I love the long winter nights of December and January for reading. You can start a book at dusk, and if you’re lucky and don’t get distracted, finish it before bedtime. It’s also a good time of year to discover new authors, subjects you’ve never investigated, and different formats. (Power up that e-reader!) Magazines, newspapers, and websites also offer their best book lists this time of year.
Librarians have the advantage of being able to browse the stacks and the new book section often. Frequently, they employ the magic of serendipity, accidently discovering that dynamic cover that draws one inside a book, or they notice a title on the cart they’ve seen reviewed, or find themselves staring at a never-read classic that’s been on their lists for years. It’s also a great place to overhear book gossip, “That’s the best book I’ve read in months.”
In the spirit of sharing new authors and titles, I asked our staff members to recommend a favorite book of the year. Most recommended fiction but the nonfiction reads looked just as interesting--everything from visual essays about daily life in Christoph Niemann’s Abstract City to Susan Cain’s account of introverts in a book titled appropriately enough Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. Also, recommended was Ian Frazier’s On the Rez, an absorbing description of current life on an Indian reservation. Not to be left out is the terrifying Escape from Camp 14--a young man’s account of growing up in a brutal labor camp in North Korea and after living through countless horrible events, he escaped and experienced an outside world that he did not even know existed.
The fiction includes such enticing titles as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell and Alan Campbell’s Damnation for Beginners (about life in Hell, where else?). There’s much more from mysteries to sci-fi and young adult fantasy. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Here's the link if you would like to examine the whole list. And we’d love to hear what books you liked this year.
I love making lists, reading lists and cross referencing lists. I especially love December when many journals publish their year-end best-of lists. The 
In a world of massive amounts of information, I am a sucker for top ten or best-of lists. I appreciate when someone else condenses something into a short and sweet list, something easy to scan and hopefully points you in the right direction.