Best of the Year Roundup

At some point the best of the year lists came in so fast that I couldn't keep up with them anymore, but, for the list geeks like me--or late holiday shoppers--I'm going to link to as many of them here as I can. Some are straight top 10 lists, some are, in the British style, more idiosyncratic surveys of contributors' favorites from the year. As I've said, I like the sporting discipline of the top 10 list (ranked, preferably!), but after seeing so many lists pile in (with so many of the same books atop them), the weirder and more reflective surveys of individual favorites are very appealing as well. But for those who love rankings, Michael Cader of the subscription-only Publishers Lunch went to the trouble of doing something I'm glad he saved me from doing myself: adding up the favorites from nine different sources (our own top 20 included) to come up with a "list of lists." I'll begin things with that top 10, and then the list links commence:

1. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
2. The Brief Wondrous LIfe of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
3. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
4. Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner
5. Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat
6. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
7. Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis
8. The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
9. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
10. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

Here goes (in addition to the Time, New York Times, and National Book Critics Circle picks posted before), with a pick of interest pulled out from each one:

• Washington Post Top 10 (click on Top 10 Books of 2007) (The Unnatural History of the Sea by Callum Roberts)
• Post critic Jonathan Yardley's top 10 (Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon)
• Boston Globe 16 best (The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies)
• Los Angeles Times: fiction, nonfiction, children's, mystery, scifi (The Happiest Man in the World by Alec Wilkinson)
• Village Voice top 20 (Nobodies by John Bowe)
• New York magazine's Year in Books (e.g. top 11) (Wall and Piece by Banksy)
• Salon's top 10 (Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgina Howell) and top graphic novels (The Salon by Nick Bertozzi)
• The Times of London Christmas favorites in 20 categories (The Ghost by Robert Harris)
• Michael Upchurch's top 10 in the Seattle Times (The Empress of Weehawken by Irene Dische)
• Slate's Year in Books: a couple dozen picks by staffers and contributors (A Free Life by Ha Jin)
• The Millions book blog: favorites from an excellent lineup of authors and bloggers (Endless Things by John Crowley)
• The Guardian: fiction top 10 and much more, including a long list of writers' favorites (The Whisperers by Orlando Figes)
• Best economics books of 2007, from the NYT's David Leonhardt (Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer by Shannon Brownlee)

Oh, there's more, more, more out there, many of which you'll find in the vast year-end-list compendium at Filmoculous. --Tom

Comments

[Wendy Willett on January 07, 2008 at 11:58 AM]

Amber Shadows and the Missing Wands is up for three BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS, one in particular coming up in June 2008 is The Spinetinglers Book of the Year Award. Amber Shadows and the Missing Wands has been shortlisted and has received a 5-star review from Spinetinglers uk. The second Book of the Year Award it is up for is through Foreword Magazine and the third is Writers Digest. These last two are due for awarding in the Spring of 2008.

[John C Bird on February 10, 2008 at 04:29 AM]

Perhaps it might be of interest to list the longlisted nominations for the Waverton Good Read Award a UK award for the best debut novel of the year. The long list was announced recently and the short lost will be revealed on April 7th. The winner will be announced in July. Details can be found on: www.wavertongoodread.org.uk

[Wendy Willett on June 16, 2008 at 04:55 PM]

Amber Shadows and the Missing Wands has officially been named Spinetinglers' Book of the Year on June 5th 2008. Congratulations to Author/Illustrator Wendy Willett!