Per Amazon, here are their editors' choices for the top ten books of 2008:

1. The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher

2. Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg

3. Nixonland by Rick Perlstein

4. The Forever War by Dexter Filkins

5. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

6. The Likeness by Tana French

7. Serena by Ron Rash

8. So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger

9. The Lazarus Project by Aleksander Hemon

10. The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu

Of the ten, Nixonland absolutely blew me away. I cannot possibly recommend it highly enough for political junkies like myself. I have The Dark Side by Jane Mayer on my desk, but haven't yet finished it. I'm almost done with Outliers: The Story of Success and like it very much.

I haven't read as many political books this year as I have in years past (I had to have a break from politics during this election year), but most of my fiction reading is catching up from past years--Wally Lamb, Anne Lamott, David Foster Wallace. Much of my current reading comes from introducing my kids to books. Together, we've been reading a lot of Neil Gaiman--his latest, The Graveyard Book is wonderful, Sherman Alexie and Jasper Fforde (whose surrealist literary works appear to be vying for the Douglas Adams title), however, I did love Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence, which was just lyrically beautiful.

But I'm eager now to add to my reading list, so tell me, what were your favorite books of this year?

With the end of the year in front of us, it's natural that we look back at 2008 and reflect. Each day, we'll do another Ten Best list and ask for your picks. Today, it's the Best Movies of 2008. From NowPublic, here is the consensus list of critically acclaimed movies:

1 Slumdog Millionaire

2 Wall-E

3 Milk

4 The Wrestler

5 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

6 The Dark Knight

7 Frost/Nixon

8 Doubt

9 Revolutionary Road

10 Rachel Getting Married

I am probably the worst person of the C&L team to do this, since I rarely see movies in the theaters and when I do, they are invariably kid movies that usually don't make anyone's ten best list. This year, however, I can say that Wall-E is deservedly on that list with stunning animation and a surprisingly sophisticated and progressive underlying message. I just saw The Dark Knight on DVD, and thought that with the exception of Heath Ledger's performance, the movie was really overrated. Being from San Francisco, I am really looking forward to seeing Milk (although the events precede my residence here); from the clips I've seen, it's really uncanny how well Sean Penn has channeled Harvey Milk. And although not on this list, just from word of mouth from people whose opinions I respect, I'm also looking forward to the DVD release of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Doubt.

My list of favorite films of 2008 (in alphabetic order): The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Gone Baby Gone; In Bruges; Iron Man; Mamma Mia (yes, I'm the demographic for this movie and I love Greece and the male eye candy as well -- sue me); Persepolis; Taxi to the Dark Side; The Visitor and Wall-E.

What were your favorites of the year and what films did you think were overrated?