The Salon round-up, Salon's What to Read Awards: Top critics choose the best books of 2013 has the obligatory top-ten lists, but at least gets the critics to answer a few questions ('What was the strongest debut book of 2013 ?' 'Was there one book, either on your list or off your list, fiction or non-fiction, which seems to best encapsulate America in 2013 ?' 'What was the most unlikable character of the year ?').
Pretty short on books in translation (Eric Banks gets two in his top three, and Daniel Levin Becker's top choice is a ((good-looking) comic book) in translation, but otherwise ...), but reasonably interesting -- though I'm baffled that Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch comes out as the critics' overall favorite. (Of course, I've read practically none of the others -- though I am still looking forward to and curious about Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries and look forward to someday getting my hands on a copy.)
Pretty short on books in translation (Eric Banks gets two in his top three, and Daniel Levin Becker's top choice is a ((good-looking) comic book) in translation, but otherwise ...), but reasonably interesting -- though I'm baffled that Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch comes out as the critics' overall favorite. (Of course, I've read practically none of the others -- though I am still looking forward to and curious about Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries and look forward to someday getting my hands on a copy.)