Fiction Top Ten - First Quarter 2013

Hard as it is to believe, we are already one-quarter of the way through 2013, meaning that it's time for my first Top Ten update of the year.  Even though my choices are limited to books published between October 1, 2012 and today, this first list is filled with great reads.

Fiction Top Ten

First Quarter 2013

1.  The Dinner - Herman Koch  (Dutch novel proving that boys will be boys - and so will their parents)

2.  A Possible Life - Sebastian Faulks  (We are, all of us, connected to those who come before and after us.)

3.  The Heat of the Sun - David Rain  (Madam Butterfly: The Rest of the Story)

4.  Dear Life -  Alice Munro  (Chance encounters and spur-of-the-moment decisions change lives.)

5.  Tenth of December - George Saunders  (NY Times calls this "best book you will read in 2013."  See for yourself.)

6.  The Accursed - Joyce Carol Oates  (Demons, Presidents, and fair maidens seduced)

7.  Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan  (A mysterious bookstore with almost no customers hires a new night manager)

8.  The Sound of Broken Glass - Deborah Crombie  (Scotland Yard detectives juggle home and work duties via role reversal)

9.  Truth in Advertising - John Kenney  (A midlife crisis involving diapers and the Super Bowl forces one ad exec to finally come-of-age)

10. Hit Me -  Lawrence Block  (Block's lovable hit man is back with a vengeance.  He needs to pay for new stamps for his collection.)