It’s always fun, at this time of the year, to look back at the last 12 months and see how far we have come. One thing I like doing is to go over various “Best of” lists so as to fill my holiday period with catching up, especially when it comes to reading (nothing better than curling up with a mug of cocoa by a roaring fire to read, while white flakes delicately float down…).

Here is one list I found intriguing, many of whose items I will be checking out of my library in the coming weeks!

Best Books of 2008

1. The Garden of Last Days, by Andre Dubus III

The Garden of Last Days is instantly interesting and engaging, it grabs one’s attention and holds it to the last page. It is compelling, thought-provoking reading that requires the reader to bring a “willing suspension of disbelief” for full appreciation. Strippers are human, too. Hijackers are human also. It is this last characterization that causes the most dis-ease as we read, but the effort is well worth the journey.

2. Hold Tight, by Harlan Coben

If there was ever a novel that called for a sociological flow chart, Hold Tight, a community murder mystery, is it. Harlan Coben has constructed a yarn with multiple points of view – a patchwork of tragically affected people connected to an incident of callousness and bad taste that festers into murder and suicide. And no one participant has any way of knowing how it all connects.

3. My Revolutions, by Hari Kunzru

My Revolutions is a thrilling novel in which idealism, anger, and social ambition fuel protagonist Michael Frame’s involvement with a group of radical activists who protest the Vietnam War in 1960s London. The main character’s turn to terrorism runs a recognizable course and offers striking insight into the modern tensions between individual and family, nation and state.

Check out the rest of the list here.