Reading

Nichole's 2007 reading round-up

In last year’s reading list post, I said I was going to try to read fewer books in 2007. That didn’t happen, but I did make a concentrated effort to pay more attention to what I read this year. I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped at writing down what I liked or didn’t like about the books I read, but I did at least note whether or not I liked them. It’s a start.

First, let’s take a look at the books I really, really liked. Here they are, my 10 favorite books of 2007:

10. “Very Good, Jeeves!” by P.G. Wodehouse.
Quite British, and delightfully goofy.

9. “Plot It Yourself” by Rex Stout.
Nero Wolfe novels never fail to disappoint, and this one is especially good.

8. “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” by Barbara Kingsolver.
I don’t think I’m ready to pluck chickens, but it did make me put a bit more thought into the origin of our family’s food.

7. “Silence of the Grave” by Arnaldur Indridason.
A cleverly plotted Icelandic mystery.

6. “Thursday Next: First Among Sequels” by Jasper Fforde.
Extremely silly and quite fun. If you like puns, you’ll probably like Fforde.

5. “About Alice” by Calvin Trillin.
Sweet and so sad.

4. “"No Country for Old Men“ by Cormac MacCarthy.
Great writing.

3. “A Spot of Bother” by Mark Haddon. A sweet and funny story of a family that’s falling apart. (It really is sweet. By the end. Really.)

2. “Peace Like a River” by Leif Enger.
I read this in 2006, too. I loved it both times. I may make it an annual event.

1. “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak.
Touching, well written and so very sad.

Next, the books that I really, really didn’t like (but for one reason or another finished anyway):

  • “At First Sight” by Nicholas Sparks.
    With my most sincere apologies to Amy, this was my least favorite book of 2007.

  • “"The Jane Austen Book Club"“
    I don’t remember what I didn’t like about this one, but I remember very clearly that I didn’t like it.

  • “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom
    Oh, Mitch. You’re so schmaltzy.

  • “The Missing” by Chris Mooney
    Far too creepy.

    And finally, the rest of the bunch!

  • “The Children of Men” by P.D. James
  • “Suite Francaise“
  • “The Night Gardener“
  • “Special Topics in Calamity Physics” by Marisha Pessl
  • “The Dead Beat” by Marilyn Johnson
  • “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs” by Chuck Klosterman
  • “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” by Rockfordander McCall Smith
  • “Out of the Night that Covers Me” by Pat Cunningham Devoto
  • “End of Story” by Peter Abrahams
  • “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • “The Silent Speaker” by Rex Stout
  • "All the Pretty Horses"
  • "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid"
  • “Sweet and Low: A Family Story“
  • “The Queen’s Gambit”
  • “Moby Dick”
  • “The Woods”
  • “The Forgotten Man”
  • “The Innocent Man”
  • “The Post-Birthday World”
  • “The Second Confession” by Rex Stout
  • “The Man of My Dreams: A Novel” by Curtis Sittenfeld
  • “Whiteout” by Ken Follett
  • “Stigma” by Philip Hawley Jr.
  • “To the Hilt” by Dick Francis
  • “Longshot” by Dick Francis
  • “How I Learned to Cook”
  • “Our Man in Havana”
  • “As Simple As Snow”
  • “The Butterfly Hunters: Adventures of People Who Found Their True Calling Way Off the Beaten Path”
  • “A Corpse in the Koryo”
  • “Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously”
  • “Caught Stealing”
  • “Six Bad Things”
  • “Heat”
  • “Love and Other Impossible Pursuits”
  • “The Brief History of the Dead: A Novel”
  • “The Careful Use of Compliments”
  • “Sweet Revenge”

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