Best of 2008 Picks -- Deborah J. Brannon

Well, I was going to write an essay comprising my thoughts on several different media (books, film, music, etc.), but then I realized that I hadn't experienced enough this year to justify it! How can I talk about the best films of 2008 when I haven't even seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, for example? Or how can I discuss music when I've only listened to three albums from wildly differing genres? Anyway, that means I just answered the question "What were the best books you read in 2008?" You'll find my wee rambling answer below.

There's no way I could choose between my two front-runners: Patricia McKillip's The Bell at Sealey Head and Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book were equally awesome in radically different ways. I've already spoken at some length on The Bell at Sealey Head, which you can read over in my review. As for Neil Gaiman's book-- who can honestly resist a book that was inspired by The Jungle Book and watching one's son playing, as a child, in a graveyard? I'm sure people who can resist such as that exist, but I'm surely not one of them. I dove right into this macabre tale of a boy's mysteriously murdered family and his childhood among the dead, learning their customs and skills. It was a beautifully eerie, creepy, and satisfying novel. If I had to express a complaint, it would surely be that the book came to an end.

I would be remiss here if I didn't mention my favorite comics from this year as well. We received more fine installations from Bill Willingham's Fables series, leaving me well-satisfied with my contemporary war-and-sabotage fairy tale fare. This is also the year that I finished Neil Gaiman's Sandman, but that was such an emotional experience that I can't go into it here. (Besides, Sandman is a creature finished much earlier than 2008.) My hands-down, number one favorite comic to come out of 2008 then is Warren Ellis' Freakangels. Amazing work, people, going on weekly and for free online. It's all about twelve strange psychics and the end of the world (at their instigation!), prominently featuring a transfigured Whitechapel. What else do you need to know?

Other notable releases from 2008 include The Aphorisms of Kherishdar by MCA Hogarth and Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy, edited by Ekaterina Sedia.