I hate to sound like I’m gloating, like I’m some kind of big shot, but I can practically guarantee that my “best book I’ve read this year” is better than your “best book I’ve read this year.” That’s because my best book may be the best book ever written–or best novel, anyway. I admit this only reluctantly. A semi-bookish man of my (rapidly advancing) age is supposed to have read “Anna Karenina” by now. I hadn’t, but when I picked it up a while back and finally waded in, I was dazzled by it for the same reasons people have been dazzled by it for 140 years. Like a few other much-hyped Wonders of the World–the Grand Canyon, Wrigley Field–this one really is as good as they say. And the best part is, I haven’t finished reading it yet, and probably won’t for several more months, which means that my “best book I’ve read this year” for next year is already in the bag.

–Andrew Ferguson