These are the top twelve best books I read in 2008. If I blogged about the book, then I’ve noted the date when I posted the review; please check the archive for a fuller discussion of the book.<\/p>\n
1. Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino
\n8 September 08
\nIndescribable. You just have to experience it.<\/p>\n
2. Averno, by Louise Gluck
\nGluck’s lyric meditations on death, often using the myth of Persephone as a way in; deceptively simple language that strikes to the core, the beauty of the natural world, solace and despair commingled. Still too close to these poems to blog about them. <\/p>\n
3. The Three-Cornered World (Kusa Makura), by Natsume Soseki
\n22 September 08
\nAn artist visits a remote mountain resort out of season; beautiful descriptions, thoughtful\u2014and sometimes funny\u2014discussions about life and art. Is solitude necessary for immersion in your art? Is distance necessary for aesthetic appreciation of life?<\/p>\n
4. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, by Kate Summerscale
\n8 December 08
\nFascinating account of a true crime investigation by one of Scotland Yard's first detectives, with illuminating social context about Victorian England.<\/p>\n
5. The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, by G.B. Edwards
\n31 March 08
\nFictional first-person narrative of life on Guernsey in the beginning of the 20th century; a character and a voice that stay with you.<\/p>\n
6. The Lost Upland, by W.S. Merwin
\n12 May 08
\nThree stories set in the rural uplands of France with their limestone outcroppings, sheep pastures, and vineyards; gorgeous language, flawed and funny characters, the sadness of an ancient way of life disappearing.<\/p>\n
7. The Gathering, by Anne Enright
\n13 October 08
\nA peculiarly affecting story of an Irish family; fiction rarely feels this real.<\/p>\n
8. The Untouchable, by John Banville
\n11 February 08
\nFictional retelling of the story of Anthony Blunt, one of the Cambridge spies; devotion, betrayal, the quest for authenticity\u2014it's all here.<\/p>\n
9. True Confessions, by John Gregory Dunne
\nA classic crime story\u2014can't imagine why I'd never read it before; it has the qualities that later made Chinatown such a great film.<\/p>\n
10. After, by Marita Golden
\nWill change the way you think about race, cities, police. One of the most honest books I've ever read. Just as good on this second read for my book club.<\/p>\n
11. The Lighthouse, by P.D. James
\n2 June 08
\nFurther investigations by Commander Dalgleish, this time on a small island off the coast of Cornwall that has been turned into an exclusive resort; an intelligent read, with allusions to lighthouses and small islands to delight the reader.<\/p>\n
12. The Darling, by Russell Banks
\nA woman's life, from Weather Underground to Liberia to a farm in upstate NY; I especially appreciated the parts set in Liberia and the understanding of its past and complex present that I gained from this book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These are the top twelve best books I read in 2008. If I blogged about the book, then I’ve noted the date when I posted the review; please check the archive for a fuller discussion of the book. 1. Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino 8 September 08 Indescribable. You just have to experience it. 2. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eatmytoronto.com\/bmorrison\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eatmytoronto.com\/bmorrison\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eatmytoronto.com\/bmorrison\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eatmytoronto.com\/bmorrison\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eatmytoronto.com\/bmorrison\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/eatmytoronto.com\/bmorrison\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eatmytoronto.com\/bmorrison\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eatmytoronto.com\/bmorrison\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eatmytoronto.com\/bmorrison\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}