Analyzing the Best Books of 2008
Posted by: Neil Hollands
It was originally my intent to write extensively about the selections in my unified list of the best books of 2008, compiled from over 80 sources. But as I look through the list, even this book-crazy blogger is daunted. Over 1700 books were mentioned in these best-of-the-year lists. Since I don’t read exclusively from new books, I can honestly say that I’ve only read a dozen or two of these titles. The sheer abundance of interesting things to read here takes my breath away! I’m just going to summarize the list and let your book groups do the talking!
I love the extent and the diversity of this list. To me it suggests that despite the dark news coming from the publishing industry of late, the arts of reading and writing remain vigorously healthy (hopefully the business models of publishers and sellers will catch up soon). There’s something for every reader in this list: a cornucopia of diversity in the books and authors.
I encourage you to pass the list along to members of your book groups. With these books still in abundance in libraries and bookstores, and in most cases arriving in paperback in 2009, they make good candidates for selection as book group titles. Here are five questions to discuss as you review the list:
1) What were your own favorite titles in 2008? Do you see anything here that your group would love? What books that received fewer votes deserved more recognition?
2) How does this list compare to the bestseller lists that you see throughout the year? What’s different?
3) How many authors in the list are familiar to you? How many are new faces? Where do they come from? If we compared this list with a similar list from ten years ago, what are the most obvious differences in terms of the composition of the author list?
4) Is selection of best books driven mostly by publicity and name recognition or does the cream truly rise to the top? What books seem to receive less recognition than others? What books receive an unfairly large amount of recognition?
5) How many books published in 2008 did you read during 2008? Do you like to read books that are new and hot or do you prefer to wait a while before trying a book or author?
Finally, here’s a longish summary of the Best of 2008, at least 5 books from each category, and all of the books that received five votes or more. You can download the full spreadsheet showing all the votes through the link at the top of this post.
GENERAL FICTION
| Unaccustomed Earth, The | Lahiri, Jhumpa | 37 |
| Netherland | O’Neill, Joseph | 28 |
| Story of Edgar Sawtelle, The | Wroblewski, David | 28 |
| 2666: A Novel | Bolano, Roberto | 23 |
| Home | Robinson, Marilynne | 22 |
| Olive Kitteridge | Strout, Elizabeth | 22 |
| Indignation | Roth, Philip | 17 |
| Plague of Doves, The | Erdrich, Louise | 17 |
| Atmospheric Disturbances | Galchen, Rivka | 13 |
| White Tiger, The | Adiga, Aravind | 13 |
| Boat, The | Le, Nam | 11 |
| Wasted Vigil, The | Aslam, Nadeem | 11 |
| American Wife | Sittenfeld, Curtis | 10 |
| Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories | Millhauser, Steven | 10 |
| Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories 3 | Proulx, Annie | 10 |
| Hakawati, The | Alameddine, Rabih | 10 |
| Art of Racing in the Rain, The | Stein, Garth | 9 |
| Gargoyle, The | Davidson, Andrew | 9 |
| Our Story Begins | Wolff, Tobias | 9 |
| Man in the Dark | Auster, Paul | 8 |
| Say You’re One of Them | Akpan, Uwem | 8 |
| Songs for the Missing | O’ Nan, Stewart | 8 |
| Breath | Winton, Tim | 7 |
| Cellist of Sarajevo, The | Galloway, Steven | 7 |
| Dear American Airlines | Miles, Jonathan | 7 |
| Dictation: A Quartet | Ozick, Cynthia | 7 |
| Ms. Hempel Chronicles | Bynum, Sarah Shun-Lien | 7 |
| Cost | Robinson, Roxanna | 6 |
| How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone | Stanisic, Sasa | 6 |
| Three Girls and Their Brother | Rebeck, Theresa | 6 |
