Best Books of the Year List Is Starting to Round into Shape

Is it too early for all these "Best of 2015" lists that are starting to pop up everywhere?  Since there are only thirty-two days remaining in the year, and there has to be some kind of calendar cut-off date that makes sense, I don't think it is.

In my own case here at Book Chase, I am willing to include books that are published during the first week of December only if they are truly outstanding.  Otherwise, I do my best to limit my best of the year lists to books published between December 1 of the previous year and November 30 of the current year.  I'm working on my first long lists for fiction and non-fiction titles right now, but since I usually read less than 35 nonfiction titles a year, I'm not sure that I will be able to complete a full Top Ten list in that category.  

These are a few of the books that jumped out during my first brief pass through the 108 books I've read so far this year.

Fiction:
The Hot Countries - Tim Hallinan
The Essential W.P. Kinsella - W.P. Kinsella
The Fifth Heart - Dan Simmons
Darkness, Darkness - John Harvey
The Assault - Harry Mulisch 

Nonfiction:
Twain's End - Lynn Cullen
The Art of Memoir - Mary Karr
Deep South - Paul Theroux

Over the next two weeks, I'll be adding and subtracting books from the list as I re-read my reviews and check publication dates, but I suspect that most of these titles are going to be there somewhere.