My favorite read last year was The Name of the Wind. Alas, the second in the series won’t be out until '09.
Ah, waiting for The Wise Man’s Fear. Me, too!
2007 may have been the Andrew McCall Smith year for me. Mma Ramwotse and Isabel Dalhousie have stayed on my nightstand, in their various jackets, all year. Light but never frivolous, warm rather than fuzzy, serious without becoming bleak.
I read 5 or 6 books a week, some serious, some repeats, some 100% Crap for pure diversion from reality. One of my criteria for Favorite reading is if I would have any interest in meeting one of the characters in real life. This year, it’s Mr Smith’s.
I think my favourite read so far last year (2007) has been an anthology of short stories by Robert Silverberg. He truly is a master of the craft. I took the book out from the library, and I was seriously considering asking them how much they wanted for it (it was a signed copy, even!)
My favourite non-fiction read so far this year has been “Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse.” I’m not finished reading it yet, though, so I don’t know how it turns out. I’ve started reading Solzhenitsyn’s “Gulag Archipelago” too, and it’s also a fascinating read. I had no idea what went on in revolutionary Russia.
Sorry, forgot the author of “Crash Proof” - Peter D. Schiff.
Not much jumping out at me.
I think I read The Road this year, so that.
After that, I spent a lot of time with Pro Football Prospectus, and a book about Tyson/Douglas called The Last Great Fight.
I also liked each of the last 2 Harry Potter books.
Do you remember the title of the collection? I read a lot of Silverberg in the early 70s.
Phases of the Moon: Stories from Six Decades." It was very, very good.
2007 turned into a real non-fiction reading year for me. Included in this was a number of books on human ancestry, evolution and genetics. A few that stand out in this area:
Collapse by Jared Diamond
The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes
Saxons, Vikings and Celts by Bryan Sykes
Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley
Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade
**Our Inner Ape ** by Frans de Waal
thunderhead isn’t part of the pendergast series. although it is very good. just about anything by preston&child together or alone is a very good read. i usually get one of thier book’s on a friday so i can spend all night reading it. i stock up on tasty snacks and just get comfy and rock and read.
I’d have to second “The Kite Runner”. Great read . This is my first post ever. Yeah
Hello and welcome! I almost bought that book today. I’ve heard that it’s a two-hankie book though.
I just saw an advertisement on the tube for “The Kite Runner” movie coming out soon. It looked pretty good but as we all know; The book is always better.>;O)
Thanks Auntie Pam for warm welcome.
I stumbled across this site following a link to a waterboarding thread.
I have been lurking and reading ever since.
This seems like a great community.
Only two come to mind immediately: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell [or was that last year?] and I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb.
Loving Frank, which for me was kind of like reading Denise Giardina’s novel about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Saints and Villains. I knew beforehand how it was going to end, but I got so completely sucked into the characters that I was still heartbroken when the end I knew was coming arrived.
Shermanator, it’s the best.
I’ll bet Cloud Atlas was last year, because I think you’re the one who told me about it. I bought it right away but it took me a few months to get around to reading it.
Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City, by Michael A. Lerner. A quick, engaging read about Prohibition in New York City. Informative and amusing.
Again!? Are you a zombie psychiatrist by any chance?
[sub]Bolding mine.[/sub]
Fiction: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz.
I read about three books a week on average, but this one stands way above the rest.
Martha, good to know. I bought copies for a friend and for myself after hearing Díaz on *Fresh Air,* but have only had time to read the first chapter so far.