There were many books that I really enjoyed in 2008, so it is not easy to pick favorites. I picked these because, when going through the list of books I read in 2008, these five jumped out at me. They might not be the best-written or most "important" books on my list, but they are the five that I enjoyed the most and that have stuck with me.
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (too big to review, at least by me; a hard boiled detective novel crossed with Fiddler on the Roof and set in Alaska -- I was completely enchanted);
How to Find Morels by Milan Pelouch (reviewed here; I will probably never hunt for morel mushrooms, but I loved this book anyway for its wholehearted enthusiasm);
How Far Can You Go? by David Lodge (reviewed here; a novel about group of Catholic friends in Britain in the Vatican II era);
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman (again, too much for me to review; an even-handed look at a small community trying to provide medical services to its Hmong population); and
Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones (reviewed here; not your cookie cutter chick-lit -- an intelligent novel about a woman translator in China with plenty of adventure and romance).
