The Best Book I Read in 2004
It's no contest: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon. It's nice to know that sometimes truly great books win rave reviews and Pulitzer Prizes.
Chabon has a website here. Check out his funny-but-serious essay, Short Stories Can Be Fun, which is the introduction to The McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, an anthology. Chabon's site also directed me to a delightful-sounding exhibit at Atlanta's William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.
As wonderful as Chabon's novel is, it's even better if, as I did, you first read Gerard Jones's excellent nonfiction account of the development of superhero comics, Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book. Almost all of the background of Kavalier and Clay is true, and many of the major (real-world) characters of Men of Tomorrow make appearances in Kavalier and Clay, usually in off-stage mentions. (Dynamist readers may recall that I also recommended Jones's earlier book, Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence.)