We’re in the midst of another great year for books. As we’ve discussed, 2012 gave us some truly creative gems, and 2013 is shaping up to be another banner year. There are many exciting releases awaiting us, most notably a sequel to The Shining from Stephen King, another imaginative work by prolific bestselling author Neil Gaiman, and even a children’s book by The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins. But plenty of great titles have already hit the shelves. Here are some of the best of the bunch

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

With his infectious blend of embellished memoir, David Sedaris has risen to the vanguard of humor writing. Every book release by the famed author is a literary event. Pilfering its title from an actual (and presumably much more serious) antique book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls is packed full of enthralling narrative essays from Sedaris’ unique mind, and it unsurprisingly debuted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

In writing this analysis of Scientology, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright was confronted with numerous threats of legal action by lawyers representing the Church of Scientology and celebrities who ascribe to the modern religion. Wright covers the history of Scientology as developed by sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard and interviewed over 200 current and former members in writing this captivating and critical work of non-fiction.

American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath by Carl Rollyson

Sylvia Plath’s spellbinding creative output is only enhanced by the fact that she left this world too soon. In a year that marks the 50th anniversary of her suicide, Carl Rollyson digs into Ted Hughes’ personal archives to get a more intimate look at Plath’s life from the perspective of her fellow poet husband. The book reassesses the life that has become overshadowed by  mystique, and points out how Hughes strove to reshape the perception of his late wife following her untimely death.

All That Is by James Salter

James Salter is one of America’s greatest living writers, yet he’s anything but a household name. Perhaps the octogenarian’s most recent novel will help change that. Set in the World War II era, a returning soldier finds success in the book publishing world, but is unhappy in his romantic life until he meets an intriguing woman who changes everything. This moving novel is both romantic and harrowing and is yet another page-turner from an author who’s quietly been captivating readers for decades.

The fantasy genre is often maligned for being too focused on swords and sorcery and dragons. While store shelves are certainly packed with books within this particular scope (fantasy is one of today’s most popular genres, especially with younger readers), the beauty of fantasy is that, when done right, it can reveal greater truth through its transcendence of the mundane. As stories in which literally anything can happen, fantasy not only displays the boundlessness of the human imagination, but often can use invented worlds populated with whimsical, dark or grotesque characters to shed greater light onto our own. Rather than simply being limited to entertaining escapism, the best fantasy stories reshape the way we understand our humanity through the use of allegory. Simply put, fantasy can often tap into hidden truths that are difficult to convey in reality.

Our list of the best fantasy novels includes those titles that bear universal themes, regardless of whether its our own universe or another. One book that also belongs on this list is the 1865 Lewis Carroll classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which is so good that it already made it onto our Best Novels of All Time list. But without further ado, it’s time to take a trip over the rainbow, through the wardrobe, or into Middle-earth with our list of Best Fantasy Novels

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900)

You probably know it best by the classic 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland, but L. Frank Baum’s novel about a Kansas girl with her head in the clouds who’s whisked away by a tornado and deposited over the rainbow is one for the ages. Through her adventures with Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy not only learns the value of friendship, but also discovers that while the grass may seem greener elsewhere, there’s really no place like home.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (1950)

In the first installment of the dazzling Chronicles of Narnia series, C.S. Lewis introduces us to four London-based siblings who escape the horrors of WWII not only by being sent to the countryside, but also by discovering a portal into another world. Controlled by the evil White Witch, Narnia is frozen in a state of perpetual winter and is awaiting the return of its lion king, Aslan. Lewis pulls from many mythologies and traditions to craft story that serves as an imaginative allegory to the stories of sacrifice and redemption that permeate Christianity.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)

It’s been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s a running theme throughout The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien’s first volume in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The hobbit Frodo Baggins has a ring bestowed upon him that turns out to be the One Ring of Sauron, a dark lord who oppressively rules Middle-earth. With everyone wanting to get a hold of the powerful ring, some craving it above all else, Frodo decides to trek to Mordor, the dwelling place of Sauron, in order to destroy the ring in this epic tale that echoes with themes of the corrupting influence of power.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)

Goldman’s The Princess Bride is an amalgam of many genres, including fantasy, fairy tale, romance, adventure, and comedy. It’s framed by the author as though it’s an abridgement of a much older text by the fictional author S. Morgenstern. Through this narrative device, Goldman not only spins the tale of the rescue of an unwilling princess by her one true love, but also throws in something for everyone. With giants, pirates, swashbuckling, Rodents of Unusual Size, and plenty of romance, The Princess Bride is a perfect introduction to fantasy for those unfamiliar with the genre.

