THE BEST READS OF 1998

Books that somehow made me want to put
everything else on hold and read

NOVELS
Cloudsplitter / Russell Banks
The Hours / Michael Cunningham
Freedom Song / Amit Chaudhuri
Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard / Kiran Desai
Charlotte Gray / Sebastian Faulks
Preston Falls / David Gates
The Poisonwood Bible / Barbara Kingsolver
Charming Billy / Alice McDermott
Paradise / Toni Morrison

STORIES
Park City: New and Selected Stories / Ann Beattie
East into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York and New Delhi / Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Birds of America / Lorrie Moore
The Love of a Good Woman / Alice Munro

POETRY
Birthday Letters / Ted Hughes

NONFICTION
Victor Hugo / Graham Robb
The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought / Marilynne Robinson
The Unknown Matisse: A Life of Henri Matisse: The Early Years, 1869-1908 / Hilary Spurling