The 10 best books of 2008
Want to know what to read on the beach this summer? Here's the Time Out team's collective top 10...
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz
We've all read Latin American family sagas involving brutal dictators - hell, that's Garbiel Garcia Marquez in a nutshell - but never one whose central character was a fat geek-boy obsessed with Star Trek and The Lord of the Rings. Oscar is an unforgettable hero who wears "his nerdiness like a Jedi wore his light saber" but dreams only of losing his virginity. Seamlessly uniting street, dweeb and highbrow, this Pulitzer Prize-winner is a book that speaks to a generation like none other. Faber, $32.95
When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
Sedaris is getting dangerously close to self-parody as his star rises higher - there are only so many "you know when you're in first class and someone starts talking to you" anecdotes you can tell before accusations of elitism start to fly - but this collection walks that line deftly, with the closing 'The Smoking Section' perhaps his finest piece of writing yet. Little Brown and Company, $32.99
Dreams from my Father, by Barack Obama
If you want proof that Barack Obama is the real deal, it's all in here. First published in 1995, of course it now has deeper resonance. As a man, Obama has a wonderful moral exactness. As a writer, he has a commanding descriptive power - alternately sharp, rueful and lyrical - which brings alive the extraordinary ups and downs of his life. In our own tough times, this is good for the soul. Canongate, $24.95
A Fraction of the Whole, by Steve Toltz
More than justifying its much-publicised $100,000 advance, this Sydney boy's first novel was deservedly nominated for 2008's Man Booker prize. It didn't win - at 700 pages, it's a little too long - but it has a fast-moving plot with a twist you won't see coming and it's wonderfully witty, full of sharp one-liners. Penguin, $24.95
The Believers, by Zoë Heller
The Booker panel inexplicably ignored Zoë Heller's wonderful novel. Don't repeat their error. This book has huge scope, dealing with massive themes - love (sexual, family, adulterous, parental, sibling), and hate (ditto) - set against an epic background of political activism in New York, and told in 300 taut pages. Superb. Viking, $32.95
God of Speed, by Luke Davies
Sydney's Luke Davies didn't merely write an epic novel about mad, playboy billionaire Howard Hughes - he almost became him. The result is this extraordinary novel that crackles with psychosis, drama and sex. Allen & Unwin, $32.95
First Australians, Ed. by Rachel Perkins and Marcia Langton
Aired on SBS to vast acclaim, First Australians is a history project so unique it makes a little history of its own. This excellent book rendering of the seven-part odyssey about the birth of contemporary Australia and the collision of two worlds boasts revelatory essays, interviews and eyewitness accounts from eminent historians speaking for the past direct to the future. Best yet are the beautiful artworks that accord the project rare power and the magic and mystery of a Dreamtime fable. MUP, $89.99
Penguin's Book of the Road, Ed. Delia Falconer
The big black ribbon that makes Australia's vast artery of roads creates stunning shards of fiction for this thumping compendium edited by the deliciously prosaic cloud-fan Delia Falconer. A classy cast of scribes - Tim Winton, Clive James, Robert Drewe and Brenda Walker, plus some surprises - takes us behind the wheel, off road and up and down the highways, byways and bush tracks where billycarts, bushrangers, badlands and untold adventures await. As summer books go, it's a lovely ride. Penguin, $35
How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, by Pierre Bayard
This isn't as silly or smart-arsed as the title suggests. Nor is it a lazy reader's cheat sheet. It's really a guide to maintaining a healthy, guilt-free relationship with books so it will set you up well to keep that resolution to read more in 2009. Granta, $29.95
From Russia With Lunch, by David Smiedt
Sydney stand up comedian Smiedt travelled back to his motherland to suckle at the teet of her hospitable bosom in search of his roots. On the way he encounters intrusive massages and Joseph Stalin theme parks (dictatorships and dodgems together at last) to produce a wry, easy-reading page-turner for the beach. UQP, $24.95
