Book List 2008

1. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
This is the first selection of the year for my teen book discussion group. And believe it or not, I have actually read this before, but picked it up again for a refresher. I am actually on the fence on whether or not I “like” this book. It is interesting, clever, smart, full of interesting characters and is probably a good book for young women to read. But really the other-worldness and mystery made me feel a little uneasy while I read it. I realize that maybe that is the point. When I read books for the teen book group (who happen to be all young women), I am much more aware of strong female characters, even when they are not. And Coraline is great, so I’ll give it that.

2. Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa
This book was recommended to me from an India studies major, and generally wacky coworker who had never heard of The Clash. I liked the characters, but felt that I missed out on a lot of the cultural, linguistic and historical details. There are parts though that even without historical context are unbearably sad and difficult. While I don’t enjoy gory-difficult, I do enjoy challenges, and a story that pushes my boundaries. This book isn’t groundbreaking. But I love novels that open new worlds to me, either through construct or content. I would have never picked this book up on my own, so I’m glad for the recommendation and opening of new horizons.

3. Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
I read this as the February choice for my teen book club. I’ve never read any Pratchett before, but he is beloved by Tim. I enjoyed this book, but didn’t love it. Tiffany accidently dances with winter, and he falls in love with her, acting the jealous boyfriend by making icebergs and snow flakes in her likeness. Tiffany is boring and sort of unrealistic 13 year old character, I found it sort of hard to root for her in any reasonable way. But I did enjoy some side characters, especially the Feegles. Fantastic creatures. And I liked Annagramma, Horace the cheese, poor Miss Treason, and of course the librarians who are freezing in the storm and won’t feed their books to the slowly dying fire! Might be a good recommendation for young teens.

4. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
I’m glad I’m not leading this book discussion this weekend, but I will be there for work. I read this several years ago, and reread it just to be prepared as I will be at the discussion. I don’t know if it is that I feel like I am often creating discussion guides, or what. But I’m glad I’m not. I am glad however, that I reread this book. This book is sexy. And has some of the most independent, strong and intelligent female characters who are also aware of their own sensuality. The nature of this book only enhances this sensuality, and really acts as another character in the book. What isn’t integral is the story, not in the way that it is in Poisonwood Bible, or even in the other Kingsolver books. One of the characters wishes for a female friend that thinks in the same way that she does about nature, not knowing how close that will be. This book is about women. This book is about me.

5. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Short and sweet. Well actually not very sweet at all. The end of this book reminds me of one of my favorite books from last year, Yes Man by Dan Wallace. On the surface, they could not be more different, but really they are both about chances left undone. Wallace argues that we most regret things we wish we had done, but just didn’t do. Including the possibility of grabbing someone who is about to walk away from you by the arm and stopping them. Saying what you mean to say. But standing there, doing nothing, can be the undoing of someone. It is hard to put yourself out there sometimes, to make that first move. I think we are often inclined to choose the option that suits us best for the moment, but not think about how that will effect us long term. I hear ya, Ian. I liked this book.

6. Run by Ann Patchett
I read Bel Canto several years ago in about a day and a half and ate it up. Somewhere in there I read the memoir about Patchett’s friendship with Lucy Grealy, Truth & Beauty. But I haven’t gone back and read any older Patchett like I always have meant to. I would be timid now to go back and read because I love Bel Canto and now this book, and they might not live up to my expectations. I also read this book in about a day and a half. Family, service, and duty are bundled up with wonderful (but not perfect) characters who are loyal to each other and the family without being unreasonable, unthinkable, or unnecessary. The story isn’t unusual, but rich with details and feeling. Recommended.

7. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
I don’t know anyone who read this that didn’t love it. Sad, insightful, and beautifully written it is a story about the complications of humanity during the invasion of France in 1940 and the occupation of a small town. It is amazing to think that this book was written as these events were happening, it has such a keen eye to the intricate relationships that one would think require distance. The stories are sad, but made all the sadder reading the appendix and the letters her husband wrote on the author’s behalf after her arrest and even death at Auschwitz. The family story of the girls waiting for their parents to come back is almost too sad for real life, and one wishes it part of the story, but again frames the story in a way that is unforgattable.

8. Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward
A few years ago, I read Sleep Toward Heaven by the same author after receiving a free trade copy at a conference. I loved the book, and thought it to be a wonderfully written complex story with three flawed but still amazing female main characters. I even bought the book for Gina, someone without a lot of time to read, so you know I really liked it. So I thought I’d try another and was really disappointed. This book sucked. This book reads like the book I would have written as a 16 year old, filled with all the I’m-so-cool-cliches of a hard living female journalist who even survives a beating in Mexico (totally unrealistic scene) and then goes on to prove herself in South Africa (cuz she’s still down with the people of the earth and all that)! I finished it in part to see if it redeemed itself in the end. It didn’t.

9. The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle is one of my favorites, he has a great way with dialogue and characters, sort of like Nick Hornby. This is a book of short stories, I think his first. All the stories revolve around the theme of Irishness, and include characters that have recently moved to Ireland from places like Poland and Nigeria. Some of the stories revisit familiar characters from other books like Jimmy Rabbitte. Doyle can weave dialogue from three different time periods into one sort of coherent rhythm. It is a cool trick once or twice, but it reoccurs so often in these stories that I finally felt like it was a little over done, but overall an enjoyable read.

10. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
I had the flu the first time I read Great Gatsby and I remember sitting up all night to finish The Power of One with pneumonia in high school. I don’t often sit for long periods of time to read, there just isn’t time. But when sickness strikes, I would rather a book than tv, and a little stomach bug earlier this week gave me the perfect opportunity to dive into this book. Not that I am happy to be stricken, but this book might have benefited in reading because I sat for hours, getting totally immersed in the feeling of this book. It is hard to say that a book like this is good, because it is so difficult to read on a content level. You are reading about people dying, but also about struggle and perseverance. This book makes it more clear as to why people climb Mt. Everest (other than because it is there), and what it feels like to be there (other than cold). There were a lot of characters to keep straight, but for an adventure book, this one read well and was interesting. Like a car wreck is interesting.

11. Bitten: True Medical Stories of Bites and Stings by Pamela Nagami
Sometimes strange and gripping, sometimes boring, this book is about the things that can bite you and what god awful things that can happen from those bites. Things I learned? Bacteria is bad and teems in the mouths of cats, humans, komodo dragons, dogs, etc. Can give you nasty infections. I guess I was under the assumption that antibiotics were general, but the author says here that some antibiotics aren’t effective at all against some strains of bacteria. Also? Rabies is uncurable. If you are bitten by a rabid something, get shots immediately. Once you start showing symptoms, you are dead. And while spiders and snakes are scary, the mosquito is what we should all be most afraid of.

12. One for the Money: A Stephanie Plum Mystery by Janet Evanovich
Some co-workers have told me that this super popular series doesn’t get good until about the 6th book, but I’ll never know because I hope I never have to read another one. The main character did grow on me a little bit (as promised), but not that much. The writing style was juvenile, cliched, tacky and unimaginative. I found the book sexually crass, and for me that might be a first. I can’t imagine recommending this to someone’s grandma. Or to anyone with a brain.

13. Winter Birds by Jamie Langston Turner
A coworker and I talked about reading the same genre books to be able to discuss them and further enrich our Reader’s Advisory knowledge. This book won a Christy Award, and therefore counts as inspirational or Christian fiction. I didn’t have high hopes, but it was actually worse than I expected. The writing was horrible. It was written from a first person perspective, and every other sentence started with “I think…” and then usually followed by some snotty remark. The book is about a grouchy old woman who goes to live with her very Christian nephew and niece. They nephew and niece are nice people, but the main character is so ugly to them for the whole book, that the Christian transformation at the end wasn’t that inspiring. I hated her by then. This book also has both Shakespeare and bird themes running througout, both used in a very heavy handed way. I am happy to be done with this one.

