Every year, book critics publish their lists of the best books from the preceding 12 months. And every year for the past ten years, I’ve collected dozens of those lists from the Internet, newspapers and magazines and combined them into one meta-list.  I don’t weigh the books based on their rank on the list.  If a critic does a “Top 10″ list, the book at Number One gets the same rating as the book at Number Ten.  The most important factor for me is not where the book is on any particular list, but how many different lists it’s on.  Because we all know that critics are paid to be opinionated, and they all have their own points of view.  So if a significant number of critics can agree that something is worth reading, that makes me want to read it for myself.

BEST BOOKS OF 2013
BEST BOOKS OF 2012
BEST BOOKS OF 2011
BEST BOOKS OF 2010
BEST BOOKS OF 2009
BEST BOOKS OF 2008
BEST BOOKS OF 2007
BEST BOOKS OF 2006
BEST BOOKS OF 2005
BEST BOOKS OF 2004
BEST BOOKS OF 2003
BEST BOOKS OF 2002