Finders Keepers: 2012's Books To Hang On To

This year's treasures include a heart-racing memoir, a fun first novel, a fascinating study of fraternal bonds, plus Toni Morrison's Home and Christopher Hitchens' last work. Critic Heller McAlpin has sifted through piles of new publications and panned for literary gold.

Part of a book critic's challenge is to sift through piles of new publications, panning for literary gold. In a way that makes us what one of my favorite children's book heroines, Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking, called a "turnupstuffer" — "Somebody who finds the stuff that turns up if only you look." Or like Dickens' optimistic Mr. Micawber, who was always sure something good would turn up.

This year's treasures — none rescued from obscurity, but all standouts I'm likely to press on friends or want to read again — include a Nobel-winner's blazing illumination of insidious racism; a posthumous memoir by an intrepid journalist who shied from reporting on nothing, including his own fatal illness; a heart-racing memoir about literally outpacing your demons; a fun first novel that makes a passionate case for reading on all platforms; and a fascinating study of fraternal bonds. They're all books I've made space for on my overstuffed shelves — this Finder's Keepers. I'll leave the Loser's Weepers to another list maker.

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