X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901014&sr=1-1&keywords=red+rising

With David Mitchell you're guaranteed some spectacular writing, and this certainly lives up to that promise. Once again he deploys his device of linked stories, this time threaded by a woman named Holly Sykes, a young English girl who as well as pining for an older boy in town, also happens to be a psychic lightning rod for wandering, sparring spirits. Through six stories we move twenty years at a time, and Holly takes a supporting role through most of them, the novel bookending with her in her seventies. Mitchell creates gorgeous engaging narratives with each of his subjects, and his writing is so rich you want to savor every line. Like the following on love vs lust:
Lust wants, does the obvious, and pads back into the forest. Love is greedier. Love wants round-the-clock care; protection; rings, vows, joint accounts; scented candles on birthdays, life insurance. Babies. Love's a dictator.
Is this the David Mitchell I'd start with? Not really. The book for the most part is pretty linear, but does delve into the sci fi in each story with the aforementioned spirits, until the fifth and longest section of the book which is an all out Matrix like war of the worlds. This is where the momentum sputtered for me, and while it didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the book it did take a push to finish. Mitchell's 'GhostWritten' carries some of these devices and ideas,like the linked stories and the spiritual element and for me is till my personal favorite and where I'd start as a new reader. But for his rabid fans of which I'd call myself one of, there's a lot here to love.

http://www.amazon.com/Bone-Clocks-Novel-David-Mitchell/dp/1400065674/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901080&sr=1-1&keywords=the+bone+clocks

Gosh, it's so hard to encapsulate the feeling of profound beauty and sadness upon finishing this book. Spanning nearly sixty years In the life of New Yorker Eileen Tumulty, first time author Thomas has written a stunning, raw and heartbreakingly honest account of a life lived, and in a larger sense, a representation of all our lives. The book feels like two very different stories beginning with her Queens upbringing of hard scrabble Irish immigrant parents, and then moving into the more richly plotted second half involving her career, marriage and child. The book is long. It didn't bother me, but some people might be put of by its slow unwinding, although again, the second half seemed to accelerate much faster as a family crisis begins to unfold like a mystery that most people will be able to figure out with dread. It's thoughtful, carefully crafted writing, from a writer to watch.

http://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Not-Ourselves-Novel/dp/147675666X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901125&sr=1-1&keywords=we+are+not+ourselves+matthew+thomas

All I can say is I can't wait to see who they get to play this woman! Jason Matthews has written a taut, tense thriller, that once the ground work is laid unspools at a breakneck pace. Written with insiders insight into the workings of the CIA, there were moments I'd find myself simeltaneously totally engaged, and yet struggling to keep the chess match straight. The Russian names can be a killer! Yet the book at it's heart is a simple construct of a beautiful Russian spy pitted against a male CIA operative, and letting the sparks fly. The utter enjoyment of the beginning of the novel is watching these two agents square off and wondering who will take who down before their sexual tension overturns everything. Yet the novel is so much more, and so much more complex. If you can be patient with the first seventy pages or so, you'll be rewarded with a terrific spy novel that hopefully will spawn many more installments.

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Sparrow-Novel-Jason-Matthews/dp/1476706131/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901176&sr=1-1&keywords=red+sparrow+jason+matthews

I'm going to wager a bet that this will certainly be the most original story you'll read this year. Francine Prose got the idea for writing this story when she saw a pic of two woman together at a club, one dressed as a man. The photo, called Lesbian Couple At Le Monocle, was taken by the Hungarian born Parisian photographer Brassai, who in the book is now named Gabor. In a Roshomonesque narrative, the story of the woman dressed as a man in the photo, Lou Villars, who becomes a spy for Hitler during the German occupation of France, is told by a collection of people. There's Gabor's best friend, an American novelist modeled on Henry James, who finds fame after writing a sexually explicit novel. There's Gabor's wealthy benefactor, his model girlfriend, and of course the biographer of Lou Villars, who charts her beginnings as an Olympic hopeful, to war sadist. This is a story dying to be made into a movie. A fascinating, and utterly absorbing fact meshed with fiction.

http://www.amazon.com/Lovers-Chameleon-Club-Paris-1932/dp/0061713783/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901231&sr=1-1&keywords=lovers+at+the+chameleon+club+paris+1932+by+francine+prose

