My Choice for Best Read of 2004 Is from 1938

Choosing a best book from 2004 is especially difficult for me. First, I rarely read books in the year they are released, because my budget tells me 10 paperbacks are a better deal for a voracious reader than two or three first-release hardbacks. Second, I read so many books, by the time December rolls around, I may not have the same emotional tie to the very good book I read in June that I have to the mediocre novel I'm reading right now.

But looking back through my journal and blog, there is one book that screams, in the voice of Robert A. Heinlein, pick me!—because in reading this book and writing the review, I was prompted to reread three other excellent (though older) books.

For Us, the Living, Robert Heinlein's first novel, has its own review. To review it properly, I reread Stranger In a Strange Land and Farnham's Freehold by Heinlein. And due to the similarity of title and venue, I was lead to reread Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living.

For these reasons, For Us, the Living is my choice for my best read of 2004.



Thanks to Gerald Van der Leun of American Digest for a better title for this post!