2007 Booklist

Wot I read in 2007. I was aiming to read an average of one book a week - 52 for the year, which I totally passed :-)

1. The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood (*excellent*)
   
2. The Princess Bride, abridged by William Goldman (lovely!)
   
3. What Maisie Knew, Henry James (sharp, clever)
   
4. Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain (charismatic!)
   
5. the five people you meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom (meh)
   
6. Love and Freindship and Other Early Works, Jane Austen (jane!)
   
7. The Passion of New Eve, Angela Carter (wow. *crazy*)
   
8. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, Eva Rice (pleasant)
   
9. The Hottest State, Ethan Hawke (tedious *and* pretentious!)
   
10. The Unadulterated Cat, Pratchett & Jolliffe (amusing fluff)
    
11. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (pretty good, ok)
    
12. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon (not bad)
    
13. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (also *excellent*)
    
14. My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin (not at all what I was expecting, but glad to have read it)
    
15. Elizabeth and Her German Garden, Elizabeth von Arnim (unexpectedly charming)
    
16. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides (a good solid read)
    
17. The Man in the Ice, Konrad Spindler (fascinating stuff!!)
    
18. The Garden Party, Katherine Mansfield (the best short story collection I have read)
    
19. Enchanted Places, Christopher Milne (charming nostalgia fix)
    
20. The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe (gothic stodge)
    
21. The Enormous Room, e. e. cummings (I wish I knew French!)
    
22. Illywhacker, Peter Carey (really good!)
    
23. Ghost World, Daniel Clowes (graphic novel. does it count??)
    
24. Frost in May, Antonia White (excellent, but the Catholics scared me!)
    
25. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway (war is bad, but sparse)
    
26. The Tin Drum, Günter Grass (highly original, but insane)
    
27. Wilderness Tips, Margaret Atwood (more excellent shorts)
    
28. c0ck (Adventures in Masculnity, Andrew Macrae and Keith Stevenson, eds.(reread for review)
    
29. Put on by Cunning, Ruth Rendell (sub-par murder mystery)
    
30. The Etched City, K.J. Bishop (regretably almost bored out of my mind!)
    
31. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk (i can not talk about Fight Club)
    
32. The Secret History, Donna Tartt (compelling)
    
33. The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall (the bible of lesbianism!)
    
34. Where Angels Fear to Tread, E. M. Forster (impressive)
    
35. Black Sheep, Ben Peek (dystopian)
    
36. The Art of Arrow Cutting, Stephen Dedman (fun but slight)
    
37. Seven Ancient Wonders, Matthew Reilly (zOMG! AWFUL!!)
    
38. The Wife of Martin Guerre, Janet Lewis (morally interesting)
39. In My Father's Den, Maurice Gee (literary new zealand)
    
40. Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood, Rebecca Wells (mixed bag)
    
41. Death of a Perfect Wife, M. C. Beaton (disappointing pretty much covers it...)
    
42. The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides (pointless? fascinating)
    
43. North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell (politics *and* sex!! ok, not *sex* sex...)
    
44. The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy (wessex tragedy)
    
45. The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Justine Larbalestier (read for review)
    
46. Round Ireland with a Fridge, Tony Hawks (good mostly clean fun)
    
47. Death of a Glutton, M. C. Beaton (wet)
    
48. Death of a Cad, M. C. Beaton (wet)
    
49. Death of a Snob, M. C. Beaton (wet)
    
50. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon (KAPOWIE!!!)
    
51. THEM, Jon Ronson (far out!)
    
52. Kesrith, Book 1 of the Faded Sun Trilogy, C. J. Cherryh (eh)
    
53. The Fat Man in History, Peter Carey (good flash fiction actually exists!!)
    
54. A Keeper of Sheep, William Carpeneter (mebbe a bit... self important. and no quotation marks!!)
    
55. Chicks 'n Chained Males, Esther Friesner, ed. (fluff of variable quality)
    
56. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (fun romp)
    
57. Death of a Hussy, M. C. Beaton (fee)
58. Death of a Prankster, M. C. Beaton (fie)
59. Death of a Gossip, M. C. Beaton (foe)
60. Death of an Outsider, M. C. Beaton (fum)
    
61. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou (*real* - and uplifting)
62. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, Sue Townsend (trip back in time)
63. The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, Sue Townsend (more nostalgia)
64. Postcards from the Edge, Carrie fisher (sweet without schmaltz)
65. Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood (v. good, accomplished)
66. True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole, Sue Townsend (non-plussed, again)
67. White Tiger, Kylie Chan (sub-standard)
68. The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper (good!)
69. The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, ed. J. Peder Zane (mmm... listy!)