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Sunday, Dec 23, 2012 3:55 PM UTC

What To Read Awards: Carolyn Kellogg

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Topics: Books, What To Read Awards, Best of 2012,

What To Read Awards: Carolyn Kellogg

Carolyn Kellogg covers books for the Los Angeles Times and writes its Jacket Copy blog.

Carolyn’s top 10 list, with more detail in the Los Angeles Times here:

1. “Telegraph Avenue” by Michael Chabon
2. “Near to the Wild at Heart” by Clarice Lispector (new translation)
3. “People Who Eat Darkness” by Richard Lloyd Parry
4. “Suddenly, a Knock on the Door” by Etgar Keret
5. “The Guardians: An Elegy” by Sarah Manguso
6. “HHhH” by Laurent Binet
7. “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” by Ben Fountain
8. “Familiar” by J. Robert Lennon
9. “Lives of the Novelists” by John Sutherland
10. “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” by Maria Semple

1. Explain why your No. 1 book was your favorite title of the year: “Telegraph Avenue’s” sentences ring with pure joy.

2. What was the strongest debut book of 2012? “The Festival of Earthly Delights” by Matt Dojny.

3. What book sits outside your list, but has either been overlooked or deserves more attention? “Desert America” by Reuben Martinez.

4. Was there one book, either on your list or off your list, fiction or nonfiction, that seems to best encapsulate America in 2012? “A Hologram for the King” by Dave Eggers.

5. What was the single most memorable character from a 2012 book? Jerzy in Bruce Wagner’s “Dead Stars.”

6. What is the book from 2012, either from your list or not, fiction or nonfiction, that is most likely to join the canon, or still be discussed 20 years from now? “The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson” by Robert Caro.

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