Saturday, December 22, 2012

NY Times Notable Books 2012

FICTION & POETRY
 
ALIF THE UNSEEN. By G. Willow Wilson. 
ALMOST NEVER. By Daniel Sada. 
AN AMERICAN SPY. By Olen Steinhauer. 
ARCADIA. By Lauren Groff. 
AT LAST. By Edward St. Aubyn. 
BEAUTIFUL RUINS. By Jess Walter. 
BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK. By Ben Fountain. 
BLASPHEMY. By Sherman Alexie. 
THE BOOK OF MISCHIEF: New and Selected Stories. By Steve Stern. 
BRING UP THE BODIES. By Hilary Mantel. 
BUILDING STORIES. By Chris Ware. 
BY BLOOD. By Ellen Ullman. 
CANADA. By Richard Ford. 
CARRY THE ONE. By Carol Anshaw. 
CITY OF BOHANE. By Kevin Barry. 
COLLECTED POEMS. By Jack Gilbert. 
DEAR LIFE: Stories. By Alice Munro. 
THE DEVIL IN SILVER. By Victor LaValle. 
ENCHANTMENTS. By Kathryn Harrison. 
FLIGHT BEHAVIOR. By Barbara Kingsolver. 
FOBBIT. By David Abrams. 
THE FORGETTING TREE. By Tatjana Soli. 
GATHERING OF WATERS. By Bernice L. McFadden.
GODS WITHOUT MEN. By Hari Kunzru.
HHhH. By Laurent Binet. Translated by Sam Taylor. 
A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING. By Dave Eggers. 
HOME. By Toni Morrison. 
HOPE: A TRAGEDY. By Shalom Auslander. 
HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE? By Sheila Heti.
IN ONE PERSON. By John Irving. 
A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME. By Wiley Cash. 
MARRIED LOVE: And Other Stories. By Tessa Hadley. 
NW. By Zadie Smith. 
ON THE SPECTRUM OF POSSIBLE DEATHS. By Lucia Perillo. 
PURE. By Julianna Baggott. 
THE RIGHT-HAND SHORE. By Christopher Tilghman. 
THE ROUND HOUSE. By Louise Erdrich. 
SALVAGE THE BONES. By Jesmyn Ward. 
SAN MIGUEL. By T. Coraghessan Boyle. 
SHINE SHINE SHINE. By Lydia Netzer. 
SHOUT HER LOVELY NAME. By Natalie Serber. 
SILENT HOUSE. By Orhan Pamuk. Translated by Robert Finn. 
THE STARBOARD SEA. By Amber Dermont. 
SWEET TOOTH. By Ian McEwan.
SWIMMING HOME. By Deborah Levy. 
TELEGRAPH AVENUE. By Michael Chabon. 
THE TESTAMENT OF MARY. By Colm Toibin
THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE HER. By Junot Díaz.
THREE STRONG WOMEN. By Marie NDiaye. Translated by John Fletcher. 
TOBY’S ROOM. By Pat Barker. 
WATERGATE. By Thomas Mallon. 
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ANNE FRANK: Stories. By Nathan Englander. 
THE YELLOW BIRDS. By Kevin Powers. 




NONFICTION
ALL WE KNOW: Three Lives. By Lisa Cohen. 
AMERICAN TAPESTRY: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama. By Rachel L. Swarns. 
AMERICAN TRIUMVIRATE: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and the Modern Age of Golf. By James Dodson. 
ARE YOU MY MOTHER? A Comic Drama. By Alison Bechdel. 
BARACK OBAMA: The Story. By David Maraniss. 
BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. By Katherine Boo. 
BELZONI: The Giant Archaeologists Love to Hate. By Ivor Noël Hume. 
THE BLACK COUNT: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo. By Tom Reiss. 
BREASTS: A Natural and Unnatural History. By Florence Williams. 
COMING APART: The State of White America, 1960-2010. By Charles Murray. 
DARWIN’S GHOSTS: The Secret History of Evolution. By Rebecca Stott. 
A DISPOSITION TO BE RICH: How a Small-Town Preacher’s Son Ruined an American President, Brought on a Wall Street Crash, and Made Himself the Best-Hated Man in the United States. By Geoffrey C. Ward. 
FAR FROM THE TREE: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity. By Andrew Solomon. 
FLAGRANT CONDUCT. The Story of Lawrence v. Texas: How a Bedroom Arrest Decriminalized Gay Americans. By Dale Carpenter. 
THE FOLLY OF FOOLS: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life. By Robert Trivers. 
THE GREY ALBUM: On the Blackness of Blackness. By Kevin Young. 
HAITI: The Aftershocks of History. By Laurent Dubois. 
HOW CHILDREN SUCCEED: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. By Paul Tough. 
HOW MUSIC WORKS. By David Byrne. 
IRON CURTAIN: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956. By Anne Applebaum. 
KAYAK MORNING: Reflections on Love, Grief, and Small Boats. By Roger Rosenblatt. 
LINCOLN’S CODE: The Laws of War in American History. By John Fabian Witt. 
LITTLE AMERICA: The War Within the War for Afghanistan. By Rajiv Chandrasekaran. 
MEMOIR OF A DEBULKED WOMAN: Enduring Ovarian Cancer. By Susan Gubar. 
MY POETS. By Maureen N. McLane. 
THE OBAMAS. By Jodi Kantor. 
ODDLY NORMAL: One Family’s Struggle to Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms With His Sexuality. By John Schwartz. 
ON A FARTHER SHORE: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson. By William Souder. 
ON SAUDI ARABIA: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines — and Future. By Karen Elliott House. 
THE ONE: The Life and Music of James Brown. By RJ Smith. 
THE PASSAGE OF POWER: The Years of Lyndon Johnson. By Robert A. Caro. 
THE PATRIARCH: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy. By David Nasaw. 
PEOPLE WHO EAT DARKNESS: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished From the Streets of Tokyo — and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up. By Richard Lloyd Parry. 
RED BRICK, BLACK MOUNTAIN, WHITE CLAY: Reflections on Art, Family, and Survival. By Christopher Benfey. 
RULE AND RUIN. The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party: From Eisenhower to the Tea Party. By Geoffrey Kabaservice.
SAUL STEINBERG: A Biography. By Deirdre Bair. 
SHOOTING VICTORIA: Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy. By Paul Thomas Murphy.
SHORT NIGHTS OF THE SHADOW CATCHER: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis. By Timothy Egan. 
THE SOCIAL CONQUEST OF EARTH. By Edward O. Wilson. 
SOMETIMES THERE IS A VOID: Memoirs of an Outsider. By Zakes Mda. 
SPILLOVER: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. By David Quammen. 
THE TASTE OF WAR: World War II and the Battle for Food. By Lizzie Colling­ham. 
THOMAS JEFFERSON: The Art of Power. By Jon Meacham. 
VICTORY: The Triumphant Gay Revolution. By Linda Hirshman. 
WHEN GOD TALKS BACK: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship With God. By T. M. Luhrmann. 
WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU COULD BE NORMAL? By Jeanette Winterson.
WHY DOES THE WORLD EXIST? An Existential Detective Story. By Jim Holt.