Believe it or not, music isn't the only thing that compels people to to publish year-end lists. Here are some of the more notorious year-end lists (regular Playground readers already know to expect Bolaño on these):
The New York Times' 10 Best Books of 2008
Publisher Weekly's Best Books of the Year
NPR's Top Fiction Picks for 2008
The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year
A little British flavor - The Times' Christmas Books 2008: Fiction
And that most prolific of critics, Stephen King's favorites... big change of pace from these other lists. Not necessarily a good change of pace.
As you've probably noticed, Roberto Bolaño's 2666, Toni Morrison's A Mercy, and Joseph O'Neill's Netherland are pretty ubiquitous. There's a reason for that. Do yourself a favor and read one over break; 2666 is high on my list. Also, other common list-toppers are Alexander Hemon's The Lazarus Project and Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth.
And of course, this year's big English-language literary prizes went to:
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (announced in April)
Nobel Prize for Literature (meh) -
National Book Award for Fiction - Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen
Man Booker Prize for Fiction - The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Happy reading!
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