After finishing Smith Henderson's electric, brutal ,and exhausting debut, it's no surprise the wave of high literary praise he's receiving. Set in Reagan's America during the eighties, Henderson peels back the curtain on an America many of us couldn't dream is a reality.These are the Americans who teeter on the edge. The underbelly with track marks, and shotguns, where hard liquor is the only thing that softens the insanity of life. Into this world, Pete Snow attempts to bring order to so much chaos as a social worker with his own set of demons that are about to not just overturn his applecart, but blow it to smithereens. When a feral boy shows up in the local school, Snow finds himself face to face with the boys father, Jeremiah Pearl; A survivalist who believes the end of the world is nigh, and Satan's minions are running the planet. What spirals sends Pete on one course with the Pearl family, while his own life careens off in a completely different and chaotic direction. This book is like driving by a car accident, that you have to slow down to witness, while at the same time scared of what you're going to see. It's a terrific debut from a writer that I'm certain we'll be hearing much more about.

http://www.amazon.com/Fourth-July-Creek-Smith-Henderson/dp/0062286447/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901254&sr=1-1&keywords=fourth+of+july+creek+by+smith+henderson

Many people are being ultra secretive about the supposed 'twist' in this book, but without giving it explicitly away, I do think it's only fair for the potentially interested reader to know what they're getting. Think E.M. Forster meets 'Penny Dreadful', the horror series on Showtime. Set in Victorian England, the first one hundred pages or so reads like a coming of age novel about a young man who leaves his sister, his only family, behind to find his way in the city as a writer. But then an event happens which steers the narrative into a classic horror story that veers off into a variety of characters while said writers sister comes looking for her brother who seems to have disappeared. If horror's not you're thing, you'll definitely be out.
I loved it. It's so hard to believe this is Lauren Owen's first book, and that she's not even thirty. Perhaps it was because I happened to be watching the Showtime series which takes place roughly the same time and location, but the story was so engrossing, so visual, and totally had me under its spell.

http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Novel-Lauren-Owen/dp/0812993276/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901277&sr=1-1&keywords=the+quick+lauren+owen

As a child of the seventies I remembered all the Fosse greats: 'Pippin', 'Cabaret',and 'Chicago'. But it was probably watching 'All That Jazz' that mesmerized me, and for one of the first times made me aware of the power of a director on film. How amazing it is to see, with Wasson's exhaustively researched bio how they all came together, while the man slowly fell apart. I found myself flipping faster through the pages as I entered the last third of his life, knowing what was coming, and yet unable to look away. Fosse is presented as a brilliant artist, a possessive womanizer, a drug addict and chain smoker, and a visionary ahead of his time. For those who are familiar and even those who are not, all those qualities make for a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable read.

http://www.amazon.com/Fosse-Sam-Wasson/dp/0547553293/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419901299&sr=1-1&keywords=fosse

Also rounding up a pretty great group of honorable mention writers is Greg Iles, who has an amazing set of books I discovered revolving around a lawyer turned writer ala John Grisham, named Penn Cage. He moves back to his childhood home in Natchez Mississippi with his daughter after his wife passes away from cancer. Technically they're considered thrillers but Iles is much more than that. His latest in the series which was published this year is 'Natchez Burning', which got reviews to rival the finest "literature authors".  It's a great, dark series dealing with the ugly underbelly of the deep south.
The first is:

Best of 2013

Another year, another slush pile of books to sort through to figure out what could arguably be the best. I think I managed to read more new authors this year than ever, and there were some terrific ones like David Gilbert and Jonathan Miles. It seems almost redundant at this point to even include Donna Tartt since she's on EVERY single list, but at the end of the day, there's a reason for that.  All these books were published this year. All would be good for those book groups out there. Let me know what you all loved that I might not have included. Happy reading in 2014!

