- Swamplandia! by Karen Russell: the descriptions of the Everglades alone makes it hands down my favorite book this year
- The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta: a favorite author who keeps surprising me by getting better with each book
- The Known World by Edward P. Jones: again, I am sorry it took me so long to read this masterpiece.
- Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson: a better suspense story I did not read this year.
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: a better pure story I was not told this year.
- Chew by John Layman: I read some very good dark graphic novels this year (click here and here), but nothing surprised me as much as this original new series.
- The Sisters Brothers by Patrick de Witt: how can I not love a book that I can describe to patrons as a cross between the Cohen Brothers movies O Brother, Where Art Thou and No Country for Old Men?
- The Caretaker of Lorne Field by Dave Zeltserman: I read some great horror this year (click here to see more) but nothing stayed with me more than this one.
- Centuries of June by Keith Donohue: for its ability to be original AND entertaining
- Full Dark No Stars by Stephen King: not horror, but these four psychological suspense novellas were riveting and frightening, especially in the excellent audio version I listened to.
- There was no nonfiction on my final top 10. I tried to go back and find something I enjoyed enough to bump one of these novels off, but I could not. I really liked both In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson and At Home by Bill Bryson, but I enjoy both authors and expected to enjoy these books. As a result, my enjoyment did not surprise me as much as it did with the 10 books in the list above.
- For similar reasoning 2 other novels just missed the cut, Faithful Place by Tana French and Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson.
Thank for following me on yet another year of reading.
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