BTT: Annual Review

Booking Through Thursday asked:

What’s the best book you read this year?
Worst?
Favorite?

Links are to the thoughts I wrote out at the time I read them.  I am eliminating re-reads from contention, and can still only narrow it down to three Bests:

1. People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks 

2. Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow 

3. Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin 

The Worst was While they Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family, by Kathryn Harrison – a true crime book.

My Favorite reads were two books written by old friends:

· The Unreachable Star: My Unauthorized Travels with Patti LuPone, by Maile Hernandez 

· Chance Occurrence, by Kristin Shaver 

I would like to add a category – Most Disappointing. My award goes to Amsterdam, by Ian McEwan.



Incidentally, here is my complete list:

1. Sin in the Second City, by Karen Abbott

2. Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell

3. Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris

4. Persuasion, by Jane Austen (re-read)

5. Paradise Lost, by John Milton

6. Living Dead in Dallas, by Charlaine Harris

7. Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen, by Lili’uokalani

8. Just a Geek, by Wil Wheaton

9. Clapton, The Autobiography, by Eric Clapton

10. Amsterdam, by Ian McEwan

11. Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin

12. The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, by Colleen McCullough

13. Downtown Owl, by Chuck Klosterman

14. Die a Little, by Megan Abbott

15. Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow

16. An Insider’s Tour of the Pike Place Public Market, by Michael Yeager

17. Ophelia, by Lisa Klein

18. Taft, by Ann Patchett

19. The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara (re-read)

20. A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick

21. Sh*t My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern

22. The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown

23. Wild Swans, by Jung Chang

24. The Dahlia Connection, by Michael Dovell

25. Chance Occurrence, by Kristin Shaver

26. Chicago, by Studs Terkel

27. While they Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family, by Kathryn Harrison

28. The Unreachable Star: My Unauthorized Travels with Patti LuPone, by Maile Hernandez

29. Ellis Island: Tracing Your Family History Through America’s Gateway, by Loretto Dennis Szucs

30. Forgetfulness, by Ward Just

31. The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton (re-read)

32. The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry

33. Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris

34. Falling Out of Fashion, by Karen Yampolsky

35. Niagara: A History of the Falls, by Pierre Berton

36. The Year She Left, by Kerry Kelly

37. Mr. Pip, by Lloyd Jones

38. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

39. People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks

40. The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

41. MacIntosh..The Naked Truth, by Scott Kelby

42. A Christmas Memory, One Christmas and The Thanksgiving Visitor, by Truman Capote

43. Hercule Poirots Christmas: A Holiday Mystery, by Agatha Christie

44. The Swan Thieves, by Elizabeth Kostova

45. The Zookeeper’s Wife, by Diane Ackerman

46. Benjamin Franklin and a Case of Christmas Murder, by Robert Lee Hall

47. A Different Kind of Christmas, by Alex Haley

48. Christmas Classics, compiled by The Modern Library

49. Memories of John Lennon, edited by Yoko Ono

50. Goodbye, Columbus, by Philip Roth