Design by Paul Sahre; photograph by Tony CenicolaThe New York Times Book Review announced the top 10 books of 2007 a few weeks ago.
We think their list is great, but we thought it would be fun to give you our personal top books of 2007.
In no particular order here are the books we loved, that moved us, and that we will remember well into 2008.
Jane
Here are four thrillers that Jane loved this year, and one novel that had to be on her list!
1. The Ghost - Robert Harris
2. No Time for Goodbye - Linwood Barclay
3. Body of Lies - David Ignatius
4. Killer Weekend - Ridley Pearson
5. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Lisa
1. Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2. Harry Potter Collection - J.K. Rowling
After an imense amount of peer pressure Lisa read the entire Harry Potter series this year. Like most of us she quickly fell in love with all things Harry Potter.
After an imense amount of peer pressure Lisa read the entire Harry Potter series this year. Like most of us she quickly fell in love with all things Harry Potter.
3.Then We Came to the End - Joshua Ferris
4. Richard Misrach: On the Beach
This oversized photography book is amazing.
5. Absurdistan - Gary Shteyngart
Laura
1. Bad Monkeys - Matt RuffIt's a bizarre set of twists and turns that you want to make sense, but they don't. Bizarre, hard to keep up with, but funny. I didn't want it to end.
2. Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
The characters were great, but the story gripped you.
3. Thursday Next - Jasper Fforde
Had to get it! Had to read the sequel to such a good series.
4. What is the What - Dave Eggers
I never would have picked it up on my own, but it was for book club. I am so glad I did. The boy's experience is so real and so heartbreaking. It is astounding that all of this was going on a few years ago. I am glad I read it, and was able to learn from it.
5. Before I Die - Jenny Downham
Very well written. The author took a taboo subject, and made it a beautiful story.
Patrick
1. By Night in Chile - Robert Bolano
-- Technically, it didn't come out this year. I read it this year, though, and his "new" book The Savage Detectives was called the best Latin American novel of forever, so I think it counts. It's a dying Chilean priest's deathbed confession of his life in poetry and his complicity in Pinochet's rise. But the images! Woah! Hallucinations, right off the page. He's the new G.G. Marquez.
2. Then We Came to the End - Joshua Ferris
-- The funniest book I've read this year. Told in the third person plural, narrating the downfall of a Chicago advertising agency in the dot com bubble burst, you get sucked up in the office gossipy vibe -- who's sleeping with whom, and who stole a chair, and why does Benny have a totem pole? -- while feeling for these people who are all too much like you and me.
3. Collected Poems of Lynda Hull
-- You like poetry, or you don't. If you don't, skip to number 4. If you do, and you haven't read Lynda Hull, buy it now. Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost! She's got all of them, and a million more, crammed into single poems that are simple, accessible, and which will decimate you and rebuild you in the same breath.
4. The Yiddish Policeman's Union
-- Michael Chabon is my buddy, but only in my imagination. If we were buddies, though, this is our conversation:
"Hi, Mikey."
"Hey Patrick, that racketball last week was killer."
"Yeah, I know. So hey, the Yiddish Policeman's Union was brilliant. Jews in Alaska? Where do you get this stuff?"
"Um, they really were going to do that."
"Ho man, the government! You kill me! But the characters, the story (so gripping), and everything so detailed and vivid. You're so great. Wanna get a smoothie?"
"Fo Sho."
5. Five Skies -- Ron Carlson's story of three men at different points in their lives, brought
together to build a stunt ramp over a gorge in Idaho, made me cry. But it was a manly cry, and I'm not even kidding. He gets men, and tells a gripping story, and his descriptions of the landscape are awe-inspiring. I was really surprised by how much I liked this book.
Kristiana
This book is amazing. It's a little strange, but completely compelling and original. I bought it for most of my friends this year because I needed to talk about it with others. It's Steven Hall's first novel and I can't really express how much I loved this book.
2. Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
Another astounding first novel. While the title may be intimidating the book is entirely accessible. It begins with a table of contents and ends it with a Final Exam. Special Topics has been compared to Donna Tartt's "The Secret History", and it is a fare comparison. Pessl makes the story of a close knit group of friends under the influence of their teacher completely her own. It is so good on so many different levels.
3.Divisadero - Michael Ondaatje
I had a friend in high school whose last name was Ondaatje - who was also Shri Lankinn - I wonder if they are related. I saw the movie the English Patient, and I know that is not the same thing as reading the book, but I liked the movie which is what made me pick up Divisadero. Having said that, I was blown away by Michael Ondaatje's most recent work of fiction. I was sucked into the story of a family on a farm in the 1970's - something I did not think I could be so enraptured by. The writing was beautiful and the story was absolutely moving and captivating.
4. Edible Woman - Margaret (Maggie) Atwood
I love Margaret Atwood. I would read anything by her so when Randy gave me Edible Woman (Atwood's 1969 novel) I read it with joy and abandon. It's the story of a 20 something girl who gets engaged and begins viewing the world and her life in new ways. It was great. Atwood's most recent works are: The Door, a new book of poetry with an audio cd of poems read by the author, The Tent, a collection of fictional essays, and Moral Disorder, a series of interrelated stories. Enjoy!
5. The Year of Magical Thinking a Play by Joan Didion
I read Year of Magical Thinking, the memoir, at the beginning of this year, and I loved it. I read the play on the plane ride home from New York after hearing Joan Didion speak. I was drawn into the story again, and was blown away by it. It is heartbreaking and beautiful.