| Widows of Eastwick, The | Updike, John | 6 |
| America America | Canin, Ethan | 5 |
| Better Angel, A | Adrian, Chris | 5 |
| City of Refuge | Piazza, Tom | 5 |
| Elegance of the Hedgehog, The | Barbery, Muriel | 5 |
| Goldengrove | Prose, Francine | 5 |
| His Illegal Self | Carey, Peter | 5 |
| Monsters of Templeton, The | Groff, Lauren | 5 |
| My Revolutions | Kunzru, Hari | 5 |
| Northern Clemency, The | Hensher, Philip | 5 |
MYSTERIES, THRILLERS, AND ACTION NOVELS
| Lush Life | Price, Richard | 33 |
| Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The | Larsson, Steig | 17 |
| When Will There Be Good News? | Atkinson, Kate | 17 |
| Child 44 | Smith, Tom Rob | 15 |
| Brass Verdict, The | Connelly, Michael | 14 |
| Black Tower, The | Bayard, Louis | 11 |
| Likeness, The | French, Tana | 10 |
| Dawn Patrol, The | Winslow, Don | 8 |
| Exit Music | Rankin, Ian | 7 |
| Most Wanted Man, A | Le Carre, John | 7 |
| Spies of Warsaw, The | Furst, Alan | 7 |
| Trigger City | Chercover, Sean | 7 |
| Hold Tight | Coben, Harlan | 6 |
| Fifth Floor, The | Harvey, Michael | 5 |
| Finder, The | Harrison, Colin | 5 |
| Forgery of Venus, The | Gruber, Michael | 5 |
| Master of the Delta, The | Cook, Thomas H. | 5 |
| Silver Swan, The | Black, Benjamin | 5 |
| Turnaround, The | Pelecanos, George | 5 |
| Vienna Blood | Tallis, Frank | 5 |
SPECULATIVE FICTION: FANTASY, SCIENCE FICTION, AND HORROR
| Anathem | Stephenson, Neal | 16 |
| Sharp Teeth | Barlow, Toby | 10 |
| Matter | Banks, Iain M. | 8 |
| Black Ships | Graham, Jo | 7 |
| Pandemonium | Gregory, Daryl | 6 |
| Pump Six and Other Stories | Bacigalupi, Paolo | 6 |
| Shadowbridge | Frost, Gregory | 6 |
| Steel Remains, The | Morgan, Richard K. | 6 |
| City at the End of Time | Bear, Greg | 5 |
| Half a Crown | Walton, Jo | 5 |
HISTORICAL FICTION
| Mercy, A | Morrison, Toni | 26 |
| Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The | Shaffer, Mary Ann & Burrows, Annie | 24 |
| Given Day, The | Lehane, Dennis | 20 |
| Lazarus Project, The | Hemon, Aleksandar | 15 |
| City of Thieves | Benioff, David | 13 |
| Enchantress of Florence, The | Rushdie, Salman | 12 |
| Sea of Poppies | Ghosh, Amitav | 12 |
| Serena | Rash, Ron | 10 |
| Lavinia | LeGuin, Ursula K. | 9 |
| People of the Book | Brooks, Geraldine | 9 |
| Telex from Cuba | Kushner, Rachel | 9 |
| Shadow Country | Matthiessen, Peter | 7 |
| So Brave, Young and Handsome | Enger, Leif | 7 |
| Day | Kennedy, A. L. | 5 |
| Sway | Lazar, Zachary | 5 |
ROMANCE
| Private Arrangements | Thomas, Sherry | 5 |
| Deadly Deceptions | Miller, Linda Lael | 3 |
| Hidden | Kenin, Eve | 3 |
| Hostage to Pleasure | Singh, Nalini | 3 |
| Moonstruck | Grant, Susan | 3 |
| Sizzle and Burn | Krentz, Jayne Ann | 3 |
| Spymaster’s Lady, The | Bourne, Joanna | 3 |
| Your Scandalous Ways | Chase, Loretta | 3 |
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
| Hunger Games, The | Collins, Suzanne | 25 |
| Little Brother | Doctorow, Cory | 21 |
| Graceling | Cashore, Kristin | 12 |
| Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks, The | Lockhart, E. | 10 |
| Graveyard Book, The | Gaiman, Neil | 10 |
| Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom of Waves, The | Anderson, M. T. | 8 |
| Nation | Pratchett, Terry | 8 |
| Paper Towns | Green, John | 8 |
| Tender Morsels | Lanagan, Margo | 7 |
| Pretty Monsters | Link, Kelly | 6 |
| Knife of Never Letting Go, The | Ness, Patrick | 5 |
GRAPHIC NOVELS
| What It Is | Barry, Lynda | 7 |
| Bottomless Belly Button | Shaw, Dash | 5 |
| Joker | Azzarello, Brian & Bermejo, Lee | 4 |
| Life Sucks | Abel, Jessica & Soria, Gabe | 4 |
| Skim | Tamaki, Mariko & Tamaki, Jillian | 3 |
NARRATIVE NONFICTION
| Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals, The | Mayer, Jane | 21 |
| Forever War, The | Filkins, Dexter | 19 |
| Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood | Harris, Mark | 18 |
