Famous People's Book Pick: Publisher Weekly Best Books of the Year 2008: Comics

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“May you live in interesting times” is a quote commonly attributed to Confucius, probably erroneously, but Robert F. Kennedy did use it in a speech in 1966, adding a rueful twist: “Like it or not, we live in interesting times....” Regardless of your thinking on these current times, they are certainly anything but boring, and we feel the same about the books published this year.

Once again, we take the opportunity near year's end to review the year in books, highlighting the very best of what American publishing had to offer in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, comics, religion, lifestyle and children's. There were the authors we expected to deliver, and they did: Louise Erdrich with The Plague of Doves, Richard Price with Lush Life, Jhumpa Lahiri with Unaccustomed Earth, Lydia Millet with How the Dead Dream. A breakthrough surprise about cricket, Netherland by Joseph O'Neill, delighted us, while Tim Winton's Breath took ours away. We listened to our elders in How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People; thought about our planet with The Soul of the Rhino; examined our history in The Hemingses of Monticello and Abraham Lincoln: A Life; and, thanks to Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, we even considered Jesus for President.

Aya Of Yop City By Marguerite Abouet And Clement Oubrerie

(classics, literature and fiction)

"Abouet's funny and lighthearted story about life on the Ivory Coast in the late 1970s continues an affectionate look at a bygone lifestyle. "

What It Is By Lynda Barry

"The trail-blazing indie cartoonist returns with a triumphal, exhilarating look at the creative process that serves as both a memoir and a how-to book. "

Treasury Of Xxth Century Murder: The Lindbergh Child By Rick Geary

(nonfiction)

"Precise yet unnerving b&w illustrations capture the media circus of greed and fame around the “Crime of the Century.” "

Alan's War By Emmanuel Guibert

(history)

"A French cartoonist listens as an American GI recalls his life as a soldier during WWII and his subsequent disillusionment with American bravado, creating a fantastic, humane memoir. "

Kramers Ergot 7 by Sammy Harkham

"Harkham gives a generation of cutting-edge cartoonists an oversized palette—the pages are newspaper tabloid-size—resulting in a dizzying banquet of visual overload."

The Education Of Hopey Glass By Jaime Hernandez

(literature and fiction)

"Perpetual punk Hopey Glass must face the loss of her ambitions in yet another stunning book from Hernandez. "

Slam Dunk By Takehiko Inoue

"This spirited manga about high school basketball depicts all the passions of life on and off the court in high style. "

Achewood: The Great Outdoor Fight By Chris Onstad

(literature and fiction)

"Anthropomorphic slacker animals battle to find the meaning of masculinity in this quirky, hilarious collection of the popular Web comic Achewood. "

Bottomless Belly Button By Dash Shaw

(literature and fiction)

"As a longtime marriage unwinds, the effects on a family are examined in this highly affecting mix of comics, diagrams and symbols by a major new talent. "

Tamara Drewe By Posy Simmonds

(literature and fiction)

"A visiting journalist upends a writer's retreat in the English countryside and the village around it in this sly, wise adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd."

Skim By Mariko Tamaki And Jillian Tamaki

(children books, sci-fi, nonfiction, teens)

"A gorgeous, poetic pen line and sharp dialogue bring this angsty story of a disaffected teenage girl to life."