14. The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
Urrea came to our Friends of the Library event this fall and I met him and saw him speak. He is incredible likeable, funny, smart, interesting and interested. He writes poetry, fiction, non-fiction and essays and may be close to a real break through. His fiction work, The Hummingbird’s Daughter is going to be a movie and this non-fiction work was nominated for a Pulitzer. This book is about the Yuma 14, a group of men who died in the desert of Arizona attempting to cross the border to work in the United States for a year, a season, forever. Some of the group did survive, and from them and the border enforcement team, we learn about their stories. Not to judge, but to understand all sides. This book was really sad, but also important. The economics of body movement, immigration and death of poor men from Veracruz is astonishing, and the tender side of the green pants is heartbreaking. Recommended to anyone interested in international politics, current events, the southwest, and humanity.

15. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
I’m not sure that any rereading of this book will compare with the magic of reading it for the first time. I am always looking out for unusual, but readable fiction and this fits the bill perfectly. Sweet, interesting, thought provoking, at times difficult, frustrating and inspiring all at the same time, Haddon gives us a character that we love even though he couldn’t ever love us. While the math in the book puts me over the edge, the universal appeal of conquering the proverbial mountain is approachable and universal. Put yourself out there, you’ll never know what you can do, even if it means you have to wee yourself a little bit to accomplish your goal. I love love love this book. I’ll be interested to see what my teen book discussion group thinks of it.

16. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Quick read, fairly funny and Hornby again scores with fun snappy dialogue. The main character in this book is a bit of a loser and I didn’t find him totally sympathetic. But I didn’t completely dislike him either. The lists are great and I loved all the references to mix tapes (remember those?), bands and songs. I hate to say it, but this may be a better read for a man, as two great readers (my brother and Jer) both really liked this book. This is my second Hornby, and I am willing to try again. I liked About a Boy a little bit better than this one. Maybe Long Way Down next?

17. Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 by Antony Beevor
This book was more from the 6th Army/German perspective, which wasn’t what I was expecting. But seeing as my background on this event comes more from the Russian perspective, so it was an interesting read. This book covers a lot of ground, starting with Operation Barbarossa (well, really even a little bit before that) and follows through some prison camps that extended into the 1950s! There is a part in this book that describes a German officer who gets flown out of the 6th Army encirclement (late in the battle) describing the desperate situation to Hitler. This officer realizes as he is describing events how out of touch Hitler is, he thinks that Hitler can only think of flags and maps and not people and reality. Which looking back is pretty obvious, but I wonder why other people didn’t just stop the maddness. How crazy do you have to be to send your fellow countrymen to their certain deaths. But how much crazier do you have to be really to just stand by while that happens? The Russian losses are incredible, but to their tiny bit of credit, they were invaded and spent all they could defending. What they did after was indefensible, but here in the early parts of the war I can cut them a little slack. This is a pretty dense and often hard to read book (not technically, but on an emotional level) and would only recommend to history buffs.

18. Dragon’s Keep by Janet Lee Carey
So cheesy! I read this because it was unanimously chosen by the teens in my book group. It is about dragons and far far away places where they say things like “whilst” and “abide my time drinking mead”. The princess is cursed with a dragon claw b/c her mom is possibly crazy and a heroin addict (poppy potion!) and she has to reunite the kingdom. The main character is the dimmest girl on the planet and while sort of perky, pales in comparison to say, Coraline. I will be interested in what the group thinks of this, it would not be something I would recommend, maybe only to the most dire dragon fans.