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (1996)

As the first novel in the Song of Fire and Ice series of high fantasy novels, A Game of Thrones succeeds in the swords-and-sorcery subgenre by weaving together a host of competing families and lineages along with multiple perspectives from chapter to chapter. The human touch in this engrossing novel makes it stand apart from its contemporaries, and even as Martin uses well-worn fantasy genre tropes, the book’s humanity transcends these conventions. It’s little wonder that the epic scope of the book would convert so successfully to the wildly popular HBO series.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (2007)

Patrick Rothfuss burst onto the fantasy scene in 2007 with his New York Times bestseller The Name of the Wind, the first book in the still in-progress The Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy. As legendary hero Kvothe tells his story to the Chronicler over the course of three days (hence the three books), a dazzling story of magic and mayhem unfolds. But Kvothe’s first person tale is not of the epic scope that fans of the genre are so used to; instead it’s a story of personal love and loss, fear and hope, and despite the magical abilities of its hero, The Name of the Wind is a highly relatable personal journey.

While storytelling predates the written word, the novel in its current form is a relatively recent phenomenon, rising to prominence in the 19th century. Whereas stories in centuries and millennia past often required grounding in claims of historical fact or at least widely-accepted myths, the evolution of the novel to its current status as fiction that reveals greater truth has only achieved widespread legitimacy within the past 200 years.

The greatest achievement of the novel is the ability to convey truth and meaning about the human condition through both the painstaking attention to detail in realism or the creation of fantastical worlds and scenarios that could only exist within the vast landscape of the human mind. Our Best Novels of All Time list focuses most on those novels that use surreal or sensational imagery to convey meaning. Some titles that were included in our Best Books of All Time list would also fit in well here, but there’s no need to repeat ourselves. Still, Lolita, Crime and Punishment, and To Kill a Mockingbird are also among the best novels of all time.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)

A wandering sailor called Ishmael narrates this Great American Novel as shipmates discuss the meaning of life, the nuances of good and evil, and the universe at large. Meanwhile, Captain Ahab follows his obsession with destroying the whale that wrecked one of his previous ships and took his leg. This triumph of American literature illustrates the ravages of unhealthy fixations and points out how one cannot get revenge on an animal because revenge is a human construct that does not apply to other living creatures.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)

The strange creatures Alice encounters in Wonderland serve as projections of the human psyche and imagination in this classic novel. The story has been adapted numerous times, including into many films, and remains one of the most beloved surrealist stories. In addition to being a mind-bending story, the novel has entered our modern lexicon with expressions like “down the rabbit hole” and “through the looking glass” taking on their own meanings outside of Carroll’s wonderful book.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

In one of the more historically-grounded entries in this list, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel vividly outlines the excess and kinetic energy of America’s “Roaring Twenties.” This novel packed full of intrigue, hedonism, betrayal, and violence serves as a cautionary tale of the excesses of youth and downsides to luxury. Amidst Jay Gatsby’s lavish parties, there’s a dark undercurrent that ultimate makes The Great Gatsby not only an informative book about one of the most intriguing eras of American history, but also a thrill ride from cover to cover.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1931)

Through his non-fiction writing, Aldous Huxley become a notable pioneer for the expansion of human consciousness. But he’s best known for his unsettling speculative fiction novel Brave New World. In a not-too-distant future where mass consumption is the new religion, and individuality is demonized, the possibilities for what can become of society are frighteningly outlined by Huxley. Brave New World manages to foresee both the social engineering aspirations of fascism and the collectivist perils of communism that would overtake the world in the years to come.

The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942)

One of the most notable existentialist works, Albert Camus’ The Stranger is narrated by a man named Mersault who feels no emotion, but rather experiences only sensory perceptions. Due to excessive heat and a trick of the sun, Mersault irrationally murders a man at the beach. He’s convicted of the crime and sentenced to execution, but the books excels at showing how Mersault finds much of the world, and especially the criminal justice system, entirely arbitrary.

1984 by George Orwell (1949)

George Orwell’s commentary through his fiction has impacted society to such a degree at the term “Orwellian” is commonplace. 1984 also gave us the often used term “Big Brother.” In this dystopian society, Thought Police not only use intrusive surveillance cameras to watch people’s every move but also monitor their thoughts for anything negative about the  watchful leader Big Brother. 1984 is the story of one man’s attempt to carve out a slice of privacy in a world gone mad with propaganda and strict adherence to overbearing government control.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)

Vonnegut’s most famous book blends both heart-wrenching WWII imagery with wildly imaginative sci-fi. Like Vonnegut did, the novel’s protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, survives the firebombing of Dresden, Germany by the Allied Forces. However, Billy has another issue: he has come unstuck in time. Billy jumps around to different periods of his life, and is even abducted by an alien race who teach him that people simply perceive time as though they were “bugs stuck in amber,” and that our perception of time is an illusion. Slaughterhouse-Five is a masterpiece of incredible wisdom mixed with bizarre imagery.

