Jen's Rhyme and Reason

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Best Books of 2007

This is a much tougher post than the movies -- obviously I thought every book was worth investing several hours in the experience. And I read 36 this year! A little low relative to my goal, but I read some real bricks, so I'm pleased just the same.

In the end, there's a difference between being glad you read it, and being excited to share it with your nearest and dearest. So these are the ones I'm most excited to share with you!

It was an excellent year for non-fiction, there are 6 out of 10 on my list and I'm sure I read a greater proportion of fiction through the year. I know non-fiction doesn't always appeal to everyone, but these true stories all captured my imagination in a way that the others didn't. It wasn't even necessarily the topic -- the fun was in the telling.

Finally, these are much harder to rank, I loved them all, so take the list as a very loose guideline. They all deserve first place.

  1. Three Cups of Tea - A true story of an American who finds his calling building schools for girls in remote Pakistan. Sounds a little "book clubby," but moved me to tears in almost every chapter. Absolutely amazing.
  2. A Short History of Nearly Everything - A charming history of science by Bill Bryson, one of my favorite writers. I can't even understand science, and I'm already looking forward to a second read.
  3. The Rescue Artist - Another non-fiction about the recent theft of the painting The Scream and how it was recovered, in the larger context of the world of art theft, and how it works.
  4. Pride and Prejudice - Can you believe it's taken me this long to read Jane Austen? I'm not sure if it's my favorite book, but it's my favorite story of all time.
  5. Bloodsworth - A true account of an innocent man who coincidentally appeared guilty, and was convicted of a brutal murder. He was the first death row inmate exonerated by DNA evidence.
  6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Maybe not the best in the series, but so much fun, even the weakest Harry Potter book would put most others to shame.
  7. Beneath A Marble Sky - Historical fiction centered around Agra, India when the Taj Mahal was built.
  8. On Writing - A memoir by Stephen King, about what his life was like before he was famous, how he writes, and a last section about surviving a terrible accident. To me, more interesting than his fiction.
  9. The Tipping Point - A fascinating book about trends, ranging from Paul Revere's famous ride, to crime in New York, to the Blues Clues tv show.
  10. A Thousand Splendid Suns - The second novel by the author of The Kite Runner, and another poignant story worth reading.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home