19. Tsotsi by Athol Fugard
I finally got around to reading this. I did a project in my honors history/english class in high school on South African literature, which still holds a near and dear place in my heart. I haven’t kept up that much either in fiction or non-fiction lately but reading this was familiar and different all at the same time. I have seen the movie, but this gave so much more introspection into the character it was worth reading just for the crippled beggar scene and Tsotsi’s change of heart. Interesting look at the origin of a souless character and how it should concern us all.

20. Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
Eee.ee….I loved this. Must remain clam and gather thoughts….

21. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
One of the subtitles of this book is: ‘Eat Food. Not a lot. Mostly Plants.” Which seems sane, but in reality is broken at almost every meal, even by sort of conscientiousness eaters (including myself!). Two things stick out about this book, and one is that nutritional science is inherently flawed. We can isolate some major nutrients that our bodies require, but isolating them and supplementing them with artificial means doesn’t work the way we think it should. Micronutrients found in fruits, vegetables (plants), but also in animals help us process those major nutrients and we haven’t even named or figured them out. So when you eat fruit, there may be thousands of micronutrients that help you process that C or A. Also, dietary sugar (often in the form of high fructose corn syrup) can possibly lead to more heart disease than we previously thought. Oh, and thirdly, that fruits and vegetables today contain about 1/3 of the nutrients that they did 50 years ago. Major corporations have breed species to ship and ship and ship. These companies don’t breed to protect for certain pests, because they also make the spray that you have to use for those certain pests. His solution is to eat local when possible. Making and eating food should be important and even I forget that. Highly recommended.

22. Animal Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
I enjoyed this on the whole, though I can see how some people might get bogged down in some annoying, preachy or elitist points. The idea of small scale farming is actually quite interesting to me, and I am so not a gardener. But just as I love making food for people, I can see also loving growing food. You know that people will actually eat. I am not sure that I really learned anything from this book that I didn’t know, but it was an interesting account of one family who tries to do what they think is right from a self producing food sustainable perspective. Do we all have quaint little farms in Virginia? And almost everything seemed to go right, and I thought that part of this was written during a drought that isn’t mentioned in the book (though in fairness, that could have been the next year). I found Lily, the youngest daughter and her egg/chicken operation to be the sweetest parts of the book. It is also easy to see exactly where Prodigal Summer came from. If you like Kingsolver, or food, give it a try.

23. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
This is my second Krakauer book this spring, but probably only picked this up because my teen book discussion group picked this unanimously, and that almost never happens. A short account of a young man who picks up and heads to Alaska where, months later he is dead. What would cause somebody to just walk away into the west, abandoning their family and previous life? I can’t say that I am any more informed as to how somebody could make that decision, but it was informative on some of these wandering lifestyles that do happen often in the west. And reading simultaneously with the above title, I can certainly see how someone would want to live off the land, or even to test their intelluctal, spiritual and physical strength. But McCandless seemed to want to take it to such an extreme. That is what I still have a hard time getting. It makes me a bit sad to think about someone so smart wasting it on this experiment and not having much to show for it. I will be curious as to what the group thinks.

24. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Hmmmm…I don’t get it.  This is the first of a series of YA books that have been HUGELY popular all over the country.  Basically a Mary Sue/Plain Jane moves to a new town and everyone not only really likes her, but she falls for the most beautiful boy.  He is a vampire…a glittery vampire!  But he, like his family, have sworn off human blood and so therefore are you know, nice glittery vampires.   And really I don’t have a problem with vampires, even glittery ones,  but I found this book poorly written and lacking any real character or plot development.  It is a gushy love story where Belle Swan, who is sorta boring, gives herself over 100% to Edward, who is also sort of boring even though he has been around for about a hundred years.  He doesn’t really seem to use her, but his acceptance of her devotion is pretty creepy.  Also?  Why don’t the vampire kids graduate and actually go to college?  Or do anything useful?  Their “dad” is a doctor, so why don’t any of them seem concerned with that?  They even fake going to college.  What’s the point of that?  They could just go.  I have the second book on hold, and will give that a try too.  I am discussing this with two teen book groups in July, and I know other YA librarians who’ve read and enjoyed this, so I am anxious to hear a case for the book!  Maybe I would have liked it more if I read it when I was 16.

25. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Wow wow wow.  I loved loved loved this book.  Its been awhile since I’ve read a fiction book that pulled me in and took me along with every word in some time.  Reading the book jacket alone, I’m not sure that I would have picked this up, but it came at the recommendation of my mom, also a librarian and someone who has similar tastes in books as me.  The main character is 9, but not a cutesy book/movie/fiction 9.  But a hard 9, as he’s lost his father in the World Trade attacks.  He invents things, to soothe himself, but also in a panicky way.  Most of his inventions involve safety nets, improvements to ambulances and protective bubbles, which is so sweetly sad.  There is also Oskar’s mother and grandparents, who survived the bombing of Dresden.  We learn the grandparent’s story as a parallel to Oskar’s, and also meet some people with the last name Black.  The story is a mystery, a riddle, a love story, a family saga, and a contemporary post modern drama.  It made me laugh out loud and also gave me some heavy boots.   I don’t know what to say.  Contemporary literature at its best.

26. Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert
Fun and quick.  There wasn’t much that surprised me by reading this book, and it really reminded me of working in library branches in San Antonio, Memorial Library especially as that was also across the street from a pretty tough and quite large middle school.  I can’t imagine recommending this to someone who isn’t a librarian, because they would be the ones to most identify with it, but then it might be interesting for someone to read who hadn’t a clue what goes on.  But then, that person probably wouldn’t be coming into the library anyway so I wouldn’t have a chance to recommend this book to them.  Sigh.  Anyway, fairly good read, but not really that memorable.

27. Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents by Jim Malusa
Blah.  This has so much promise.  The author cycled to the lowest point on 6 continents.  It was a recipe for success…cycling, travel…wackiness.  But it left me feeling a little bit flat.  There was no time references (was this 6 months ago, or 16 years ago?) and the dialogue, which I know would be impossible to actually recreate was done in a style that left me feeling cold.  I didn’t feel like I could picture what was going on, or had any real sense of the trip, the author, the places he went, or the people he met.  And without those things, there isn’t any point of reading a travel book.

28. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
I don’t know what to say about this series.  The books are terrible.  I’m not seeing much improvement in the author’s writing or character development but I can’t stop reading them.  I’m not usually one for trash reading, but apparently cheezy vampire romances are right up my summer reading alley.  I can’t wait for the third one to come in from the holds list at the library.  I am still disbelieving of the romance, mostly because I think Edward is such a tool, but I am enjoying Jacob and hope that Bella can realize soon.

29. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
This is one of those books that when you talk about it, it can never match up with the actual book itself.  Like it should exist on a higher plane and the only way to really get it is to read it all the way through.  But a warning!  Nothing very much happens.  Inman walks.  Ada grows.  Ruby softens.  That is about it.  But the combination of those three characters is enough to fill more than the written 400 pages because they will live on with you.  None are perfect, but are all just right, flawed, injured, lacking, too much, not enough.  I knew how this book would end more or less having seen the movie (it is very close), but it still caught me, finishing it up in the lunch room at work, I was over taken.  The language which was so beautiful combined with the characters built up perfectly.  I’m not sure this is something I would want to read again soon because it touched me so deeply, but I highly recommend it, as it came highly recommended by my mom.

30. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Dear Lord, only one more to go.  I am still enjoying this series, but it continues to be flat, repetative and poorly written.  Even though Jacob does some stupid things, I am still in the Jacob camp and think Edward is somewhat manipulative, scary and downright mean.  He can just fake it better.  The end could have been spiced up with a little gratuitous sex, but noooooo….everyone has to be so good.  I am anxious to read the next book (on pre-order from Amazon), but will be happy to be done with it too.