1) 'A Constellation of Vital Phenomena' by Anthony Marra:
Set in war torn Chechnya, '...Constellation' is the beautiful realized story of a young girl who whose life rests in the hands of two doctors, one, her neighbor, the other the only surgeon in the towns battered hospital. Weaving their stories with their immediate family members, the incredibly talented Marra (it's amazing this is his first novel) brings the horrors of two wars into a disturbing and haunting vision of hell. The best, and most moving book I've read this year.
http://www.amazon.com/Constellation-Vital-Phenomena-Novel/dp/0770436404/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388426493&sr=1-1&keywords=a+constellation+of+vital+phenomena

2) 'The Interestings' by Meg Wolitzer: 
I can't begin to express how much I tapped into this book, these people, this world that Meg Wolitzer has her memorable collection of characters inhabiting. Spanning nearly forty years, with six friends who meet at a summer arts camp Wolitzer devotes the largest portion of the book to Jules Jacobson, formerly Julie, who the summer of her fathers premature death goes away to an arts camp where she meets the core group of friends that will stay with her for the rest of her life. Wolitzer has packed the book with big ideas, big cultural, political, and social touchstones that shape these characters; Characters I felt I knew intimately, and were invested in their personal lives the way I haven't been with a book for a while.
http://www.amazon.com/Interestings-Novel-Meg-Wolitzer/dp/1594488398/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388426558&sr=1-1&keywords=the+interestings+meg+wolitzer

3) 'Life After Life' by Kate Atkinson:
Beautiful, languid, frustrating, heartbreaking and complex, Atkinson's book is like a layered onion that keeps revealing more while revisiting the same. Ursula Todd is born in 1911, but dies during birth, strangled on her umbilical cord. But then she comes back and is saved, only to die again, then be reborn again, while gradually moving through her life. With each rebirth comes an opportunity to make the next go around right, while she lives her current life with a pervasive sense similar to deja vu that she's been here before. This is the book to be debated and dissected by book groups everywhere to make sense, and grapple with Atkinson's unique perspective on a life lived in the most full and complete way.
http://www.amazon.com/Life-After-Novel-Kate-Atkinson/dp/0316176494/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388426378&sr=1-1&keywords=life+after+life+kate+atkinson

4) '& Sons' by David Gilbert:
I don't know how I've missed David Gilbert before, but for the rest of us that didn't know him, that will all be a distant memory with the publication of his latest book. It's the literary main course for the summer after appetizers of Hosseini, and Wolitzer. Hip, intelligently written, and peppered with flawed yet likable characters I was completely absorbed. It's no surprise that two of his endorsements come from John Irving and Jess Walter,or the book is followed by a conversation with Amor Towles because this is exactly the kind of book for fans of those authors work. Onto the plot: A reclusive writer reaches out to his two grown sons, begging them to come see him in New York. The book weaves their stories together, but uniquely seen through the lens of the son of said writers best friend. It's dense, but not pretentious, ambitious, and yet Gilbert brilliantly rises to the challenges he presents in his prose, especially when it comes to writing stories within stories the way John Irving so brilliantly does. 
http://www.amazon.com/Sons-Novel-David-Gilbert/dp/0812993969/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388426614&sr=1-1&keywords=david+gilbert

5) 'NOS4A2' by Joe Hill:
I loved this book. It almost seems like a cop out or worse not giving the guy his due if I say it reads like the best vintage Stephen King you can remember. Even down to his use of italics, time shifts and creep factor feels like something King would have dreamed up. Or let it germinate in his sons head for thirty years. It's a massive doorstop of a novel that I truly had a hard time putting down with an intimate collection of characters who I was so invested in. Charles Manx is the insidious evil doer who kidnaps children and takes them to "Christmasland", where their every dream comes true. Victoria McQueen is the one who escaped, and now twelve years later Manx returns to claim what is rightfully his the only way he knows how- By taking her son. It's only fitting the manifestation of Manx's evil is a classic Rolls Royce, because once you strap yourself in, it's hard to take your foot off the accelerator. On a side note, Hill does give a cursory nod to his father with a blip of a mention of Pennywise the Clown, which is a small but perfect touch.
http://www.amazon.com/NOS4A2-Novel-Joe-Hill/dp/0062200585/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388426955&sr=1-1&keywords=nos4a2

