Read, Reviewed, Remaindered, Rediscovered: The 10 Best Books I Read in 2015

As usual, looking back I find that most of the best books I read this year are classics; in fact, only 3 on my personal 2015 top-ten list are contemporary books. But isn't that as it should be? Isn't there something reassuring in knowing that books don't necessarily fade into oblivion once they've hit the three R's: Reviewed, Read, Remaindered? You'll also note, however, that of the 7 "classics" that I enjoyed the most this year only 1 is somewhat widely read these days and 2 languished in obscurity for many years before recent "rediscovery." In alphabetical order, here are the top ten books I read in 2015:

Alexanderplatz - Berlin, Alfred Doblin. Social realism in Berlin in the 1920s, low-lifes and thieves, in and out of prison, and you can maybe see the seeds of the horrible crimes and the hatred that were to ensue.

Bread and Wine, Ignazio Silone. A terrific and exciting account of political activism and the Italian underground in the 1930s, another great work of social-realism.

Can't and Won't, Lydia Davis. Very short stories from a completely unique stylist. Some are moving, some hilarious.

The Car Thief, Theodore Weesner. Weesner died this year, bringing this forgotten novel from 1972 some belated attention. Excellent account of a troubled teenager caught up in petty crime and trying to make sense of his family and his life.

A Dance to the Music of Time, Volume 12: There Are No Strangers Here, Anthony Powell. The saga of 50 years of political and literary life in England, centering on the drama and trauma of World War II, ends with this volume set on the crest of the Cold War and the dawn of the New Age.

A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes. It may seem like a swashbuckler about pirates and children but it's a much deeper and more disturbing novel than it appears at first glance.

My Struggle, Volumes 3 and 4, Karl Ove Knausgaard. The greatest fiction-memoir of this century, so far (haven't yet read Ferrante though), chronicles KOK's first attempts to write fiction and his bumbling attempts to lose his virginity.

Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan. Man Booker judges get it right for once - a terrific novel about World War II imprisonment and its aftermath over the course of decades. Just when we thought there was nothing new left to say about that war ...

Nostromo, Joseph Conrad. Long and complex and ambitious so not read as often as his more approachable works such as Lord Jim.

Stoner, John Williams. One of several books rescued from obscurity by the New York Review of Books Press, this account of the life of an English professor in the Midwest, from birth to death, is among the saddest and most beautiful novels I've ever read.

Also-rans, classics all: Doctor Thorne (Trollope), Jane Eyre (Bronte), The Mayor of Casterbridge (Hardy).

Coming in future posts: Best short stories I read in 2015 and the books I could not finish.