My Favorite Books from 2012

In 2012, I began writing book reviews for Bookreporter.com. What made the privilege of being able to write for a wider audience even greater were the discussions, most of them online, that I enjoyed with equally passionate readers. Reading is at once the most solitary and most communal of experiences. You read on your own, but you know as you’re doing it that millions of others are reading as well, many of them perhaps reading the same book you’re enjoying. To talk with people about books is one of the great joys of my life. I’ve been honored to share the experience this year with so many others.

Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri’s 2008 collection of stories, is a primer on how to write memorable works of short fiction. There’s nothing postmodern or formally inventive about the eight pieces collected here, four of which appeared originally in the New Yorker. But if you like old-fashioned storytelling and compelling narratives about family life, especially families comprised of people from different ethnic cultures, then Lahiri’s third book—Interpreter of Maladies, her début collection, and the novel The Namesake were the first two—will be a rewarding reading experience.