As we’re all busy getting ready for Christmas and talking about buying books for the holidays, I came across The Washington Post‘s Best Books of 2008 this past weekend. Well, my dad probably left it out in plain sight for me, to be honest. Like other year-end lists I’ve come across as of late, I haven’t read a single tome included in the guide — but I enjoyed checking out this year’s hits.
These books are complied from the Post‘s “most favorable reviews” of ’08. I’m including just the general fiction category, as this one is already long enough! As part of Book World’s holiday gift guide, though, tons of other genres are listed, too. Check out the original article for the complete list and snippets of staff reviews.
And here we go:
Alfred & Emily, by Doris Lessing
America America, by Ethan Canin
Beet, by Roger Rosenblatt
Beijing Coma, by Ma Jian, translated from the Chinese by Flora Drew
Breath by Tim Winton
A Case of Exploding Mangoes, by Mohammed Hanif
Diary of a Bad Year, by J.M. Coetzee
The Enchantress of Florence, by Salman Rushdie
Enlightenment, by Maureen Freely
Fanon, by John Edgar Wideman
A Father’s Law, by Richard Wright
The Flying Troutmans, by Miriam Toews
The German Bride, by Joanna Hershon
Goldengrove, by Francine Prose
The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
His Illegal Self, by Peter Carey
Home, by Marilynne Robinson
The House on Fortune Street, by Margot Livesey
Indignation, by Philip Roth
The Konkans, by Tony D’Souza
Life Class, by Pat Barker
Love Marriage, by V.V. Ganeshananthan
Lush Life, by Richard Price
Man in the Dark, by Paul Auster
The Northern Clemency, by Philip Hensher
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
The Pig Did It, by Joseph Caldwell
The Plague of Doves, by Louise Erdrich
Pravda, by Edward Docx
Serena, by Ron Rash
So Brave, Young, and Handsome, by Leif Enger
Someone Knows My Name, by Lawrence Hill
Songs for the Missing, by Stewart O’Nan
The Soul Thief, by Charles Baxter
The Story of a Marriage, by Andrew Sean
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski
Trauma, by Patrick McGrath
We Are Now Beginning Our Descent, by James Meek
What Can I Do When Everything’s On Fire?, by António Lobo Antunes, translated from the
Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa
When We Were Romans, by Matthew Kneale
Windy City: A Novel of Politics, by Scott Simon
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