6) 'Longbourn' by Jo Baker:
It's probably not required, that you've read 'Sense and Sensibility' before this, but it certainly makes the experience more rewarding and rich. Comparisons will inevitably made to 'Downton Abbey' since both deal with the lives of the servants of the privileged upper crust, but Longbourn is a cruder and harsher life than anything that Mr Bates and Mrs Patmore could imagine. Baker begins each chapter with a line from Austen's source material to let the reader know where we are in the original story, while weaving a terrifically engaging tale in its own right, centering predominantly on the housemaid Sarah and the mysterious footman James who arrives at the home. Both intimate and epic, and sweepingly romantic in much the same way Austen is, Longbourn is place worth visiting downstairs as much as up.
http://www.amazon.com/Longbourn-Jo-Baker/dp/0385351232/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388426314&sr=1-1&keywords=longbourn+jo+baker

7) 'The Golem & The Jinni' by Helene Wecker:
This novel, this wonderful fable/fantasy has the feel of a classic piece of literature. Set in turn of the century Manhattan, it's the colliding of two mystical creatures; A Syrian Jinni, suddenly released from his captive urn, and a female Golem, brought to life on a ship from Poland bound for America. Both having arrived in New York they begin to find their way with a collection of memorable characters rooted the ethnic culture of the city. But the wonder of the book is that it really becomes a story of two people searching for their identities, their value, and their worth. And that's what sets the book apart from some typical mystical themed novel. Wecker's world feels vaguely reminiscent of early Anne Rice novels like 'Cry To Heaven' or 'The Feast of All Saints', because of its rich, immersive and evocative prose. Not at all what I was expecting, and a wonderful surprise.

http://www.amazon.com/Golem-Jinni-Novel-P-S/dp/0062110845/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388426714&sr=1-1&keywords=the+golem+and+the+jinni

8) 'The Goldfinch' by Donna Tartt:
While reading this I had absolutely no idea where it was headed, and it didn't matter, I was just thoroughly invested and captured by Theo and his exploits. At times I found the book maddeningly wordy, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment, and I would say for roughly ninety percent of the book I was completely enthralled. It was only in the final-and I really mean final-pages that I found myself wandering as the narrative was suddenly peppered with philosophical musings, as the story wrapped up. The comparisons to Dickens aren't unwarranted both for the size and scope as well as the richly textured world, here New York and Vegas, as well as a collection of unforgettable characters. Sweet Hobie, Boris, and of course lovely Pippa. A contemporary book, that feels instantly classic, it certainly is worthy of its praise.
http://www.amazon.com/Goldfinch-Donna-Tartt/dp/0316055433/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388426225&sr=1-1&keywords=the+goldfinch

9) 'The Andalucian Friend' by Alexander Soderberg:
I was almost hesitant reading this because of all the negative reviews about this book specifically how confusing it was because of the myriad of characters. This should be the lesson on when just to ignore outside influences and trust your gut, because I thought it was pretty terrific. Yes, the plot is very involved, or at least the amount of characters are, but for anyone who has cracked open a George Martin book, this will seem like childs play. At its root the plot is primarily focused on a young widow who lives with her son, and works as a nurse when she comes across a patient who although very charming, is the head of a major crime syndicate in the middle of a war with a rival. I definitely had my moments I had to flip back to the front of the book to check who was who under the character guide, but if you're able to be patient and stick with it, I personally found it a thrilling page turner that managed to surprise me quite a few times.

http://www.amazon.com/Andalucian-Friend-Novel-Alexander-Soderberg/dp/0770436056/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388427207&sr=1-1&keywords=andalucian+friend

10) 'Not So Black and White' by Alexis Wilson:

I am lucky enough to have seen first hand what an extraordinary dancer Alexis is, had the great fortune of standing next to her on stage as she laid claim to her character like any great actor should, but what a marvelous surprise to discover what a gifted, sensitive, and beautiful writer she is.
'...Black and White' goes beyond the typical memoir that presents its narrator facing some kind of Sisyphus like event they overcame before it rolled back down the hill. No, she was tackling multiple boulders, yet managed to navigate them not without cost, but ultimately with phenomenal personal growth. Born to ballet dance superstars, her mother was white, her father black, and together they had an intense love affair that sustained long enough to produce she and her brother before their mother abandoned them.
Soon Alexis and her brother Parker were being raised by their father Billy and shortly thereafter his partner Chip, a new kind of family until AIDS took them both far too soon.
What I loved about her writing so much was her brutal honesty in regards to frankly everything; Her mother leaving them, race identification, the struggle with sharing her father's attention with someone else, let alone a man, and then her massive loss at losing them both, and finally her maturation both as an artist and more importantly, a woman.
I am so thrilled for Alexis to have opened up this literary part of her, and so excited for all of us who get to experience the fruits of her loving labor.

