The Errant Æsthete

At this time of year with countless “best of” lists to choose from, this selection from The Guardian of Christmas past, present and future culled from top writers personal choices for best reads of the year is one of my favorites. Done in three parts, these solid recommendations by more than a dozen writers are captivating and revealing; straight from the heart. A sampling:

William Boyd — Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak, Memory (Penguin) is one of the great autobiographies, with possibly one of the most beguiling and thought-provoking opening pages ever.

Monica Ali – For Christmas present, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (Picador), which is a barely endurable reminder of the fragility and beauty of life.

Jonathan Franzen –Probably the two most welcome gifts of all my Christmases past were the capacious hardcover Peanuts Treasury (Ravette Publishing), in 1969, and the equally capacious Peanuts Classics in 1970 (inscribed by my mother: “You love Peanuts the way I love you”).

David Hare — Last Christmas, before directing a stage version of The Year of Magical Thinking, I was travelling round Cuba carrying a copy of We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live (Everyman’s Library), which collects together seven of Joan Didion’s books of essays and journalism in one beautiful volume costing little more than a good bottle of scotch.