3. The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll. This “supernatural thriller” was written in 1980, and although the author has produced an impressive body of work since then, this creepy “book within a book” is my favorite. It has to do with a strange town in which all of the people are living embodiments of characters in a children’s book, The Land of Laughs. No, that does not mean that the author based his book on real people ... It means that the people owe their existence to the book. When the town is visited by a young scholar who intends to write a biography of the deceased author, strange things begin.

4. Roadside Picnic by Arcady & Boris Strugatsky. Finding this book was a wonderful accident. After watching the Russian film, “Stalker,” a bit of research revealed that the Tarkovsky film was based on this science-fiction novel. However, although both the novel and the movie are marvelous experiences, they have little in common in terms of plot and atmosphere. The episode that ties the two works together is the crash of an alien craft in a remote section of Russia. Although Russian scientists are forbidden to go to the crash site, a few courageous fellows (called “stalkers”) venture into the “forbidden zone,” find some mysterious objects and begin doing a brisk black-market business in “alien artifacts.” Naturally, there are unforeseen consequences.

5. The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce. Well, during 2002, I discovered the novels of Graham Joyce. The books were all memorable and I was tempted to list every one of them here. However, if logic suggests that I should only pick one, this is it. In many ways, The Tooth Fairy reads like Huckleberry Finn with a generous dose of eroticism and the supernatural. It is a “rites of passage” novel that focuses on the harrowing experience of adolescence for three English lads — all noted for their rebelliousness and inability to conform to social, educational and religious norms. As for the “fairy,” well, she is not at all like Tinkerbell. In fact, she may not be a “she” at all, but she/he is given to nocturnal visits to Sam’s bedroom. By turns an accomplice, a demon and a seductress, she is probably the product of an unstable teenager’s imagination ... or perhaps not.

6. The New South’s New Frontier by Stephen Wallace Taylor. This is probably the best book available on the varied, colorful and troubled history of western North Carolina. Specifically, Taylor gives a concise account of the use and misuse of this region, beginning with the coming of the lumber camps to Hazel Creek and the awesome destruction that resulted. There is also a documented, footnoted and bibliographed account of TVA’s activities, including the building of Fontana Dam. Also the “creation” of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park receives some in-depth treatment. As the author notes, the ultimate victims of this “progress and development” are the land and the people who are native to this region.

7. From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury. For those of you who experienced the delight of reading October Country, Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, you will be pleased to know that the magical Bradbury is back. Sure, he lost it for a while and produced a series of lack-luster and mediocre books, but this is Bradbury the way you remember him. The setting is a kind of “family reunion” in which the unusual members “come home.” They fly, run on all fours, emerge from the darkness and come down from the attic. Each has a story to tell.

8. From a Buick Eight by Stephen King. King says that this is his last book. I don’t believe it. However, if it is, then From a Buick 8 is a marvelous final work that is “vintage King.” The story is told by a group of Pennsylvania patrolmen who relate how they became to be the secret guardians of a strange car that was abandoned by the pumps of a local gas station and hauled to a maintenance shed pending the appearance of the owner. As time goes by, peculiar things happen — things that suggest that the Buick 8 isn’t a car at all. What then? A “window” to another dimension? A kind of “bait”? An advance landing? Occasionally, objects (living and inanimate) are ejected from the Buick’s trunk and sometimes visitors to the shed ... vanish. Then, there are the mysterious lights, the temperature shifts, and sudden disruptions of communications ... What is it?

9. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Undoubtedly the most unusual novel on this list of the books reviewed in 2002, The Lovely Bones manages to combine humor, heartbreaking tragedy, a touch of the supernatural and the affirmation of life’s greatest values. This novel’s narrator, 13-year-old Susie Salmon was murdered in 1973; however she becomes a kind of “observing spirit” who watches the lives of her family and friends as they struggle to accept Susie’s death. Like a character in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” Susie yearns to experience the life she would have had. In a sense, she finds a way to do it. This one is a gratifying reading experience.

10. The Iliad by Homer. Although I read both The Iliad and The Odyssey this past summer, I was most affected by the former. This 2000-year old epic still captures the imagination. Set in the ninth year of this 10-year war, The Iliad presents a cast of doomed heroes who perceive the certainty of their own demise, yet struggle against it. While the gods and goddesses bicker and plot, humanity, marred by its own mortality, continues their futile struggle. The story of Helen, Agamemnon, Achilles and Hector still moves us — however, this work’s greatest merit lies in its covert message. It remains the world’s greatest anti-war work.

(Gary Carden is a writer, storyteller and lecturer whose book, Mason Jars in the Flood, was recently named Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association. He can be reached at gcarden498@aol.com.)