Saturday, December 22, 2007

Final - Top 15 Reads of 2007

I listed my Top 15 Reads of 2007 back on December 5 and mentioned that the list was subject to slight modification depending on what my reading experiences were for the rest of the month. I honestly didn't expect that the list would change much, if any, because of a book that I might encounter at the last minute. But it happened - twice - causing changes to the last three slots on the list. I can already tell that the books I'm reading right now will not rate high enough to cause any more changes, so here's the final Top 15. Keep in mind that many of these were not first published in 2007:
1. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

2. Ava's Man - Rick Bragg

3. The Known World - Edward P. Jones

4. The Tin Roof Blowdown - James Lee Burke

5. A Lesson Before Dying - Ernest J. Gaines

6. Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali

7. Crow Lake - Mary Lawson

8. The Rise of Silas Lapham - William Dean Howells

9. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

10. A Gathering of Old Men - Ernest J. Gaines

11. Beautiful Shadow - Andrew Wilson

12. Main Street - Sinclair Lewis

13. Rape: A Love Story - Joyce Carol Oates

14. Shalimar the Clown - Salmon Rushdie

15. Them - Nathan McCall

22 comments:

  1. The only one of those books that I have read is The Kite Runner, but I do have a couple of the others here to read eventually!

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  2. I'm pretty sure Great Expectations came out this year. No? ;)

    Grr! I still haven't read the Known World. It's on my TBR shelves.

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  3. This is the time of year my little trusty notebook stays open on my desk so I can jot down all the great titles bloggers mention in their lists.

    The Kite Runner was a favorite of mine the year I read it. I dragged my husband to see the movie today. I want to read the book again now.

    A Lesson Before Dying was a very moving book, I thought.

    I am glad to see that Them made your list. I haven't yet read it, but hope to get to it soon. It sure sounds good.

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  4. Beautiful Shadow is one of my favorite biographies.

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  5. I've only read Shalimar the Clown and Great Expectations...I notice that Gaines is on there twice! I'll have to look into him especially. :)

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  6. Marg, that's what I find most fun about these lists...they are all so personal that I don't usually even recognize more than a third of the books on any of them. They open up a whole new world of possibilities for me.

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  7. I think you're right, Carrie.

    Hey, don't miss "The Known World." The good thing about books is that it will always be out there waiting on you for when you're ready.

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  8. Feline, let me know what you think of "Them." I don't know anyone else who has read it yet. I reviewed it for another site (not posted there yet) and I'm curious to see what others think of it.

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  9. It's one of my favorite bios, too, bybee. You're the only other person that I actually know who has read it...what a shame, that is.

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  10. Eva, Gaines is a wonderful writer. I love the way that his work makes an impact on his readers without ever becoming to "preachy."

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  11. I'm reading Great Expectations now, and I have to admit it is not capturing me as much as I thought it would. It may be the fact that I only have time to read it in 5 min. increments,

    I'm glad to see Infidel on your list I hope to read it in 2008. Rushdie is a favorite of mine, but I haven't had a chance to read Shalimar yet.

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  12. Haven't read any of these but I've heard great things about many of them.

    Are you excited that a Kite Runner movie is coming out, or dreading it?

    I haven't read Great Expectations, but I did get a nice old copy of it for Christmas, which thrilled me.

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  13. I also read Infidel this year and enjoyed it, if that is the right word. it is hard to say you enjoyed something that is so full of hardship and pain. a very good "triumph of the human spirit" story

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  14. The only one I've read is Crow Lake whihc I really liked. I must get to The Kite Runner this year.

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  15. Nyssaneala, "Infidel" is a very inspirational book, one that I really enjoyed. "Shalimar the Clown" was a pleasant surprise to me. I hope that you enjoy both of them.

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  16. Carl, I'm sort of dreading the "Kite Runner" movie because movies so seldom live up to the books from which they're made. But I'll get to it eventually, I'm sure, because I loved the book so much.

    Congrats on getting that old book. I love antique books although I only have a few of them.

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  17. Melanie, that's a good description of "Infidel." It was painful reading at times, but I'm really glad that I didn't miss it.

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  18. Don't miss "Kite Runner," framed. You'll love it...I'll bet you. :-)

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  19. OK, we just have completely different tastes in literary fiction. I found 'Kite Runner' banal with two interesting scenes.

    Shalimar was one of the great Salman Rushdie's worst.

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  20. Sounds like our tastes are pretty opposite, Mike, based on what you said about "Bee Season" in my list of disappointments. Not surprised...that's what makes all of this so much fun. :-)

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  21. Then allow me to close the comments on a more conciliatory note, by saying that I think Shalimar the Clown was one of Rushdie's best and it made my best-reads-of-2007 list too!

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  22. Thanks, John. Isn't it strange how the same books will be on "the best of" and "the worst of" lists? There's no accounting for how a book will strike an individual reader...too many factors involved to predict the reaction.

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