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Friday, December 27, 2002

By Bob Hoover, Post-Gazette Book Editor

Compiling this list of 2002's best reading was remarkably difficult because there were so many new and little-known authors whose excellent books were always in danger of getting overlooked because of their unfamiliarity.On last year's fiction list were such standbys as Anne Tyler, Barbara Kingsolver, V.S. Naipaul and Louise Erdrich while nonfiction's standard bearers included David McCullough, David Halberstam, Edmund Morris and Edward Ball.

This year, we had to choose between Alice Sebold, Jonathan Safran Foer and Stephen Carter in fiction and Devra Davis, Louis Pizzitola and James Gavin in the reality department.

New ground was also plowed in 2002, particularly in fiction, with some experimental works reaching the mainstream. In nonfiction, books on terrorism and Islam dominated the output, overshadowing solid and entertaining writing on other issues.

Here's our list, drawn from books reviewed in the Post-Gazette.

FICTION

1. "Atonement" by Ian McEwan (Doubleday): A work both classical in structure and daring in execution, this British novel succeeds on all levels. A remarkable piece of sustained achievement.

2. "The Emperor of Ocean Park" by Stephen Carter (Knopf): A talented legal scholar turns novelist to re-create black American middle-class society with insight and a plot that holds the reader.

3. "Reversible Errors" by Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus & Giroux): Labled after his first novel, "Presumed Innocent," as a thriller author, Turow has pushed unceasingly to be recognized as one of our best novelists period. He succeeds.

4. "Wish You Were Here" by Stewart O'Nan (Grove Press): Like Turow, Pittsburgh native O'Nan resists typecasting, trying out different novelistic approaches with each book. His latest captures an elegiac time in a family's life with sympathy and compassion.

5. "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown): A surprise best seller, Sebold's lovely debut found its way into the heart of a nation in need of spiritual reassurance.

6. "The Haunting of L" by Howard Norman (FS&G): This crafter of quirky Canadian novels returned after a disappointment to write a charming and inventive tale.

7. "Roscoe" by William Kennedy (Viking): The official chronicler of Albany life, Kennedy seemed to be burning out in the last decade, but he's rekindled the spark with this endearing story of a hard-working politico.

8. "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides (FS&G): His second novel following "The Virgin Suicides" is another family saga with a twist. Eugenides is a deft juggler of identity and dislocation set in conventional suburban Detroit.

9. "Noble Norfleet" by Reynolds Price (Scribner): Price has been writing skillful, modest novels for nearly 50 years. This one pushes a little more insistently at the emotions of tragedy and grief.

10. "Things You Should Know" by A.M. Homes (HarperCollins): The one short-story collection on the list, Homes' tales are unsparing, funny, a little heartless and memorable.

NONFICTION

1. "The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of The Senate" by Robert Caro (Knopf): Caro's third installment of his LBJ biography gains the top spot by default because the competition is so even and because it's the least compelling of the trio. While it's tough to make a discussion of the cloture rule compelling, Caro's hero is never dull.

2. "Hearst Over Hollywood" by Louis Pizzitola (Columbia University Press): William Randolph Hearst was more than a newspaper tycoon. He was the media giant of the early 20th century with ideas as fresh as any today to entertain Americans and make a buck, too. Pizzitola adds much to our understanding of the entertainment business.

3. "Deep In A Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker" by James Gavin (Knopf): Baker's reputation as a jazz man is wobbly, but his life was bizarre beyond belief. Gavin captures the trumpet player's long night with compassion.

4. "When Smoke Ran Like Water" by Devra Davis (Basic Books): Donora's deadly air was just another dirty little secret until one of her native daughters blew the whistle in this compelling account of industrial pollution worldwide.

5. "American Ground" by William Langewiesche (FS&G): While continuing to be attacked by insulted New York firefighters, Langewiesche's history of how the World Trade Center site was cleaned up in eight months is an endorsement of old-fashioned American know-how.

6. "Baseball: An Anthology" edited by Nicholas Dawidoff (Library of America): True, the pastime continues to struggle, but there's no sport more fun to read about. A wide range of fiction and reportage expertly collected.

7. "Mrs. Paine's Garage" by Thomas Mallon (Pantheon): It's Nov. 23, 1963, in Dallas and Ruth Paine's quiet life is about to erupt into the ongoing nightmare called the Kennedy assassination. Novelist Mallon turns reporter to reopen this bizarre story of an American life turned upside down.

8. "Brown: The Last Discovery of America" by Richard Rodriguez (Viking): Mexican, Catholic and gay, Rodriguez continues his hunt for what it also means to be an American. Witty and perceptive, his essays are important reading.

9. "The Last American Man" by Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking): From the Deerslayer to the Michigan militia, the American he-man has been more myth than reality, but journalist Gilbert thinks she's found a 21st century Davy Crockett in Eustace Conway. A wry look at manhood by an engaging writer.

10. "The Demon in The Freezer" by Richard Preston (Random House): "The Hot Zone's" Preston takes another chilling look at the return of anthrax and smallpox as bio-terrorism becomes a major worry.

Bob Hoover can be reached at bhoover@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1634.