31. King Dork by Frank Portman
Funny, interesting, shocking and sad.  This YA book has received a lot of good press, and even my mom really liked it.  Catcher in the Rye for the new generation?  Not quite, but there were brillant elements to this book, but over all it wasn’t one of my favorites.  The end pretty much screwed it up for me, and I am not sure how to recommed this book to teens.  This is a YA book that is more for adults, who would be the ones to get the music and literary references.

32. Atonement by Ian McEwan
I have read this book before, but not really until this second reading did I realize how brilliant this book is.  The settings, the descriptions, the characters, motivations, the story within the story, are all wonderful.  There is so much there that I do think that a second reading was worthwhile.  The movie is decent, but the set up in the early part of the book didn’t transfer well in the movie and is genius in the book.  I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but the construction of a story, of a novel is truly interesting to me.  Atonement takes an unusual twist and does so without leaving the reader feeling manipulated, but only adds to the story.  Highly recommended.

33. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Ok, so this book didn’t have the initial emotional impact that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close had on me, but it was still moving, funny, sad, interesting and different.  Harder to get into and with the two narrators and three story lines it was diffiult sometimes to get stories and characters straight.  I found Sasha’s letters to be my favorite part of the story, as he was my favorite character too.  The pulling together of all the story lines worked well for the most part.  There were parts of this book that I loved, but also parts that I felt could have been skipped too.  This is JSF’s first book, with EL&IC as his second.  I’ll be interested in what else he writes in the future for sure.

34.  Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Ug.  I read this very popular YA book for my teen book discussion group next week.  I’ll be interested in seeing what they think.  On the positive side, the main character is a young woman who is trying to find her own way, think for herself, support her friends and likes to have some fun too.  On the negative side, they hoverboard.  Over and over and explained in minute detail to the point of extreme tediousness.  Well, for me.  This is a sci fi book (in that it is set in the future) and also a little bit of romance thrown in.  But mostly it was an action book.  Personal preference is that I like dialogue and characters.  I don’t care if anything happens.  But similar to my reaction to reading Twilight, I wonder what I would have thought if I were 16 and reading this book.  It wasn’t terrible, but it really didn’t blow me away either.

35. A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot
Phew.  I am very glad that I read this, but I am also glad that it is over.  On one hand there are fantastic characters, an interesting setting, a mystery, history, and beautiful writing.  On the other hand there are A LOT of characters and the mystery sometimes purposely moves you in false directions.  This would probably be a great book to really delve into on vacation or something.  I read it in pieces and often got distracted, which I think hurt my reading experience of it.  I would recommend it to readers who don’t mind layers, complexity and are willing to work for a beautifully written story in the end.

36. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Dear Lord, I am glad that I am done with this series.  This may have been my least favorite of the series, which Tim says is due to the fact that I didn’t read it right away, but I think because I was just done.  Done before I had to pick up a 750 page book to finish the series.  Major editing may have helped.  Steph spiced it up a little bit with some sex (MARRIED sex though), but the end was pretty anti-climatic.  I can’t believe I am going to say this, but a little gore might have helped.  I am still a fan of Jacob and though Edward grew on me, seems pretty boring.

37. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
Short YA book, I read in about a day.  Cute, funny and creative, I liked this book a lot.  I think that a lot of teens (or even those of us who remember those years) would relate to the break ups/heartbreak and the excitement and trepidation of meeting someone new.  However, the setting of an all night punk club setting of NYC might not really appeal to a lot of smallish town midwestern teens.  I don’t know.  Like King Dork, I liked this book, think teens would like it, but not really sure who to recommend it to.  It was on a lot of lists, and is now coming out as a movie, so it may move on its own.

38. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
I read this book for the Teen Book Group for October. The main character is a werewolf and after the Twilight series, I was prepared for the worst. Quite surpisingly, I really enjoyed this book. It was well written with interesting characters and didn’t drag on for 700 pages. I love a good female character, and the main charcater, Vivian, is strong, sexy, confident and brave. There aren’t a lot of suprises in this book, but it was a fun read. The author is a Children’s Librarian in Maryland!  There was some discussion of awakening sexuality in the reviews I read, but found it to all be very tasteful and done in an empowering way, rather than negatively.  Recommended to all teen girls (and those of us a little older too!)

39. Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Holy cow, I loved this book.  A YA book narrated by D.J. who is having a tough summer on the dairy farm as the primary worker.  She is also training the rival high school’s quarterback when she decides herself to go out for football.  D.J. is one of my favorite characters in awhile.  She is funny, interesting and insightful, if not really smart and realible in a conventional sense.  There are some parts of this book that are so well written and so funny that I was making coworkers read paragraphs.  But at the same time, the voice rang true for a teenager as well.  The sports scenes are dramatic, but the story doesn’t always take the easy route and was totally refreshing in the end.  There is a sequel, but I’m not sure I want to read it, I don’t want to ruin this one.  This book would be perfect for girls intersted in sports that might be feeling like they are having trouble with all the other things like family, relationships and even friendships.

40. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
I liked this book, but didn’t love it.  There were parts and characters that were funny, scary and interesting but at times it almost seemed like Gaiman was over doing it.  Why do there have to be the dead brothers of Stronghold?  And the witches?  Really?  I guess you just don’t go out to Faerie and not encounter danger, but at the same time it seemed a little like following every fairy tale plot device all in one book.  It is possible that my viewing of the movie right before reading this book colored some of my reading experience.  I should have read first, then watched the movie.  I know many people who love this book, and again while I liked it, it wasn’t love at first sight.

41. Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
I enjoyed this book, not as much as either Bel Canto or Run, but still a good read.  I want to be sympathetic with main characters of a book.  Now, that doesn’t mean that I have to love the character or that they even have to be likeable.  The main character of this book was on that border line.  She is difficult, makes hard choices that aren’t really popular.  But I almost don’t want to be sympathetic to her.  And once she grows on you, bam!  The end happens.  Crazy.  This is Patchett’s first book and I think its clear that she has grown as an author.  Skip this for her more recent two.  This did however make me want to re-read The Cider House Rules.

42. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
This has sort of been on my radar, but when it was short listed for the One Book, One Bloomington title, I decided that now is the time.  This book is sort of a YA book, narrated by Death, that follows some tough years of a young woman, Liesel as she moves into her foster home in Germany during World War II.  Liesel isn’t perfect, she is rough around the edges and sometimes is difficult to love.  Her stepmother likes to curse at people and beat about with a wooden spoon.  Liesel’s best friend is Rudy who only wants to kiss Liesel (some of the sadest parts of the book revolve around this theme) but also paints himself black like his hero Jesse Owens.  Liesel wants to read, and so steals books from an emotionally damaged wife of the small town’s mayor.  The Jewish man hiding in their basement feels like a burden.  Even her sweet stepfather has holes in his heart, but these characters, despite their flaws, shortcomings and smells are truly lovely.  While major world events play out around them and determine their lives, this books is really about Liesel growing up, discovering herself and her place in the world.

43. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
I read this years ago, but it had been quite a long time.  What a great book.  In typical fashion, the story takes awhile to get where it is going, but the characters are so fun that you don’t care.  And every part of the story takes you somewhere, not story line is introduced without a purpose.  And an purpose is something very central to this story.  A week or so after I read this book I was thinking about whether or not Homer was manipulated by Larch.  Usefulness aside, I wonder if Homer will ever resent Larch’s actions.  While Owen Meany might still be my favorite Irving, this one is pretty close.

44. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Freaky.  A coworker promised that this book wouldn’t be scary or horror-filled, and while it isn’t in the traditional sense it still gave me a night of fitful sleep.  An agent goes to an island in the middle of a hurricane to investigate the disappearance of an inmate at a hospital for the criminally insane.  The agent however starts to sort of lose it too until…there is a big twist at the end.  The ideas of who is crazy and being locked away against your will and such at really the stuff of nightmares.  This isn’t the type of book I usually read, and while I like breaking out of my routine every now and then I can’t say I will be picking up something similar in the future.

45. Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
This book written several years ago has always been one of my mom’s favorites.  This memoir follows Jill Ker as she grows up on an isolated sheep farm in NSW Australia in the 30s and 40s.  Her childhood is so unusual, filled with a large amount of responsibility, lonliness, hard work and despair over a lenghty drought.  When Jill ends up at an elementary school in Sydney after they move, she doesn’t know how to play and is totally confused about the idea of physical education.  She has never had any friends her age.  Jill ends up as the first female President of Smith College, and the second half of the book are about her academic, and ultimately (as they are so closely intertwined) self realization at university and through travel.  Parts of this book are tragically sad (starving sheep during the drought, her father’s death, the untimely death of another family member) but an interesting snapshot of growing up as a intellectual female during a hard time in an unforgiving country.  Very interesting.

46. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Woah.  This super popular YA book reads like a problem of the week after school special.  Anger management?  Check.  Eating disorders?  Check.  Overcoming a sexual assult?  Check.  Only thing missing was someone cutting themselves.  I read this book in about a day and a half, and after I finished I felt like I had just skimmed the surface of all of these issues.  This book deals with some serious issues in a glossy Seventeen Magazine sort of way.  I mean, how can you write a book about an attempted rape and not even use the R-word?  I had to read the attack scene a few times to figure out exactly what happened and what didn’t.  Good thing it all comes to an easy and neat conclusion at the end.  The title of the book is even crap, the reader is ready to listen, but we don’t get to hear her talk about her experiences at all…cutting her explaining what happens to her parents, boyfriend and even in court.  Skip this one and move on to Speak.

47. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Written before Just Listen, this book deals with the rape of a young woman in a real and tender manner.  The main character goes into a pretty severe depression following the rape and subsequential ostrization from her friends for a misunderstanding and all but quits talking (and going to school).  I felt that this book seemed to do a better job at really handling the issues rather than just glossing over them to get the picture perfect ending.  The road is uglier in this book, but much more real.

48. Wish You Were Here by Barbara Schoup
This YA book was written by someone from Indianapolis, and the book is set there.  The locality of the book would be fun for teens I think here because they talk about going to IU and some of the parents involved are IU fans and such.  This book started out as a book about a regular guy who is struggling after his parents divorce and his best friend leaves.  These parts are good…really good.  Unfortunately the book winds up dealing with too many issues including suicide, drugs, drinking and driving, following the Dead, going to Graceland (the worst part of the book), casual sex, etc.  It was almost as if the author was afraid that the book was going to be boring so she stuck all this unnecessary issues in at the end.  Skip it.

49. Enemy at the Gates by William Craig
Currently reading…

50. The Absolutely True History of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
This YA book has made all the best of lists, and was very well reviewed.  I wanted to love it, but didn’t.  Don’t get me wrong, I liked it, but didn’t love it.  The story is about a Spokane Indian who leaves the reservation school to go to the white school.  There are deaths, big games, drinking, and some really cute cartoons, but it just didn’t all add up for me in the end.

Book Awards 2007

 I know you are waiting with baited breath…more “awards”!

What with moving across country and a few 700-850 pagers, I didn’t make it to my 52 books per year goal, but shall we say that quality is more important than quantity? I read some great books in the past year, but a few stick out above and beyond. Remember, these aren’t the best books of 2007, but the best books I read in 2007.

Most favorite book read:
What is the What by Dave Eggers – read it today.

Honorable mentions (in no particular order):
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, Inheritance of Loss by Keran Desai, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, Sula by Toni Morrison, and Yes Man by Danny Wallace. What an odd bunch that is.

Here is to reading in 2008! 52, I’m ready!