It being that time of year, when sleighbells can be heard gently tinkling and readers are inundated with a glut of year-end best-of lists so that they can feel bad about how much they haven’t read in the past 12 months, Paper Cuts has put together a helpful roundup of best books lists for 2008.

Included among them is Stephen King’s predictably eclectic selection, which runs the gamut from a history of the U.S. in the 1960s as seen through the prism of Richard Nixon’s presidency to Stef Penney’s Costa Award-winning novel The Tenderness of Wolves, and the latest potboilers from Dean Koontz and Joseph Wambaugh.

There are also lists from the Atlantic, NPR, The Economist, and “ wait for it “ Joe the Plumber, whose fifteen minutes apparently aren’t up yet. (This Quillblogger initially suspected that Joe’s list was a joke, but it appears to be serious.)

As if that weren’t enough, there’s even some Canadian content. The St. John’s Telegram has a list of the best Canadian cookbooks of 2008.

For Q&Q‘s own opinion about what books mattered most this year, check out our December print issue.