Best of Posts

The Best of the Best-ofs

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The January Bookworm Carnival is up over at Reading with Becky. She’s got a very impressive list of people’s varied 2007 Best-of lists. It takes some time, but it’s worth your while to go through (at least some of) them.

The 8th Edition of the Bookworms Carnival will be hosted at The Book Ninja. The theme is “The Geography of Make-Believe.” Full details are available at her site. You’ll need to read them. Really. Send an e-mail to thebookninja at gmail dot com with an appropriate subject line like “Bookworms Carnival” or “CARNIVAL OF AWESOMENESS!!!!” or “CARNIVAL EIGHT FOR THE WIN!” (Be creative, but use the words “bookworms” or “carnival” somewhere). The deadline for submission is February 8th.

I’ll have to go through my lists and posts and see what I can send Renay for next month’s carnival. This will take some thought.

The Best Of My 2007

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I have to admit that I’ve never really been interested in doing “best of” lists before. I don’t know why; maybe it’s a memory thing, maybe I don’t like to pick a “best” book; I like so many. But, back in September, I looked at my lists and realized that this year I will have read 100 books. The last time I got to 100, it took me a lot longer. So, I figured in honor of that milestone, I’d do a best of post. So, first off, books that I actually finished, by the numbers….

Middle Grade Fiction: 31 (I realize I’m doing this mostly randomly, since I lump them together on my list)
Young Adult Fiction: 25
Non-Fiction: 14
Fiction: 38

That’s 108 this year, folks! (Not as many as others, but that’s a lot for me.)

And, since I actually felt like doing something fun, on to the “Awards”. First, the overall bests:

Best Adult Fiction: Pomegranate Soup (It was very hard to decide; there wasn’t one that just jumped out at me. But in the end, I think I enjoyed it the most, and it would be the one I would most highly recommend to others.)

Best YA book: Thirteen Reasons Why. Very close runner up: Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature

Best Middle-grade book: Tough. I’ll call it a three-way tie, and be grateful that I don’t really have to choose: Elijah from Buxton, The Wednesday Wars or The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Best Fantasy: Stardust and Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer

Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: Uglies

Best Non-Fiction: The Royal Road to Romance

Best Romance: Outlander

Best (um, only?) Mystery: An Instance of the Fingerpost

In other categories…

Author who could do no wrong: Shannon Hale; I read three of her books this year (River Secrets, Austenland, Book of a Thousand Days) and thoroughly enjoyed them all.

The reason I’m obsessed with vampires: Twilight

Book I’m most embarrassed to admit I read, but that Hubby’s glad I did (wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more): tie… either Outlander or the Gardella Vampire books

Most creative book: Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf

Book for in-person book group I liked least (but everyone else liked): The Inheritance

Book for in-person book group I liked best: The Killer Angels

Book for on-line book group I liked best: The Brothers K

New books that I didn’t agree with “everyone” on: Evil Genius and Eggs

Number of Shakespeare plays I read: 2 — As You Like It and Midsummer Night’s Dream (Number read in previous years: 0)

Book that Made me Laugh the most: Austenland, The Wednesday Wars, Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank

Books I abandoned: Last of the Mohicans, More Letters from Pemberly, Villette

Author everyone else loves that I discovered I liked: Neil Gaiman

First-time authors I’d love to see more from: Linda Urban (A Crooked Kind of Perfect), or Christopher Grey (Leonardo’s Shadow)

Book I read the fastest (also possibly Book during which I cried the most): Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Books I finally read but should have read AGES ago: Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Jane Eyre, The Killer Angels, The Search for Delicious

Series/trilogies I read: two of the Percy Jackson series (The Sea of Monsters, Titan’s Curse), the Uglies series (Uglies, Pretties, Specials), the Gardella Vampire series (The Rest Falls Away, Rises the Night), Riddle-Master (The Riddle Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, Harpist in the Wind), and the Temeraire series (His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War, Empire of Ivory)

Newbery Books I read: Caddie Woodlawn, Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, Higher Power of Lucky. I meant to read more.

Books that made me want to go out and do something: Climbing the Mango Trees (eat Indian food, which I still haven’t done), Liszt’s Kiss (practice the piano), An Embarrassment of Mangoes (travel), Eat Cake (um, eat cake), Around the World in 80 Days (watch Monty Python)

My 10 Most Favorite Non-Fiction Books

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I try to read non-fiction on a fairly regular basis, so I don’t feel like I “escape” too much. My favorite non-fiction books, I call “place” books. They’re not really travel books, but more about the author’s experiences in a certain place or places.

  1. Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi: An interesting reflection by a professor of English Literature at several universities in Tehran, Iran. She finally quit teaching at the universities and formed her own special discussion group: a hand-picked circle of women devoted to literature. The book reflects upon several of the works they read from Lolita to Pride and Prejudice, as well as dealing with the author’s experiences during the revolution in Iran during the 1980s. Fascinating read.
  2. Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand: An excellently written history of the horse Seabiscuit, his owner, trainer and jockey and their experiences in becoming the most popular racing horse in the country during the 1930s. (A good movie, too.) I learned a ton about horse racing, jockey life and about how three men and a good horse can make their dreams come true. Excellent book.
  3. The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness, Joel ben Izzy: I loved this book. I loved the stories he told (I love stories), I loved the way he told his own story, and I loved the journey he took. In a nutshell, it’s about finding happiness where we are at rather than where we want to be. He realizes there is no such thing as “perfect” happiness, and that we need to be happy with whatever life deals us. A wonderful little book.
  4. Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl: An absolutely delicious, entertaining, interesting look at her time as the restaurant critic at the New York Times. Delightful.
  5. The Price of Motherhood: Why The Most Important Job is Still the Least Valued, Ann Critteneden: This wasn’t a comfortable book to read for me; I often felt like she was challenging – and possibly disagreed with– the decision I, and many other women, made to stay home with the kids. That said, challenging isn’t necessarily bad. I’m putting this here because it spawned a lot of passionate discussion, and discussion is always good.
  6. A Trip to the Beach, Melinda and Robert Blanchard: The story of a couple who move to Anguilla (rhymes with vanilla) in the West Indies and start up a restaurant there. It was a wonderful tale about starting over and life in the Caribbean.
  7. Tales of a Female Nomad, Rita Golden Gelman: Not only an incredibly fascinating and enlightening travel book, it’s an affirmation that anyone really can go out and do whatever she sets her mind to. Excellent.
  8. Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman: I read this on a recommendation from my mom and I’m glad I did. It’s a very scientific book, and therefore sometimes difficult to read, but it’s an excellent book. I learned a lot about relationships and how to handle conflict in a more “emotionally mature” way. Something everyone should read.
  9. America’s Women, Gail Collins: Every so often you read a good historical survey. This was one. It was fascinating, and enlightening and enjoyable all at once. Great read.
  10. Eats, Shoots, & Leaves: A No-Tolerance Guide to Punctuation, Lynne Truss: I have never had so much fun reading about punctuation. An excellent book. Sticklers unite!