30 Days of Books: Best book you read last year.
This was a really tough decision because I had a hard enough time narrowing this down to 5 books for my 2010 favorites post! I keep looking at that post, and every time I think I’ve chosen a favorite, I think about how much I loved another one on the list. Every single one of them had such well-drawn characters that my heart physically ached for them at some point in the story. It feels like I’m choosing one child over the other.
But, if you want to get technical about it, the prompt says BEST book, not FAVORITE book. So if I go solely on the merits of the writing and not on my warm fuzzies for the reading experience, the prize must go to Cormac McCarthy for The Road. In a list of five amazing books with spectacular writing, there is still no comparison to the raw emotion evoked by the sparse prose in this masterpiece of the American novel. My review of The Road is here.
Bookishly Fabulous 
I like how you narrowed it to “best” not favorite. It’s hard to decide!
Good distinction between best and favorite — sort of like “Schindler’s List” was the best movie that year, but one I never really want to watch again.
I read The Road on a looooonnnng flight from Germany to LA — and wow, what an experience that was. Gripping, sad, moving, terrifying. And so sparsely written. A testament to great craft. Super choice.
I’m glad you recommended The Road because I probably wouldn’t have read it otherwise. I loved it so much.
Excellent choice ! I loved it !