The written word has held a special place in the hearts of humans since long before widespread literacy. Whether in the form of Greek tragedies and comedies, religious texts, or later in Shakespeare’s plays, the written word has been physically performed on stage, internalized by those who have had the privilege to read, and has otherwise become a crucial pillar in the framework of how we understand the world around us. Storytelling is an important part of what makes us human.

Great books tend to build on the themes and knowledge of the books that came before. In this list you will find those books that have had lasting impacts on our collective consciousness. They have challenged preconceived notions, established new norms, or simply helped us realize greater truth about ourselves by articulating sentiments about what had previously seemed inexpressible.

The Odyssey by Homer (8th century BCE)

The Greek epic poem The Odyssey is one of the most seminal of all narratives. In this sequel to Homer’s The Iliad, the trials and tribulations that hero Odysseus would encounter upon his 10-year return journey from the 10-year long Trojan War (in which it was assumed by his wife Penelope that he’d died) are the stuff of legend and would inspire countless stories in the coming centuries. Odysseus’ navigation between sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis itself would spawn the idiom “between a rock and a hard place,” only one small debt modern storytelling and language owes to Homer’s ancient writings.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles (429 BCE)

As it was known in Latin, Oedipus Rex changed the course  of storytelling and humanity’s understanding of the world, as it was one of the first notable Greek tragedies to shift the cause of events onto the actions of its tragic hero rather than simply a result of the fates. While Oedipus was destined from birth to murder his father and marry his mother, the chain of events indicates how Oedipus (despite being prophesied to commit these heinous acts) indirectly chooses his own fate through actions of his own free will. This interaction between predestination and free will would lay the groundwork for myriad fictional works to come.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605 & 1615)

Written in two volumes 10 years apart, Cervantes’ Don Quixote stands as one of the great intersections between tragedy and comedy. As the titular protagonist, an aging gentleman otherwise of sound mine, Don Quixote is enraptured by a book he reads about chivalry and has a mental break. He finds himself a squire and sets out on a knight-errand that ends up being a foolhardy enterprise. Most famously, Don Quixote attacks a set of windmills thinking they are menacing giants. As with many great works of literature, the meaning of Cervantes epic two-volume story is open to many interpretations, making it all the more engrossing.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1866)

Troubled young man Raskolnikov murders and robs an aged money-lender due to an ideological rationalization he’s developed that some people have the right to take the lives of others if done for some higher purpose. Of course, Raskolnikov’s conscience begins to wear him thin as an investigator suspects him of the crime. Raskolnikov begins to understand the error of his ways and even as his threat of prosecution wanes, he’s bound to confess. Dostoyevsky expertly incorporates his own philosophy against anti-radicalism into his anti-hero in this all-time classic brimming with internal tension.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899)

Conrad’s most famous work, Heart of Darkness, focuses on the universal themes of humanity’s primal tendency toward violence and also our penchant for civilization. Moreover, the book delves into how “civilization” throughout the centuries has pillaged indigenous people and built imperialist empires on the backs of other cultures. As the book’s protagonist journeys down an unnamed African river to the compound of the brutal and unhinged Mr. Kurtz, Conrad illustrates the light and darkness within humans.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906)

Sinclair used his investigation skills as a journalist to put together one of the 20th century’s most important books, The Jungle. In it, he exposed the brutal conditions of low-wage workers and immigrants within the meat packaging industry. In an age before social welfare programs and other efforts to fight poverty, Sinclair’s book helped to re-shape how the nation viewed the working poor who often suffered through dangerous and harsh working conditions in order to try to survive, while not being paid enough to do so. In a century defined by protest and social change, The Jungle was a bellwether of things to come.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

Lolita is notable not only for pushing boundaries with its prurient subject matter, but for Nabokov’s innovative writing style. Narrator Humbert Humbert details his criminal desires and pursuit of a young girl who has become his step-daughter in one of the most striking examples in literature of an unreliable narrator. Nabokov proved that we don’t have to trust or even like the narrator of a story to make it compelling fiction and Lolita continues to appear near the top of many Best Books lists to this day.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

Harper Lee rightfully won the Pulitzer Prize for her tale of overcoming racial prejudice and  injustice in the pre-Civil Rights United States. Narrated by a young girl named Scout, as she comes to grips with the loss of innocence associated with living in highly racist town in the Deep South and the first hand accounts of injustice she witnesses as her father, Atticus Finch, unsuccessfully defends an innocent African American man wrongfully accused of assaulting a white woman. The book is a triumph in stating through the simple language of a child how civilization and freedom for all depends on seeing things from other people’s perspectives.

