Thursday, January 01, 2009

TOP 20 FAVORITE BOOKS READ IN 2008

Happy New Year 2009!

This past year I read 127 books, up from 124 the year before. Once again I had a bit of trouble narrowing down the list of favorites to only 20.

Because of my job at the Oldest Children's Bookstore in America (named as such by Publisher's Weekly), I branched out to reading books for readers aged 8-12 as well as Young Adult, so I could be helpful to all the grandmothers, moms, dads, aunts and uncles who come in needing recommendations. We also sell books for adults and so I read to keep up on some current releases.

Also in 2008, I read books for My Big Fat Reading Project and covered 1954 through 1955.

All the books I read have been or will be soon reviewed here on the blog. As usual, I am highly interested in knowing what books you enjoyed in your year of reading, especially because I may have missed some good books. You can comment below this post. The easiest way is to choose "anonymous" from the list of ways to post your comments because then you don't have to fill in any other information.

Here is the list:

All About Lulu, Jonathan Evison
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
Ghostwalk, Rebecca Stott
The God of Animals, Aryn Kyle
Highwire Moon, Susan Straight
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
The Importance of Music to Girls, Lavinia Greenlaw
Loving Frank, Nancy Horan
The Master Butcher's Singing Club, Louise Erdrich
A Mercy, Toni Morrison
Peony in Love, Lisa See
People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson
Reservation Nation, David Fuller Cook
The Senator's Wife, Sue Miller
The Shadow Catcher, Marianne Wiggins
The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
Three Little Words, Ashley Courter-Rhodes
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:45 PM

    Just to check on my advice, here is an anonymous comment from Judy (myself):

    Wow, Judy, what a great list!

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  2. Anonymous4:18 PM

    . . . thanks for including lulu in such good ompany, judy!

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  3. Anonymous4:57 PM

    Jonathan Evison in the house! I am so honored. You are so welcome.

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  4. Anonymous5:05 PM

    Hi Judy, thanks for the list. The only one I've read is The Sparrow, which was an amazing book. Her most recent--Dreamers of the Day--wasn't science fiction, but a wonderful, lovely story. Have you read it yet? It takes place after WW 1, and opens ones eyes about the Mideast.

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  5. Anonymous6:43 PM

    I am sad that scrambled eggs at midnight did not make the list:( lol. i just read sloppy firsts and the rest in the series so far and loved them, you might want to check them out. also, the truth about forever, one of the ones i got when we were in michigan, was amazing. stardust was really good too, idk if you've read that or not. anyways, happy new year and happy reading,
    xo kt

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  6. Anonymous6:52 PM

    As a former reader and the mother of three voracious readers, I look forward to this being the year of the return to reading for pleasure and edification. Thanks for the list, perhaps I'll start with Peony in Love which has a book mark from Once Upon a Time - is that truly the oldest children's bookstore in America?
    nita

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