The odd couple; or, My favorite two books of 1995.

In my about the blogger post I claim to be "fairly confident of being the only person who believes the two best novels published in 1995 were The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald and American Tabloid by James Ellroy."

While those two books are very different in style and writing and subject matter, I actually can imagine a great many readers admiring both of them--because they are such quality books--but I would be surprised if they were #1 and #2 on anyone else's list.

Incidentally, other notable books of 1995 include:

The Ghost Road by Pat Barker.
Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth.
Mrs. Ted Bliss by Stanley Elkin.
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson.
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson.

How about you: have you got an odd-couple of favorite books from any particular year (or decade)?

--Marshal Zeringue