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It’s that time of year again, the book world is starting to release “best books of the year” lists!  

I love these because they remind me that good, engaging titles are still being written and enjoyed across a spectrum of readers. I also enjoy them because like everyone else, I have opinions, and “best of” is a subjective determination at best. Indeed there are years when my own reading tastes are wildly off from many ‘best books’ lists. This year I did read some great new books and without calling them the best, here are a handful of titles I enjoyed and that are available from Santa Cruz Public Libraries:  

• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai. At nearly 700 pages, this tale of two young people whose lives cross one fateful evening of course gets described as “epic” and “sweeping”, but it is also an intimate exploration of love, cultural norms, and change.

•  We the People: a history of the U.S. Constitution by Jill Lepore. Another 700 pager, this remarkable work is not just another history of the founding document itself, but an absorbing review of its importance as a living document, subject to amendments and interpretations both successful and unsuccessful, and certainly never meant “to be kept, like a butterfly, under glass”.  

• Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. I read this author’s debut adult novel in a single day on a cross-country flight. Set primarily in Ohio during the decades of and after World War II, it follows two couples as they navigate what The Washington Post describes as “the moral complexities behind the facade of carefully-crafted mid-century lives.”  The setting, the time period and the issues reminded me of Herman Wouk. 

• Replaceable You: adventures in human anatomy by Mary Roach. I’m a huge fan of Roach’s frank and self-deprecating manner of making ‘icky’ scientific topics approachable.   Her newest explores the science of transplants and will provide lots of interesting tidbits for livening up cocktail conversations, you’ll just want to be careful your listeners aren’t chewing canapes at the time.  

• So Far Gone by Jess Walter. A quick, witty novel looking at our current fractious societal moment through the lens of family lost and regained. The LA Times calls it “a gleeful, kooky and tender homage to Charles Portis’ True Grit with echoes of Tom Robbins and yes, Elinor Lipman too.” I agree.   

• Finally I want to put in a plug for the new “Our Community Reads” pick, Spare Parts by Joshua Davis.  A true “underdog wins the day” story involving a NASA-sponsored robotics competition, this Friends-coordinated series of programs will kick off early next year at libraries near you so stay tuned! 

Please feel free to share with me your favorite read of the year, and on behalf of Santa Cruz Public Libraries, I wish you a safe and happy holiday season!

Christopher Platt