The Books of 2007 – my best and worst

Here’s my reading list for 2007.  Many will read more than I (many will read less too) but I’m getting back up to 2 a month where I was at prekids, which is nice.  I’m relying on books on tape a lot more than I used to though.  I’m convinced that the experience is profoundly different as well.  There are many books that I want to READ, not listen to, so I find that I will listen to books that I am mildly interested in but not eager to read.  Unfortunately, that means I consume those books and never find time for reading the ones I’m most interested in.  Kind of a sad state of affairs but there it is.

My two favorite books of the year are quite different.  The Road is an obvious pick, it was so memorable and well done.  The other is Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose.  She gets to the heart of why reading is special and what to look for when you want to read “good” writing.  Just reading the passages she picked out from famous books made me want to try some of the classics.  I never did, but maybe in the new year.  The Ranger’s Apprentice books and World War Z book on tape were also wonderful.

 The Rules of Survival – Nancy Werlin (YA) – good but sad, like most YA,  abusive mother book
The Book Thief – Marcus Zuzak (YA) (CD) - powerful WWII book set in Germany for teens
American Born Chinese – (GN)  award winning GN, it earns the accolades
Stay With Me – forgetable
The Road – Cormac McCarthey – Great book, might be in my top 10 ever
Blindside – Harris (CD) great story about how football has changed over the last 20 years.
Housekeeping Vs. the Dirt – Nick Hornby – another review book, enjoyed it
Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde (CD)  intersting premise but the CD didn’t do much for me
Ruins of Gorlan – John Flanagan – great new series out of New Zealand
World War Z (CD) – fantastic book on CD, don’t miss it, great actors and actresses
Please Write in This Book- Amato  – cute kids book
No One Cares What You Had for Lunch – Mason (and maybe not what you read last year either) – book on blogging
Slam – Nick Hornby – I wanted to really like it, but there is something missing here.
Life as We Knew It – Pfeffer  – Post apocalyptic teen novel, has some hope at the end when there really shouldn’t be hope
Reading Like a Writer – Francine Prose  – see above, great read
Golden Compass – Pullman  – sometimes I could see why it is so popular, other times not so much.
Plenty: One Man, One Woman – Alisa Smith & boyfriend – her writing was decent and compelling, he was on a different planet from her.
Burning Bridge (Rangers 2) – Flanagan – more good stuff
Icebound Land (Rangers 3) – Flanagan – ditto
Einstein bio – (CD)  – interesting to hear about the women behind Einstein and the other folks who helped him along the way
Angus & Full Frontal Snogging – Rennison (CD)(YA) – again, wanted to like it, but it didn’t do much for me
Speak – Anderson (CD)(YA)   pretty powerful story about a teen who is assaulted
Twisted – Anderson (CD)(YA) – flip side of the last story where we see how a boy deals with being falsely accused of abuse.
A Swift Pure Cry – Siobhan Dowd (YA)  Another sad tale about teenage pregnancy, this time set in Ireland.