

8. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson--Wilkerson chronicles the long migration of black citizens from the south to northern and western cities. Compelling and excellently written--I could not put this down.
7. Antony & Cleopatra by Andrian Goldsworthy--No, I did not read Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff, mostly because I had already read this one. How many Cleopatra books can one person read in a year? Besides I love Goldsworthy, this is good, very, very good.
6. Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer--A retelling of the tempest using Steampunk as the background. Imprisoned in an airship above a city, Harold Winslow pens his memoirs as a disembodied voice haunts him. A great first novel.
5.Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde--You may know Fforde from his Thursday next series, and if you love those don't skip this one. He has created a vast complex dystopian world, where everybody is organized into a colortocracy. This could easily be his most ambitious and accomplished series, I know I am eagerly waiting for book two.
4. How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu--Charles Yu is a time machine repair mechanic. He lives in a tiny time machine with his non-existent but real dog, Ed and TAMMY an operating system with low self-esteem, who he has hidden feelings for. After an incident that could have a paradoxical effect on the universe, Yu attempts to travel in time to locate his father. A mind bending read, highly recommended.
3. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand--A haunting account of Louis Zamperini's ordeal in World War Two. Hillenbrand does an excellent job of describing Zamperini's life, from his days as an Olympic athlete to his bomber duties to his days as a prisoner of war. This book will run you through a whole gamut of emotions--but it is well worth it as this is one amazing and exhausting read.
2. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray--Okay, Skippy Dies on page four. Paul Murray then hits the rewind button and starts over at the beginning of the Seabrook College school year and slowly explains how the year went awry. From crazy teacher love, spiked school punch, ten dimensional string theory, swim meets, to selling prescription drugs to other students, Murray is excellent at getting in the head of the adolescent teenagers. The dialogue is sharp and funny with a bit of dark humor. A yet another brilliant read.
1. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer--This book is as close to perfect as it goes for me. It takes place in the years leading up to World War Two, when Andras Levi, a Hungarian Jewish Architecture student comes to Paris. Andras succeeds in school, even though he has many obstacles, and he falls in love before being separated and returning to Hungary before war erupts. The characters are brilliant, complex and memorable--there is not a throw away character in the entire book. I only wish I could read it for the first time again.