http://www.amazon.com/Not-Black-White-Alexis-Wilson/dp/0615568246/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388427344&sr=1-1&keywords=not+so+black+and+white

11) 'Want Not' by Jonathan Miles:
It seems a bit absurd distilling this book to its essence as a tale about waste, but that's exactly what it is. Three stories that track life in our modern world of excess through very different lives. There's Talmadge and Micah, the young New York City squatters, living their lives on the garbage of others, dumpster diving and maintaining until a friend from Talmadges' past arrives and quickly upsets the apple cart.
There's Elwin Cross, an overweight linguistics professor whose wife recently left him, who in a bizarre opening hits a deer while coming home one night, and decides to skin the animal for its meat, with the aid of his neighbors twenty two year old son, who has been nothing but a disappointment to his father. Lastly, the fractured family of Sara, Dave and Alexis. Sara, who lost her first husband in one of the twin towers is now remarried to a pretty despicable debt collector Dave, who vacillates between being flesh crawlingly inappropriate, (especially with his step daughter), and downright pathetic. I realize when I look back at what I just described, this whole thing can look rather bleak, but it really isn't. Miles manages to create sympathetic portraits of virtually all of these characters that completely pulls you in. The guy is an extraordinary writer who has written some of the most descriptive prose that would rival the best of current literary queen supreme Donna Tartt. It's and fascinating and provocative book.
http://www.amazon.com/Want-Not-Jonathan-Miles/dp/0547352204/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388425016&sr=1-1&keywords=want+not

and one more just because:

'The Husband's Secret' by Liane Moriarty:
It's unfortunate that the publishers decided to put such an awful cover on the American edition of this, because it really shouldn't be relegated to just 'chick lit' as so many people have already commented. That said, I get why it could be classified as such since it revolves around three different women whose lives all come loosely together, each dealing with their own domestic issues. Cecelia, is burdened by a letter she finds in the attic, her husband has written which is to be opened only in the event of his death. Tess is reeling from an admission from her husband and cousin, and Rachel still trying to cope with the unsolved murder of her daughter. It's an easy read, but one that shouldn't be perceived as light. Moriarty manages, like Jodi Picoult, to infuse enough witty insight into the human condition to give the book both gravitas and depth.
http://www.amazon.com/Husbands-Secret-Liane-Moriarty/dp/0399159347/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388428196&sr=1-1&keywords=the+husbands+secret

And another year bites the dust! It feel almost redundant to have placed the can't put down until you finish, "Gone Girl" on this list, but it's here, cause at the end of the day it's really good. I'm also happy to report I didn't even crack open a copy of one "fifty shades..." book, even when it was for sale at my kids elementary school book fair! I'm sure there are things not here that maybe you thought were great and I'd love to hear what they are. 
Again, not all these book were published this year, this is merely a sampling of what I thought was best from almost sixty books. And the last review was a book I read in January and posted about it, but was too good not to be repeated here. 
Happy Reading book worms!

1) "The Fault of Our Stars" by John Green

John Green wouldn't be the first author to sensitively tackle the subject of a teen dying of cancer. Jenny Downham's, "Before I Die" comes to mind. But he would write the most provocative, and in my opinion, the best. Our narrator, Hazel meets Augustus in a cancer support group. her lungs have been ravaged by the disease and her constant companion is the oxygen tank she wheels along beside her. Augustus is a cancer survivor, and former basketball player who lost the lower half of one of legs to the disease. These are bright, inquisitive kids, full of the smart quippy dialogue that seemed to be muttered by actresses like Emma Stone, or to date myself Janeane Garofalo. Yet I think what makes the book so poignant is in this current culture of social media, and instant celebrity, faced with ones own mortality, the question is asked, How will I leave a mark, how will I be remembered? Did my life, however long or short, matter? Questions that ultimately go beyond these two young souls and cause you to ask yourself the same.
http://www.amazon.com/Fault-Our-Stars-John-Green/dp/0525478817/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356808805&sr=1-1&keywords=the+fault+in+our+stars

2)"Wild" by Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayed's memoir of hiking through the Pacific Coast trail after the death of her Mother, and the dissolution of her marriage iis simply terrific. I won't go on to recount what so many before me have done, especially now, since the book has garnered mass attention due to Oprah Winfrey. I will say personally I had to have a little patience at the start of the book which dealt a lot with the death of her Mother, but a hundred pages in was hooked, and found myself incredibly moved and rooting for her and her journey, both physical and emotional.
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Found-Pacific-Crest-Oprahs/dp/0307592731/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356808832&sr=1-1&keywords=wild+cheryl+strayed

3)"The Round House" by Louise Erdrich
A beautiful coming of age novel shrouded in the mystery and secret behind a brutal rape, Erdrich has written a book that has the feel of an instant classic. Thirteen year old Joe Coutts is our narrator, who lives on an Indian reservation with his parents. When his mother is attacked and reluctant to give up anything in regards to the crime, Joe takes it on himself to figure out who it was, and why.
http://www.amazon.com/Round-House-Louise-Erdrich/dp/0062065246/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356808865&sr=1-1&keywords=the+round+house+louise+erdrich

4) "Rules of Civility" by Amor Towles
I loved every second of this book which literally transports you back to New York in the late thirties, and makes you feel like you never want to leave. Much of the success of that can be attributed to such an intelligent and winning female protagonist in Katey Kontent, the daughter of Russian immigrants who smartly changes her name from Katya as she embarks on her ambitious life in New York. Towles writes with so much confidence and skill it's hard to believe this is his first novel. I loved these characters, this world, and his stark but visually arresting imagery. A pure delight.
http://www.amazon.com/Rules-Civility-Novel-Amor-Towles/dp/0143121162/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356808915&sr=1-1&keywords=rules+of+civility

5) "The End of Your Life Book Club" by Will Schwalbe
Will Schwalbe's lovely tribute to his mother who died in 2009 of pancreatic cancer is so wonderful because you walk away from the book not feeling sad or depressed, but instead entirely inspired and invigorated. This was a remarkable woman who truly understood what is was to be a servant of mankind, which she expressed in numerous ways, but especially in her work with various refugee organizations throughout the world.
Her passion though, was books. She loved reading, sharing, and discussing them. They informed her life, and filled countless hours with joy. As she says to her doctor who is asking her if her appetite has returned: "I'm trying to eat as much as I can. But nothing tastes good, so I eat a lot of Jell-O. I still have enough energy to see friends and and go to afternoon concerts and read. No matter how tired I am. I can always read. But maybe that's because of raising three children while working full time. I think I got used to being tired all the time. If I'd waited till I was well rested to read I never would've read anything."
So she and her son, who spends hours with her while she receives her chemotherapy, start their own book club for two.It was fun to hear them discussing something you've already read, however I found many more I hadn't. Yet the gift of the book is a comprehensive Appendix of all the literature discussed, so you don't need to read with a pen and paper to write down all the great sounding tomes you're going to want to immediately throw in your shopping cart at Amazon.
Of course any book involving death brings about thoughts of ones own mortality, and Schwalbe manages to say it succinctly, and appropriately to this particular book. "We're all in the end-of-our-life book clubs, whether we acknowledge it or not; each book we read may well be the last ,each conversation the final one."
Make them count.
http://www.amazon.com/End-Your-Life-Book-Club/dp/0307594033/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356808987&sr=1-1&keywords=the+end+of+your+life+book+club

6) "Live By Night"by Dennis Lehane
I can't even begin to express how continually in awe I am of Dennis Lehane. He managed to create one of the best crime series with Kinsey and Gennaro, wrote the haunting 'Mystic River', and then the twisted 'Shutter Island', followed by his first historical outing, the phenomenal, 'The Given Day'. Now with his eleventh book, he returns back to the Coughlin family of '...Day', but this time turns his attention on the youngest son, Joe, a young man who quickly begins to rise up through the dark underbelly of the pre prohibition gangster world. Lehane is a genius, because he manages to tell a story that's simply epic in a thorough but condensed narrative that's as distilled as the rum his bootleggers are running up and down the eastern seaboard. it's violent, and funny, and packed with emotional punches that make these brilliant characters feel passionately alive, and helmed by a master. Highly recommended.
http://www.amazon.com/Live-Night-Novel-Dennis-Lehane/dp/0060004878/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356809047&sr=1-1&keywords=live+by+night+dennis+lehane

