Books 2012: David L. Ulin

What made 2012 a compelling year in reading? For me, it was the return of the novel of ideas. These are novels that both portray and reflect upon the spirit of their moment, telling not just a story but using it to illustrate something about the world in which we live. It's been an endangered form since at least the early 1960s, when Philip Roth wrote that reality "is continually outdoing our talents, and the culture tosses up figures daily that are the envy of any novelist."

By David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times Book Critic

December 14, 2012