The Book List of 2007
Because I am an uber-nerd, I make a list every year of all the books I read. Since many of you, my friends, also qualify as word nerds, I will post my list and resulting thoughts here for you to peruse. (Bold indicates a re-read.)
(P.S. Sorry there are no accent marks or umlauts over the authors' names when needed...I don't know how to do them on a PC...)
1) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
This was a series of short stories about life in India that was really quite depressing.
2) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A cool suspense/thriller. I didn't LOVE it, but it was enjoyable.
3) Eragon by Christopher Paolini
If you're into fantasy/LOTR-type fiction, this is pretty good, considering the author wrote it when he was 15.
4) The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
I remember being less than impressed by this one. I think it was in the literary/historical thriller genre.
5) Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
Very weird and disturbing. Really no words.
6) The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue
This was recommended by a fellow book-clubber. It's about the old changeling myth and the subsequent lives of the real child who lives with the changelings, and the changeling who lives with the human family. Interesting, but I didn't love it.
7) Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Number 2 in the Eragon series. About as good as the first one.
8) The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
A nonfiction book--the author lost her husband and...I think her son? in the same year. Not very uplifting.
9) The Green Mile by Stephen King
This book is amazing. One of my favorites.
10) Emma by Jane Austen
A classic, of course. Probably my favorite Austen novel.
11) Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Contrived. Definitely not his best work. Read The Green Mile instead.
12) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
I tried to make it through all 7 Narnia books again, but I got distracted. I love this series.
13) Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
14) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
15) The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
16) The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
17) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Of course, I had to re-read all the HP books before the last book came out in July.
18) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
19) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
20) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
This one's my favorite of the series.
21) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
22) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
23) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
A good ending to a great series.
24) The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
I'm sorry, but all the books I read this year about life in India were terribly despairing. I think I'm done with books about India for awhile.
25) Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
This book of Lewis' takes more work than Narnia to see parallels to Christianity in, and I like having to work a little harder.
26) Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
I think this was about how people make split-second decisions and impressions in daily life, and how we should use that to our advantage. Clearly, I remembered all the tenets.
27) Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
This was supposed to be a darkly comic memoir, but I found it more dark than comic.
28) Captured by Pirates ed. by John Richard Stephens
Real stories about people who were...you guessed it...captured by pirates! in the 17th and 18th centuries.
29) Don't Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff
I'd heard this guy read one of his stories on NPR and thought it was hilarious, but the book, not as much.
30) The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis
This book was weird. One of those that tells the same story/sequence of events through several different viewpoints and threads. I'm indifferent.
31) Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
I don't agree with everything she says, but this half memoir/half musings book is quite insightful.
32) Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris
GREAT thriller/whodunit. One of those rare ones I really couldn't put down for long.
33) The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Also not King's best work. I didn't really get this one. I guess it's the first in the Dark Tower series, but I now have no desire to read the rest of the series.
34) Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
I believe this is a true story, and it's just heartbreaking. But I loved it.
35) The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
This is a future dystopia book written in the '60s, set where the Allies had lost WWII and Japan and Germany had pretty much split the world in half. It had potential, but it got lost pretty quickly.
36) Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
This was praised as the novel version of Office Space, but I just didn't think it was that funny.
37) We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Pretty disturbing epistolary novel about a mother of a Columbine-like killer teenager writing letters to her husband.
38) The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Another pretty-decent fantasy series. Not as good as Narnia or HP, but not bad.
39) The Mist by Stephen King
This novella was...interesting, but wasn't as fulfilling as I'd hoped. I thought it was supposed to be more about people being their own worst nightmares, but it focuses too much on the weird, mutant sea creatures that are terrorizing Maine.
40) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I finally got around to this one...it was well-written, but very sad and sobering.
41) In the Woods by Tana French
I loved this book until the very end where it just LEFT YOU HANGING. I still haven't forgiven it.
42) Pretty Birds by Scott Simon
A story loosely based on how girls were recruited as snipers during the war in Kosovo. Relatively good, but also very not-uplifting.
43) The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Man, I read a lot of depressing novels this year. I liked the prose, but the content of this post-nuclear apocalyptic novel just leaves you completely despairing. The journey and relationship of the nameless man and boy is heartrending.
44) The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Number 2 in the His Dark Materials trilogy. A good continuance of the story he began in The Golden Compass.
45) The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
The conclusion of the trilogy. A little strange, but, it's fantasy fic.
46) The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
OMG, this book was a chore. A Jewish community set up in Alaska after WWII is now about to become officially under American rule again, and the cops are going through crises, and there's a lot of Yiddish terms, and a lot of chess, and I really didn't care.
47) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Loved this book! A sweet, fun, engrossing read about a circus in the '30s.
48) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Not bad, but The Kite Runner was better. The plot of this one was split over two main characters (abused wives), and it didn't stick in my head as well.
49) I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
Who doesn't love Stephen Colbert?