7) "Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter
An utterly delightful summer escape, Jess Walter has written a story that evokes the same imagery and feelings I got the first time I saw the movie, 'Cinema Paradiso'. Beginning in Italy in a small coastal fishing town in 1962, an American actress arrives on a boat from Rome where she was shooting Burton and Taylor's 'Cleopatra'. The young Italian man who owns the one ramshackled hotel in town, finds himself immediately smitten with the beautiful woman, and from there the story begins. Spanning fifty years, and shifting back and forth in time from modern Los Angeles, to old Hollywood, and the secluded fishing town our hero has spent his life in, Walter has written a poignant story about life, and loss, regret and hope, and mostly, the enduring power of love.
http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Ruins-Novel-Jess-Walter/dp/0061928127/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356809115&sr=1-1&keywords=beautiful+ruins

8) "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn
The "it girl" of the literary year, she's sparked millions of conversations, and was immediately snapped up by Reese Witherspoon's production company with Flynn penning the screenplay.The seemingly perfect couple, their fifth wedding anniversary, and she disappears without a trace. Told through alternating chapters narrated by him on the day of the disappearance, and her diary entries beginning years before, Flynn creates a portrait of a marriage that is laser sharp in it's precision, which means uncomfortably honest enough you find yourself cringing and giggling at the same time. The first half of the book moves at a measured pace with a slow roll out, but without giving anything away, she suddenly ratchets up the stakes, and straps you in for a wild ride, that I found myself hard pressed to get off of until it all played out.
http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Girl-Novel-Gillian-Flynn/dp/030758836X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356809177&sr=1-1&keywords=gone+girl+gillian+flynn

9) Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
I spent so much of this book vacillating between being aghast at what a jerk Jobs was to so many around him,and yet being blown away by his visionary leadership, I found it hard to put down. Frankly the biggest surprise was how moved I was by the time I reached the end of the book, and his life was over. It's exhaustively researched, and utterly fascinating, despite the fact his behavior was simply appalling much of the time. I ended up reading passages aloud to friends so we could all shake our heads in disbelief, yet there's no denying the guy was brilliant.
http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356809202&sr=1-1&keywords=steve+jobs+biography

10) "Afterwards" by Rosamund Lupton
I think if you can get past the device Lupton uses in this novel (which I was able to), you're in for a clever and interesting take on the literary mystery. When she learns her daughter is trapped in her burning school, Grace Covey races in to save her. Ultimately, both she and her daughter wind up in the hospital, Grace with a massive head trauma, and Jenny severe burns both externally and internally. But in a somewhat reminiscent nod to, "The Lovely Bones" both Mother and daughter step outside of their bodies to witness everything that is happening in the aftermath, including the fact that Grace believes this fire was deliberate, and Jenny was it's intended victim. The book seen through Grace's eyes, spends much of the time watching her stoic husband try to wrestle with the fact he might lose two members of his family, while trying to find out what really happened in the school with the help of his police detective sister. I throughly enjoyed the ride, and appreciated that Lupton wasn't satisfied with simple resolves, but kept the story twisting right until it's bittersweet ending.
http://www.amazon.com/Afterwards-Novel-Rosamund-Lupton/dp/0307716546/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356809292&sr=1-1&keywords=afterwards

11) "An Available Man" by Hilma Wolitzer
The one thing that seems to be lacking in modern pop culture now is charm. It's so rare we see or read something now that is truly charming, like 'The Artist' for example, or for me, 'Midnight in Paris". We've become a crass Kardashian and Jersey Shore loving wasteland. So how wonderful that this book is overflowing with it. When sixty two year old Edward Schuyler finds himself a widow, the last thing he wants is for his stepchildren to place an ad for him listing him as an available man. Yet that's what they do, and so begins his journey navigating through the treacherous waters of dating over fifty when nothing seems to make sense, and time is at a premium. Brimming with genuine sweetness, author Hilma Wolitzer has written a story for anyone who believes that the heart can love again.
http://www.amazon.com/Available-Man-Novel-Hilma-Wolitzer/dp/0345527542/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356809404&sr=1-1&keywords=an+available+man+by+hilma+wolitzer

