I liked these books.

'Tis time once again for all things yearly-wrap-up-ish! Here're my favorite books of the 139 I've read since the last time I did a list like this. Books are in arbitrary (alphabetical) order; links go back to original mention on this blog, in an omphaloskeptical sort of way.

FRONTLIST:

• Bossypants, Tina Fey
• A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (the whole dang series, really)
• Embassytown, China Miéville
• Fantastic Women, ed. Rob Spillman
• Hark, a Vagrant!, Kate Beaton
• The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, Alina Bronsky
• I Am Maru, Mugumogu
• The Iron Duke, Meljean Brook
• I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen (funniest picture book I've read in ages!)
• Molly Fox's Birthday, Deirdre Madden
• Mr Toppit, Charles Elton (pubbed in 2010, but I read it in December, so it wasn't on last year's list)
• Other People We Married, Emma Straub
• REAMDE, Neal Stephenson
• Season for Temptation, Theresa Romain
• Those Across the River, Christopher Buehlman
• Treasure Island!!!, Sara Levine (review up this week, promise)
• When Beauty Tamed the Beast, Eloisa James

BACKLIST:

• 1491, Charles C. Mann
• The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
• Barchester Towers, Anthony Trollope
• A Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier
• Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol
• The Desperate Duchesses series, Eloisa James
• The Emperor of Ice-Cream, Brian Greene
• An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Paul Murray
• The Fur Person, May Sarton
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
• The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
• Please Ignore Vera Dietz, A.S. King
• Stoner, John Williams
• The Tale of Despereaux, Kate di Camillo
• They Saw the Elephant, Jo Ann Levy
• A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

THREE NOTABLE REREADS:

• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
• Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor