Best Books I Read in 2008

In honor of all of the best lists I have been posting, I present my second annual list of the ten best books I read this year, in my opinion of course. I will list the books with genre and month read, but they really are in no particular preference order.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (youth) 12/08
The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti (historical fiction) 10/08
Fun Home by Allison Bechdel (graphic novel/memoir) 9/08
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (literary fiction) 5/08
Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser (short stories) 4/08
The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan (nonfiction) 4/08
The Uncommon Reader by Allan Bennett (literary fiction) 1/08
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (literary fiction) 1/08
City of Thieves by David Benioff (historical fiction) 10/08
North River by Pete Hamil (historical fiction) 6/08

To see everything I read and considered for this list, click here. And for those who are interested, here is last year's list.

A few comments on this year's top ten. First, I was surprised that only two nonfiction titles made the cut this year since I read 11 total. Second, only 1/2 of these books came out in 2008, which is a great reminder of the almost infinite back list of titles available at your local public library. Finally, if I had to pick a favorite book I read this year, I think it would be The Good Thief by Tinti because it was fun to read and though provoking (use the link above to read the details of how I felt about it.) I am not alone on liking this novel though, Tinti's work has already been honored on many of the year's best lists, including the NYT's Notable Books List and a Borders Original Voices nomination.

Let me know what you read this past year that really stuck with you. Happy Holidays! Here's to more great reading in 2009.