Better Late Then Never ...
1. Chocolat by Joanne Harris *****
2. Got Your Number by Stephanie Bond ***
3. Tithe by Holly Black ****
4. The Romancipation of Maggie Hunter by Jane Sigaloff ***
5. Valiant by Holly Black ***
6. A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories of History's Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes and Emperors by Michael Farquhar ****
7. M*A*S*H by Richard Hooker ****
8. The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber ****
9. Room for Improvement by Stacey Ballis ***
10. Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks **
11. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Goldman *****
12. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff *****
13. Solos by Kitty Burns Florey ***
14. The Cymry Ring by Michael Allen Dymmoch ***
15. Peanuts: A Golden Celebration *****
16. Catch a Mate by Gena Showalter ***
17. The Pact by Jennifer Sturman ***
18. Born to be Wild by Catherine Coulter ***
19. Sagramanda by Alan Dean Foster ****
20. See Jane Date by Melissa Senate ***
21. Slightly Single by Wendy Markham ***
22. Hand-Me-Down by Lee Nichols ***
23. Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd ***
24. Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates by David Cordingly *****
25. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls ****
26. Leave it to Cleavage by Wendy Wax ***
27. Hail to the Chiefs: Presidential Mischief, Morals & Malarky from George W. to George W. by Barbara Holland *****
28. The New Yorkers by Cathleen Shine ****
29. The Thirteenth Tale Diane Setterfield *****
30. The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw *****
31. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris ****
32. Life of Pi by Yann Martel ****
33. The Last Templar by Raymond Koury ****
34. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger ****
35. 10 Men by Alexandra Gray ***
36. Boom! Talking About the Sixties: What Happened, How it Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow by Tom Brokaw ****
37. Bobbie Fay's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey ***
38. Rockin' In Time: A Social History of Rock and Roll (4th Edition) by David P. Szatmay ****
39. King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War by Catrine Clay *****
40. Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon *****
41. The Dressmaker by Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck ****
42. Dream Angus by Alexander McCall Smith ***
43. The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager and the Doomed by Karen Elizabeth Gordon ****
44. The Jester by James Patterson and Andrew Gross ****
45. The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty ****
46. Evening Class by Maeve Binchy *****
47. The Forever Year by Ronald Anthony ****
48. Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer ***
49. Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb ***
50. Losing It by Valerie Bertinelli ***
51. The Victim in Victoria Station by Jeanne M. Dama ***
52. The Arctic Event by Robert Ludlum and James H. Cobb ****
53. Black Wind by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler ****
54. The Bachelor's Cat: A Love Story by L.F. Hoffman ****
55. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus ****
56. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd ****
57. The Men I Didn't Marry by Janice Kaplan and Lynn Schurnberger ***
58. Big Girls Don't Cry by Cathie Linz ****
59. After Diana: William, Harry, Charles and the Royal House of Windsor by Christopher Anderson ****
60. The English American by Alison Larkin *****
61. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs *****
62. The Knitter's Book of Yarn: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using and Enjoying Yarn by Clara Parkes *****
63. Hiss, Whine and Start Over by Jane Caryl Mahlow ***
64. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks *****
65. The Gunseller by Hugh Laurie ****
66. Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy *****
67. Bibliotherapy: The Girl's Guide to Books for Every Phase of Our LIves by Beverly West and Nancy Peske ***
68. The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank **
69. The Secret Life of Mrs. Claus by Carly Alexander ****
70. Barefoot by Elin Hildebrand ****
71. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly *****
72. The Alchemist by Paul Coelho *****
73. Miss Match by Leslie Carroll ***
74. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding ***
75. No One Here Gets Out Alive by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman ****
76. The Woman Who Wouldn't by Gene Wilder ****
77. Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? The Transformation of Modern Europe by James J. Sheehan ****
78. Possession by A.S. Byatt ****
79. Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson ****
80. The Sanctuary by Raymond Koury ****
81. Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters ****
82. Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks ****
83. The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer *****
84. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald *****
85. Swine Not? by Jimmy Buffett ****
86. Shakespeare: The World As Stage by Bill Bryson ***
87. The Fiction Class by Susan Green ****
88. Amanda's Wedding by Jenny Colgan ***
89. Second Chance by Jane Green ***
90. The Hades Factor by Robert Ludlum and Gayle Lynds ****
91. The Lilac Bus by Maeve Binchy ***
92. Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks ****
93. Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry ****
94. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum *****
95. How to Write Killer Fiction by Carolyn Wheat ****
96. How to Write a Damn Good Mystery by James N. Frey ****
97. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch ***
98. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows *****
99. The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry ****
100. The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer ****
101. John Lennon: A Life by Philip Norman ****
102. One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell ****
103. Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva *****
104. the Knitting Circle by Ann Hood ****
Outstanding Favorites:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Epistolary novel about a woman's discovery of where she truly belongs. Utterly charming ... I couldn't put it down!
Those Who Save Us - Moving story of alternating timelines -- a woman who has just lost her father and must now care for her mother, and the young woman in war-ravaged Germany who her mother once was. Powerful and heartbreaking.
People of the Book - Another wonderful novel with alternating timelines: the first, a young book restorer's efforts to work on the long-lost Sarajevo Haggadah; the second, short tales depicting the books travels through time, each one tied to a piece of the puzzle that the restorer uncovers.
Biggest Disappointments:
Wonderful Tonight - Pattie Boyd had such an opportunity to reveal her personal insights into sharing her life with not one, but two of rock-n-roll's greatest legends: George Harrison and Eric Clapton. Instead, the autobiography devolves into relentless shopping lists of who drank what, who snorted what and who slept with who. Monotonous name-dropping. Left me with the impression that she would like to be viewed as Pattie-the-Victim, but to me she's nothing more than Pattie-the-Stupid. Don't waste your time.
How to Write a Damn Good Mystery - I hesitated to include this here, because the author provided some really good information in a fairly straightforward manner. His style is informal and easy-to-read, and he doesn't get caught up in pretentiousness. Having said that, though, there was some nastily blatant self-promotion going on. Almost every point he made was prefaced with "as I said in How to Write a Damn Good Novel..." or something similar, indicating that quite a few things had already been said in previous books and didn't bear repeating in a separate volume. Nothing like citing yourself. Extremely annoying.
Best Non-Fiction:
King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World To War - For any student of history, this book provides some interesting insights which the average textbook never even hints at ... the familial relationships alone spark incredible controversy and have lasting consequences. Enlightening!
Hail to the Chiefs: Presidential Mischief, Morals & Malarky from George W to George W - Charming and funny. Tasty trivia tidbits about all the previous occupants of the oval office. A good read for Inauguration Week.