50) Atonement by Ian McEwan
Not as epic as I'd expected, but very vivid prose, and I like the isolated points of view. The ending was interesting as well.
Happy reading!
(P.S. Sorry there are no accent marks or umlauts over the authors' names when needed...I don't know how to do them on a PC...)
1) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
This was a series of short stories about life in India that was really quite depressing.
2) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A cool suspense/thriller. I didn't LOVE it, but it was enjoyable.
3) Eragon by Christopher Paolini
If you're into fantasy/LOTR-type fiction, this is pretty good, considering the author wrote it when he was 15.
4) The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
I remember being less than impressed by this one. I think it was in the literary/historical thriller genre.
5) Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
Very weird and disturbing. Really no words.
6) The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue
This was recommended by a fellow book-clubber. It's about the old changeling myth and the subsequent lives of the real child who lives with the changelings, and the changeling who lives with the human family. Interesting, but I didn't love it.
7) Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Number 2 in the Eragon series. About as good as the first one.
8) The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
A nonfiction book--the author lost her husband and...I think her son? in the same year. Not very uplifting.
9) The Green Mile by Stephen King
This book is amazing. One of my favorites.
10) Emma by Jane Austen
A classic, of course. Probably my favorite Austen novel.
11) Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Contrived. Definitely not his best work. Read The Green Mile instead.
12) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
I tried to make it through all 7 Narnia books again, but I got distracted. I love this series.
13) Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
14) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
15) The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
16) The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
17) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Of course, I had to re-read all the HP books before the last book came out in July.
18) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
19) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
20) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
This one's my favorite of the series.
21) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
22) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
23) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
A good ending to a great series.
24) The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
I'm sorry, but all the books I read this year about life in India were terribly despairing. I think I'm done with books about India for awhile.
25) Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
This book of Lewis' takes more work than Narnia to see parallels to Christianity in, and I like having to work a little harder.
26) Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
I think this was about how people make split-second decisions and impressions in daily life, and how we should use that to our advantage. Clearly, I remembered all the tenets.
27) Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
This was supposed to be a darkly comic memoir, but I found it more dark than comic.
28) Captured by Pirates ed. by John Richard Stephens
Real stories about people who were...you guessed it...captured by pirates! in the 17th and 18th centuries.
29) Don't Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff
I'd heard this guy read one of his stories on NPR and thought it was hilarious, but the book, not as much.
30) The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis
This book was weird. One of those that tells the same story/sequence of events through several different viewpoints and threads. I'm indifferent.
31) Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
I don't agree with everything she says, but this half memoir/half musings book is quite insightful.
32) Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris
GREAT thriller/whodunit. One of those rare ones I really couldn't put down for long.
33) The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Also not King's best work. I didn't really get this one. I guess it's the first in the Dark Tower series, but I now have no desire to read the rest of the series.
34) Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
I believe this is a true story, and it's just heartbreaking. But I loved it.
35) The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
This is a future dystopia book written in the '60s, set where the Allies had lost WWII and Japan and Germany had pretty much split the world in half. It had potential, but it got lost pretty quickly.
36) Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
This was praised as the novel version of Office Space, but I just didn't think it was that funny.
37) We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Pretty disturbing epistolary novel about a mother of a Columbine-like killer teenager writing letters to her husband.
38) The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Another pretty-decent fantasy series. Not as good as Narnia or HP, but not bad.
39) The Mist by Stephen King
This novella was...interesting, but wasn't as fulfilling as I'd hoped. I thought it was supposed to be more about people being their own worst nightmares, but it focuses too much on the weird, mutant sea creatures that are terrorizing Maine.
40) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I finally got around to this one...it was well-written, but very sad and sobering.
41) In the Woods by Tana French
I loved this book until the very end where it just LEFT YOU HANGING. I still haven't forgiven it.
42) Pretty Birds by Scott Simon
A story loosely based on how girls were recruited as snipers during the war in Kosovo. Relatively good, but also very not-uplifting.
43) The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Man, I read a lot of depressing novels this year. I liked the prose, but the content of this post-nuclear apocalyptic novel just leaves you completely despairing. The journey and relationship of the nameless man and boy is heartrending.
44) The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Number 2 in the His Dark Materials trilogy. A good continuance of the story he began in The Golden Compass.
45) The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
The conclusion of the trilogy. A little strange, but, it's fantasy fic.
46) The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
OMG, this book was a chore. A Jewish community set up in Alaska after WWII is now about to become officially under American rule again, and the cops are going through crises, and there's a lot of Yiddish terms, and a lot of chess, and I really didn't care.
47) Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Loved this book! A sweet, fun, engrossing read about a circus in the '30s.
48) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Not bad, but The Kite Runner was better. The plot of this one was split over two main characters (abused wives), and it didn't stick in my head as well.
49) I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
Who doesn't love Stephen Colbert?
50) Atonement by Ian McEwan
Not as epic as I'd expected, but very vivid prose, and I like the isolated points of view. The ending was interesting as well.
Happy reading!