Time often seems as though it’s whirring by in one big kaleidoscopic blur, but you can always ground yourself by taking a look back at the year that was. Though we averted the Mayan apocalypse, 2012 was still a monumental year, especially for books. New hardcovers can carry quite a hefty price tag upon their release, but you can’t go wrong with this crop of 2012 books, now available at used book prices that don’t break the bank.

Making our list are titles that capture the imagination through tension, transcendence, intrigue, candid humanity and unique participation requirements. Richard Ford’s Canada, his first novel in six years, covers everything from the growing pains of adolescence and the dynamic of family life to survival against the odds all wrapped in a gripping story of bank robbery and murder. Wild by Cheryl Strayed became the year’s best memoir by documenting how immersion with Nature inspired the transcendence of inner turmoil. By using unreliable narrators (and by switching back and forth between husband and wife narrators), Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is packed full of intrigue and deception and makes for one of the year’s most enthralling and tension-packed reads. Kurt Vonnegut: Letters shows a side of the famed author few have seen. Meanwhile, Building Stories and Beck’s Song Reader are incredibly imaginative works that require a huge amount of participation from the reader. So without further ado, our Best Books of 2012.

Canada by Richard Ford

Fifteen year-old Dell Parsons has problems unlike most teens: his parents have robbed a bank. What’s more, he becomes an accessory to murder. If you think that’s a spoiler, think again, as Dell reveals these facts about himself in Canada‘s opening lines. When his parents’ ill-advised bank heist goes awry and lands them in the slammer, Dell and his twin sister Berner are left to fend for  themselves. As Berner runs off, a family friend whisks Dell away to Canada before child services can swoop in. But Dell soon finds that his new lodgings have put him in even greater peril in this suspenseful coming-of-age tale.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

If you get Oprah’s attention, you’re doing something right. Cheryl Strayed’s spectacular memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail made it onto Oprah’s revived book club, and with good reason. The memoir recounts Strayed’s 1,100 mile trek from the Mojave desert all the way to the Oregon/Washington border, while frequently flashing back to influential events in the author’s life, most importantly her mother’s death. This inspirational book is a powerful testament to personal triumph in the face of internal and external adversity.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Bad marriages provide some of the most intense interpersonal drama in both real life and fiction. In Gillian Flynn’s thriller Gone Girl, the intensity of the volatile marriage between dual narrators Nick and Amy is heightened when Amy disappears and Nick is suspected of murder. By hearing both Nick and Amy’s respective points of view, the reader finds herself embroiled within the swirling tension and eventually discovers that neither spouse is entirely what they seem. Gone Girl made the New York Times best seller list for a very good reason.

Kurt Vonnegut: Letters edited by Dan Wakefield

One of the 20th century’s absolute masters of fiction, Kurt Vonnegut expressed to those dear to him that he didn’t “want to become a character in fiction” himself. In Dan Wakefield’s carefully edited collection of Vonnegut’s letters from the 1940s up through his death in 2007, we see the side of Vonnegut he only revealed to those who knew him. While even his most bizarre fiction was imbued with painstaking humanity and earnestness, we read in his letters about a man who could be petty and fussy when he wasn’t spouting genius. In other words, we see a human.

Building Stories by Chris Ware

Graphic novelist Chris Ware has blown those old-school Choose Your Own Adventure stories out of the water with his new book, Building Stories. This book comes in a sturdy cardboard box and multiple interactive pieces that can be arranged in any way the reader chooses in order to interpret the story, one that focuses on multiple characters and scenarios, including the most prevalent one about a nameless brunette with a prosthetic leg. This unconventional means of storytelling begs more adventurous readers to jump in with both feet.

Song Reader by Beck

And no Best of 2012 list is complete without this truly unique gem of a book by offbeat singer-songwriter Beck. Of course, that Best of 2012 could also apply to music, as Song Reader is both a book and new album by Beck all rolled into one. Composed of sheet music, the contents of this book must be played on a piano in order for the music to be heard and the story to be told. Song Reader also manages to be Beck’s most heartfelt work in years.