12) "A Storm of Swords, Game of Thrones Book 3" by George RR Martin
By far the best of the series so far, and able to produce scenes of literally jaw dropping action, Martin turns the whole narrative on it's head, and does things with, and to characters that left me both speechless, and shocked. Already I'm chomping at the bit to see how HBO will shoot some of the more memorable scenes, and can't wait to see all my friends faces who aren't reading the series when they see what happens. A game changer in the series, and sadly probably the highpoint of the series as a whole.
http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Swords-Song-Fire-Book/dp/055357342X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356810232&sr=1-1&keywords=a+storm+of+swords

13)"Salvage the Bones" by Jesmyn Ward

It's your typical story of family sticking together through impossible odds. You know, like The Joads. Only this is a poor black family living in rural Mississippi who are about to face down the Mother of  all storms, Katrina. 

Like the pit bull China that is featured so prominantly in this story, it'll grab hold of your throat and won't let go. Narrated by a teenage age African American girl named Esch, she so beautifully tells of her bother Skeet, and his unfailing love for his brutal dog and her new born pups, her eldest brother Randall, trying desperately to escape the strangling holds of poverty and break into a new life through basketball, and mostly, her burning, unflinching yearning towards Manny, her brother Randall's friend, and the father of her unborn child. Stunning, poetic writing graces these pages, such as this passage describing her brother and a group of boys playing basketball: "they elbow each other, fall and let the concrete peel the skin off their hands, their knees, their elbows away like petals." The great thing about the book is in the face of such terrible adversity that climaxes with, you know, that hurricane, you'd think the book would be a giant downer. Not so.

Instead, Ward manages to create a brutal, beautiful testament to the bonds family and survival.

http://www.amazon.com/Salvage-Bones-Novel-Jesmyn-Ward/dp/1608195228/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1326674276&sr=1-1

My stinker book for the year would go to Mark Helprin's laborious and overwritten doorstop, "In Sunlight and In Shadow"

My First Great One This Year

Get your mind out of the gutter! Books people, books! Ah January! renewal, resolutions, and for me the beginning of my busiest time of year, pilot season. Once it's underway I never have enough time to read the mail let, alone a novel. So from mid January through April I save up my trash novels. You know, beach reads, like mindless thrillers that don't require much in terms of attention or thought when you turn the last page. So I was so happy to have gotten this one read before the insanity, and I had to share because it's fantastic, and gets the distinction of being my first great read of 2012. It's gonna sound like a downer, but it's not, really. It's savage, and honest, but so well written and so smart I just couldn't wait till December 31st to share.

"Salvage the Bones" by Jesmyn Ward

It's your typical story of family sticking together through impossible odds. You know, like The Joads. Only this is a poor black family living in rural Mississippi who are about to face down the Mother of  all storms, Katrina. 

Like the pit bull China that is featured so prominantly in this story, it'll grab hold of your throat and won't let go. Narrated by a teenage age African American girl named Esch, she so beautifully tells of her bother Skeet, and his unfailing love for his brutal dog and her new born pups, her eldest brother Randall, trying desperately to escape the strangling holds of poverty and break into a new life through basketball, and mostly, her burning, unflinching yearning towards Manny, her brother Randall's friend, and the father of her unborn child. Stunning, poetic writing graces these pages, such as this passage describing her brother and a group of boys playing basketball: "they elbow each other, fall and let the concrete peel the skin off their hands, their knees, their elbows away like petals." The great thing about the book is in the face of such terrible adversity that climaxes with, you know, that hurricane, you'd think the book would be a giant downer. Not so.

Instead, Ward manages to create a brutal, beautiful testament to the bonds family and survival.

http://www.amazon.com/Salvage-Bones-Novel-Jesmyn-Ward/dp/1608195228/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1326674276&sr=1-1