| This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War | Faust, Drew Gilpin | 14 |
| In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto | Pollan, Michael | 13 |
| Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America | Perlstein, Rick | 13 |
| How Fiction Works | Wood, James | 11 |
| Outliers: The Story of Success | Gladwell, Malcolm | 10 |
| Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, The | Summerscale, Kate | 10 |
| Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America | Friedman, Thomas L. | 9 |
| Post-American World, The | Zakaria, Fareed | 9 |
| Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America | Hajdu, David | 8 |
| Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) | Vanderbilt, Tom | 8 |
| Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives | Sheeler, Jim | 7 |
| Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World, A | Horwitz, Tony | 7 |
| American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work | Taylor, Nick | 6 |
| Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China | Chang, Leslie T. | 6 |
| Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape | Shehadeh, Raja | 6 |
| Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex | Roach, Mary | 5 |
| Geography of Bliss, The | Weiner, Eric | 5 |
| Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell’s Secret, The | Shulman, Seth | 5 |
BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS
| Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, The | Gordon-Reed, Annette | 15 |
| World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul, The | French, Patrick | 13 |
| Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order, The | Wickersham, Joan | 12 |
| Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century, The | Coll, Steve | 11 |
| Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination, An | McCracken, Elizabeth | 11 |
| Nothing to Be Frightened Of | Barnes, Julian | 10 |
| White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson | Wineapple, Brenda | 10 |
| American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House | Meacham, Jon | 8 |
| Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life, His Own, The | Carr, David | 8 |
| Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, The | Schroeder, Alice | 8 |
| Bishop’s Daughter, The | Moore, Honor | 6 |
| House at Sugar Beach, The | Cooper, Helene | 6 |
| John Lennon: The Life | Norman, Philip | 6 |
| Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer | Kaplan, Fred | 6 |
| Audition: A Memoir | Walters, Barbara | 5 |
| Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through his Son’s Addiction | Sheff, David | 5 |
| Champlain’s Dream | Fischer, David Hackett | 5 |
| Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars, The | Pham, Andrew X. | 5 |
| Hurry Down Sunshine: A Memoir | Greenberg, Michael | 5 |
| Miracles of Life | Ballard, J. G. | 5 |
| Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music, The | Lopez, Steve | 5 |
| Three of Us: A Family Memoir, The | Blackburn, Julia | 5 |
POETRY
| Sleeping It Off in Rapid City | Kleinzahler, August | 5 |
| Watching the Spring Festival | Bidart, Frank | 4 |
| Ballistics: Poems | Collins, Billy | 2 |
| Blood Dazzler | Smith, Patricia | 2 |
| Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems | Doty, Mark | 2 |
| Ghost Soldiers | Tate, James | 2 |
| Half the World in Light | Herrera, Juan Felipe | 2 |
| Human Dark with Sugar | Shaughnessy, Brenda | 2 |
| My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry | Spicer, Jack | 2 |
| Sources | Johnston, Devin | 2 |
| Special Orders | Hirsch, Edward | 2 |
| What’s Right About Wrong | Trussell, Donna | 2 |
March 13th, 2009 at 11:07 am
[...] the critics lined up to praise Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 (according to Neil Hollands’s analysis of over 80 best books of ‘08 lists, it appeared on the most lists; 23 in total), it’s no surprise that it was the winner in [...]