10 Best Books

Of course, a "ten best books" list is really the ten favorite books of the list creator. I wouldn't even attempt, much less bother, to try to work out objective criteria for judging quality in a book. Also, I made no attempt to exclude sentimental favorites from my list, especially books I read at a pivotal time in my life and which I remember with great fondness.

Having said all that, after a great deal of hand-wringing over the books that didn't make the list and what order to place my top 10, this is what I came up with several years ago. Surprisingly, I have never felt a desire to change any of my picks.

1. Sometimes a Great Notion, Ken Kesey
1. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
3. The Last of the Wine, Mary Renault
4. Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
5. The Last Coin, James P. Blaylock
6. Joshua Then and Now, Mordecai Richler
7. Passage, Connie Willis
8. The Solid Mandala, Patrick White
9. Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
10. Dust, Yael Dayan

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