The Corrections (by Jonathan Franzen)

I put this book down and actually said out loud, to nobody, "That is the best book I've read in a long time."

I have friends who hated hated hated this book, and I'd heard the reason was that the characters were unsympathetic. I found them unsympathetic in such a real, human way that they became sympathetic again. And I could relate to these characters so strongly. I saw my own family in them, which I found both terrifying and touching. They are the people you love "deeply, from the back of the soul, with intolerance in daily life." (That's from National Velvet, not this book.)

The writing is masterful. Really, I can't say enough about it. I was blown away on almost every page. I know it sounds like hyperbole, but I can't help it. The Corrections impressed me just that much.