That’s how many books I plowed through this year, which may be an all-time record for me. I think 2008 may be more about quality than quantity, as I’m planning to attack some world classics and heavy non-fiction in the months ahead.
At the risk of sounding like a complete bore, here’s the list of my reads for the year.
1. Garlic & Sapphires – Ruth Riechl
There are a couple of themes for the year – food, Italy and English historical figures. This falls into the food writing category, an amusing memoir by the former food critic for the New York Times.
2. Echoes – Maeve Binchy
One of my favorite authors for breezy reads.
3. The Boleyn Inheritance – Philippa Gregory
This sequel to The Other Boleyn Sister falls into the English history category. Any of Gregory’s books – and I’ve read many, as you’ll see, are gripping reads.
4. Quentins – Maeve Binchy
5. Diners, Bowling Alleys & Trailer Parks – Andrew Hurley
6. Suite Francaise – Irene Nemirovsky
These two stories about occupied France in the early 1940s might be the first work of fiction written about World War II.
7. The Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri
A selection of my book group, Based on the Novel, this was probably my favorite book of the year. The movie was top notch, too.
8. The Virgin’s Lover – Philippa Gregory
9. In My Hands, Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer – Irene Gut Opdyke
A loan from Kari and a story about true bravery during WWII.
10. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
Every year, I read either S&S or Pride and Prejudice to figure out once and for all which one I like better. I still can’t decide.
11. Gizelle, Save the Children – Gizelle Hersh & Peggy Mann
A really haunting and graphic memoir of life at Auschwitz. I read this in seventh grade and couldn’t forget it, and for some reason I searched it out again.
12. Garnet Hill – Denise Mina
13. Deception – Denise Mina
14. The Virgin Blue – Tracy Chevalier
15. White Doves at Morning (audio) – James Lee Burke
16. Lost & Found (audio) – Carolyn Parkhurst
17. Rockville Pike – Susan Coll
There are a few Coll books on this list – they’re pretty good satires of life in contemporary suburban Washington, D.C.
18. The Girl in Hyacinth Blue (audio) – Susan Vreeland
19. Nerve Damage – Peter Abrahms
A pretty forgettable book group choice. Sorry, it was my suggestion.
20. Bird By Bird – Anne Lamott
21. KarlMarx.com – Susan Coll
My doctor saw me reading this one and decided she’d recommend it to her own book group.
22. Acceptance – Susan Coll
23. City of Fallen Angels – John Berendt
Get me to Venice, now!
24. Striver’s Row (audio) – Kevin Baker
25. The Six Wives of Henry VIII – Alison Weir
26. The Breakdown Lane (audio) – Jacquelyn Mitchard
27. Saving Graces – Elizabeth Edwards
28. Innocent Traitor – Alison Weir
Weir moves into fiction and does it well with this story of the tragic Lady Jane Grey. Boy, did she ever get royally used by her family.
29. Brunelleschi’s Dome (audio) – Eric Ross
30. Evening – Susan Minot
Another book group pick; I was one of the few who liked the book better than the movie.
31. The Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan
You will never look at your food the same way again.
32. Waiting for Daisy – Peggy Orenstein
33. The Kid – Dan Savage
34. One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding – Rebecca Mead
35. Crime & Engagement – Nikki Rivers
I only read this because the main male character and romantic lead was named “Colin Benedict.” Ha. I sent an e-mail to Nikki Rivers to ask if she was a fan but she never wrote me back.
36. Revolutionary Road – Richard Yates
This book – which felt so contemporary I had to keep reminding myself it was written in the 1960s – is up there with “The Namesake” for my favorite book of the year. I can’t wait for the movie in 2008.
37. I Love You Beth Cooper – Larry Doyle
38. The Book Thief – Markus Zuzat
Another book group pick. Once I got past a weird storytelling device, I got into it.
39. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – Ann Brashares
40. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
The must-read of the year, up there for my favorite.
41. To Have and to Hold (audio) – Jane Green
42. About What Was Lost – ed. Jessica Berger Gross
43. The Dive from Clausen’s Pier – Ann Packer
44. The Last Summer of You and Me – Ann Brashares
45. The Lost Painting – Jonathan Harr
A really fun and quick read about the search across Europe for a lost Caravaggio painting. More Italy.
46. Free Food for Millionaires (audio) – Min Jin Lee
47. One for the Money (audio) – Janet Evanovich
My friend Megan told me how much she enjoyed the Stephanie Plum series of books, so I decided to check them out. I’ve now listened to six of them (see below).
48. Two for the Dough (audio) – Janet Evanovich
49. Tender at the Bone – Ruth Riechl
More food, this one a memoir about cooking.
50. Anything for Jane – Cheryl Mendelson
51. The Serpent in the Garden – Janet Gleeson
52. Three to Get Deadly (audio) – Janet Evanovich
53. Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
This book was everywhere this year, including our book group. But it got us thinking and talking.
54. Last One In – Nicholas Kulish
A quick piece of fiction about the invasion of Iraq by a guy my age who worked at the Wall Street Journal when I was there. I’m not saying this because it wasn’t good, but this book woke up my “If that guy can write a book, so can I” reflex.
55. Still Summer – Jacquelyn Mitchard
56. A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
Our book group had read The Kite Runner, and I enjoyed even more this story about the life of two women in modern Afghanistan.
57. Privilege & Scandal: The Life of Harriet Bessborough – Janet Gleeson
58. Olive’s Ocean – Kevin Henkes
59. Matrimony – Joshua Henkin
60. Four Seasons in Rome – Anthony Doerr
More Italy and some envy because of the fellowship that sent Doerr and his family to Rome for a year.
61. Four to Score (audio) – Janet Evanovich
62. High Five (audio) – Janet Evanovich
63. Girls of Riyadh – Rajaa Alsanea
64. Miss American Pie – Margaret Sartor
65. The Middle Place – Kelly Corrigan
This memoir of a young woman, her father, and their struggles with cancer was the read of an online book group. It sounds depressing, but it's acutually pretty light and funny at times.
66. Run – Ann Patchett
67. Persuasion – Jane Austen
Our book group went classic with this pick.
68. Hot Six (audio) – Janet Evanovich
69. Betsy in Spite of Herself – Maud Hart Lovelace
One of my favorites from the Betsy-Tacy series; I mostly re-read it because Betsy goes to 1910s Milwaukee for Christmas.
70. Waiting to Surface – Emily Listfield
71. Julie & Julia – Julie Powell
This is our next book group pick, and allowed me to round out the year with more food writing. But I really was drawn in by Julie’s yearlong quest to cook her way through Julia Child’s French cooking tome. I told Colin about the premise and he said, “See, all you need to do is come up with something like that for your book.” Hmm…I don't think I could do the aspics and brains, however.
72. A Mighty Heart – Mariane Pearl
73. Playing for Pizza – John Grisham
Again, more Italy with this light read by Grisham about a former NFL quarterback who goes to Parma to finish his career playing in the Italian league.
