Moving on to 2012, and my best reads of the year.

ROOM by Emma Donoghue

A remarkable achievement of tone and voice. A story of kidnapping and imprisonment told completely through the eyes of a five year old boy. The author explained in an NPR interview the source she used for the voice and viewpoint of the young narrator.

TURN OF MIND by Alice LaPlante

A retired physician, who specialized in surgery of the hand, has been taken into custody by the police as a person of interest in the death of a neighbor, who has been found murdered with one of her hands mutilated after her death.

Another remarkable use of voice and tone, since the physician is sinking into the increasing fog of Alzheimer's disease, and the reader learns the truth about the death from the point of view of one whose cognitive abilities are seriously impaired.

JUST LIKE US by Helen Thorpe

I wrote about this book in its own blog entry earlier this year. I chose it for the "best of" list because of the author's careful presentation of all sides of the difficult debate about illegal immigration.

SHARDS by Ismet Prcic

English is the author's second language, and each time I stopped to think about that I was amazed all over again at this book. The author is an immigrant from Bosnia. He has two protagonists, one a well educated young man from Bosnia who is now living in the United States, and a sort of shadow figure, or cipher, who served in the Bosnia military and endured multiple shocks to his mental stability as a result of what he observed during the war. As the book proceeds, the two characters begin to blend until the reader is not sure whose memories belong to who. It's clear that there are many autobiographical elements in the novel. The author and his remarkable book deserve a much wider reputation.

BEAUTIFUL RUINS by Jess Walter

The proprietor of a small hotel in coastal Italy in the 1960's; a Hollywood producer at the end of his career; a retired screen actress running a small theater in Idaho; a cameo by a drunken Richard Burton; an author with a bad case of writer's block; and several other eccentric characters fill this novel by one of my favorite writers.

CANADA by Richard Ford

A teenaged boy is yanked from his Montana home and taken to Canada as a result of a misguided attempt by his mother to keep him out of the clutches of the US social services system. His experiences there make him a witness to some truly horrific events. 2012 seems to be the year for unusual narrative voices!

LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN by Colum McCann

On the day when a high wire performer strung a cable between the towers of the World Trade Center and walked between the two buildings, a collection of New York residents deal with problems in their own daily lives as well as the startled reaction of the residents of the city to the daredevil feat. At first, the various stories seem to be unrelated to each other, but eventually the author ties them all together. I feel like saying that this is a 9/11 book, but it isn't really. But maybe it is. The events of 2011 are eventually included near the end. The novel won the National Book Award a few years ago. It's worth reading.