By Carol Ann Robb, PPL Reference Librarian
Every publication and/or news outlet is putting out their “Best of” and “Top Ten” lists, whether they be movies, albums, TV shows, podcasts, and—the only one I care about—books. Some years it’s very difficult to winnow down my favorites whereas other times it’s all I can do to come up with even three titles that I really liked that year.
According to the list I keep, I read a few more books this year and for the most part they were all pretty good. However, I’m a firm believer in putting down a book if I’m not enjoying it though I did suffer through “The Librarianist” which was such a disappointment (if you read and liked it, good for you but it did absolutely nothing for me). But let’s focus on the positive.
“The River We Remember”, the latest novel from William Kent Krueger, was my favorite read of the past year. It ranks right up with his superb “Ordinary Grace” and may actually surpass it. Richard Osman’s “Thursday Murder Club” is right behind it—I loved it as well as the three books that follow it. There have been other good books but two stand out in my next tier of top books: “Killers of a Certain Age” by Deanna Raybourn and “All That is Mine I Carry With Me” by William Landay. No surprise that all of them have a mystery vibe, even those that are labeled Fiction.