CNN

'Tis the time of year when every Tom, Dick and Harry -- and every Time, Slate and VH1 -- announces lists of the year's best. CNN's entertainment staff has spun a few CDs and cracked a few bindings as well, and offers its own nominees in music and books. (For movies, stay tuned for CNN.com movie critic Tom Charity's picks next week.)

Music

• "Showbiz Tonight" Executive Producer Dave Levine picks Keane's "Under the Iron Sea" as one of the year's top albums, singling out the song "Hamburg" as particularly noteworthy. "If there is one cut on this CD that will give you goosebumps it is 'Hamburg,' with lyrics of longing of what could be, with the person you could give unrequited love to," he says.
• CNN Entertainment News reporter Brooke Anderson loves Mary J. Blige's "The Breakthrough." "It's an open, honest comeback statement for a singer who has overcome tremendous obstacles," she observes.
• For staffer Brittany Kaplan, "Corinne Bailey Rae," Christina Aguilera's "Back to Basics" and John Mayer's song "Waiting for the World to Change" are standouts. "With [its] lyrics, who can argue," she says of the latter.
• And producer Matt West offers a handful, including Silversun Pickups' "Carnavas," the Roots' "Game Theory" and Gnarls Barkley's "St. Elsewhere."

Books

• West's favorites are Brian K. Vaughn's "Pride of Baghdad," Darwyn Cooke's "New Frontier: Absolute Edition" and Brad Meltzer's "The Book of Fate." "Baghdad" is "an amazing graphic novel based on true events about the 2003 Iraq invasion from the perspective of a family of lions," he says.
• CNN producers Matt Carey and David Daniel are both fans of Ken Jennings' "Brainiac." "Jennings could have just cranked out a quick autobio. ... Instead, he chose to let his amazing ['Jeopardy!'] run serve as a backdrop for a history of trivia," Daniel says.
  
• Another of Daniel's toppers is Jon Meacham's "American Gospel": "A meticulous and very readable explanation that no, [the U.S.] wasn't founded as a Christian nation, nor as an atheistic one. ... Must reading in these fractious times."

And me? As always, I didn't read nearly as much as I would have liked, but the three books I liked best from this year were Philip Roth's "Everyman," Cormac McCarthy's grim but gripping "The Road" and Neal Gabler's "Walt Disney." (The two best books I read all year were from years past -- Susanna Clarke's incredible 2004 novel "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" and a collection of George Orwell's essays, which are also must reading in these fractious -- and spin-filled -- times.)

Musically, I was partial to Bob Dylan's "Modern Times," James Hunter's "People Gonna Talk," The Hold Steady's "Boys and Girls in America" and "St. Elsewhere." The latter is uneven, to be sure, but when it works ("Crazy," "Who Cares") it's top-notch.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite album title of the year: Yo La Tengo's "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass," which Rolling Stone picked as the worst title of the year. At least RS acknowledged it was a very good record.

How about you? What were some of your favorites?

And of course, when it comes to bests, there's one that matters most: As we head into Christmas weekend, from all of us to all of you, all our best. Have a wonderful holiday.

Posted by Todd Leopold, CNN.com Entertainment Producer: 10:03 AM

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