The Best & Worst Books of 2008

The best novel I read in 2008 was If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino.  If I could re-read this book and feel the same emotional connection I felt the first time, then I'd be willing to forsake all other books and read nothing but If on a winter's night a traveler over and over again for the rest of my life.  That's probably not going to happen, though, so here are some other favorites I read in 2008:

• Zeroville--Steve Erickson
• Swann's Way--Marcel Proust
  
• A Fan's Notes--Frederick Exley
  
• The Invention of Everything Else--Samantha Hunt
  
• The Studs Lonigan Trilogy--James T. Farrell
  

The worst novel I read in 2008 was Icelander by Dustin Long.  How dare they compare this convoluted, pretentious mess to Nabokov!  Coming in a close second was An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke.

The best short story collection was CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders.  Just read it.

The worst short story collection was McSweeney's #28.  This issue provided me with less than 24 minutes of actual reading material.  With a list price of $24, that's a dollar for every minute of reading.  Sure, the issue looked cool, but half the stories were throw-aways and the rest weren't good enough to overcome that out-of-proportion cost-benefit ratio.  McSweeney's #25 was also something of a dud.

The best short story was "A Very Tight Place" by Stephen King (from McSweeney's #27).  Other favorites were "A Girl I Knew" by J.D. Salinger, "An Accounting" by Brian Evenson, "Return of the Dark Children" by Robert Coover, and "Porcus Omnivorus" by Ismet Prcic.

The worst short story was "The Ash Gray Proclamation" by Dennis Cooper.  It was little more than a celebration of underage drug use and promiscuity (with a bit of necrophilia thrown in) trying to hide itself under the cloak of serious literature.

The best non-fiction book was The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books as edited by J. Peder Zane.  The book was just a bunch of lists and synopses, but I discovered dozens of previously unknown books within its pages.  That's where I found out about Nights at the Circus, Geek Love, Sheila Levine's Dead and Living in New York, A Fan's Notes, The Railway Children, and So Long, See You Tomorrow.

The worst non-fiction book was The Coen Brothers: The Life of the Mind by James Mottram.  The book was full of factual inaccuracies, grammar mistakes, and pages of irrelevant information.  It should be avoided by even the most ardent Coen brothers fan.

The biggest waste of time was The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles.  The author's novel, The Collector, won my award for best novel read in 2007, so I guess I was expecting more from this book.  It turned out to be 480 pages of very dull reading.  It wasn't necessarily a bad book, though...just very boring.

The most welcome comeback of the year was M-----l Chabon's The Gentlemen of the Road.  It was only a novella--and a weird one at that--but it was certainly a step in the right direction after the disappointing Yiddish Policemen's Union. 

The best book title was The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt.  The title was a response to something the Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office said in 1899: "Everything that can be invented has been invented."

The best book written by a cast member of The Wire was Grace After Midnight by Felicia "Snoop" Pearson.

And here are some additional statistics.  Of the 93 books I read in 2008:

• 32 of them were novels.
• 20 of them were comics/graphic novels.
• 7 of them were in the mystery/crime genre.
• 10 of them were single-author short story collections.
• 11 of them were multiple-author short story anthologies.
  
• 13 of them were non-fiction.
• 3 of them were children's books.
  
• 2 of them were poetry collections.
• 2 of them were books of girly photography from the 50s.
• I also listened to one audiobook.