I can’t resist it! Being a bit of an inveterate list-maker (how sad is that!), and as everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn’t I – I feel compelled to share my best reads of the year with you. To add a little interest, I’ve created some categories to put them in. I’ve had a great year of reading, managing 111 books (so far – see the full list on the sidebar), and it was hard to whittle those down to a dozen or so, but here goes. As always comments are positively encouraged as are suggestions for future reading.
Classic Fiction: Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Debut novel: Electricity by Ray Robinson
Contemporary Fiction: Clear by Nicola Barker
Historical novel: The Dig by John Preston
Novel by a major prize-winner: Blindness by Jose Saramago (Nobel Prize
Funniest Book: The Scheme for Full Employment by Magnus Mills
Frothiest Book: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
Best Crime Novel: Saving Caravaggio by Neil Griffiths
Best Biography or Autobiography: Breaking the Code by Gyles Brandreth
Non-fiction: Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
Best new series of novels I’ve started reading: Wallander by Henning Mankell
Best translated novel: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberyl
Best American novel: Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
And last but not least:
The book I’m most looking forward to reading in 2009: Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
I hope to continue posting intermittently over the next couple of weeks, but would like to take the opportunity now to wish everyone reading this
Nice list! Blindness would definitely be among my top 5 of the year. The Carrie Fisher book should be very entertaining. I saw her one-woman show, which the book is based on, back in September, and it was hilarious. I look forward to seeing what you think of the book.
I got the Carrie Fisher yesterday, and am saving it to be the first book I read in 2009.It’s a slim volume but I have no doubt that it’ll be brilliant. Lucky you to see her show!
The only book I’ve read on your list is Motherless Brooklyn, but I really enjoyed it too. It was refreshingly different.Anyway, have a great Christmas and best wishes for the New Year. I hope you continue to blog about your reading for some time to come!Michaela