My 10 Favorite Books of 2007

Unlike my previous list, I don't require books on this list to be new. I do have to have read them for the first time, though; I repeated two of my faves this year: The Stand, which I read every five years or so like clockwork, and The Gunslinger. They don't appear on this list.

There's a slight chance I'll finish Frank Deford's sports novel The Entitled before tomorrow night, but only a slight one. It would require an afternoon sitting on the couch, and not scooting around Springfield to some family function or another, something I seem to be incapable of allowing myself and my wife to do.

Here's the list, yo.

10. Antarctica, Kim Stanley Robinson
I've always been a lukewarm fan of sci-fi. I don't have the time to dig into Asimov or the whole Dune series, but I really enjoy Bradbury and some other sci-fi classics. I truly enjoyed Robinson's Mars trilogy; this one was not to that level. The story was sort of perfunctory, though the vivid description of the wasteland-that-isn't-a-wasteland of Antarctica was impressive.

9. The Hours, Michael Cunningham
I'd already seen the movie, so the "it-all-congeals" ending was sort of muted for me. The excellent prose, as would befit a Pulitzer-winning effort, can't really hide the pretension.

8. A Painted House, John Grisham
Okay, so it's John Grisham; this book is no great shakes. But the story is different from his usual unlikely-hero-in-the-South formula, as it is told from the perspective of a young boy in a hard-times cotton family in rural Arkansas, circa 1952. It is, I suspect, largely an autobiography. You can tell Grisham wrote this book for himself, rather than for his publishers.

7. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
Told from the POV of an autistic teenager, this book is an interesting look at what an author thinks might be the inner workings of an autistic child's mind. That there really is a mystery to figure out--and that it has nothing to do with the dead dog found in the neighbor's yard--is all the more compelling because the kid never really suspects what he's on to... and since it's told in the first person, neither does the reader.

6. Lisey's Story, Stephen King
I read pretty much everything the man writes. Obviously I'm not highbrow, obviously; thankfully, I'm also not pretentious. This one seems to be an ode to King's wife, Tabitha. The plot feels almost pre-autobiographical: A tortured but brilliant novelist dies, leaving his wife and her formidable sisters to pick up the pieces and deal with a psychopath. Lisey's story has strong characters and gives an interesting (to avid readers) glimpse inside the mind of a brilliant but tortured novelist. But his greatest tale it is not.

5. Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
I missed out on the book club discussion on this one at The Moxie (they showed the movie, which I've yet to see, late in 2006), but the book was one of the more unique I've ever read, full of wry humor and some very significant moments. The flashbacks are distracting, but vital; stick with it. I highly recommend this book for people who are stuck on a single author/genre. Safran Foer defies convention.

4. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
One new year's resolution for 2007 was to read more books by and about women. Mission mostly accomplished, and it's all because of this book, which fell into my lap on loan from a friend. Anyone interested in historical fiction or the Old Testament will relish The Red Tent, as it focuses on the clan of Jacob--primarily his four wives and only daughter, Dinah--and the events that tore the family apart and led to the famous beating of Joseph in his coat of many colors. It's obviously fiction, but the story has the feeling of being intensely researched.

3. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane
Mystic River isn't so much a mystery as a tragedy. I had the case of Katie Marcus's murder solved a good 200 pages before the detectives did, but it didn't decrease my pleasure in the book one iota. It's a great character study, as well as a relationship study: fathers and daughters, fathers and sons, and mostly, husbands and wives. It's also one of the few instances where a movie--by Clint Eastwood--makes a very suitable replacement for a book. But don't let that keep you from checking it out at the library.

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
It wasn't the best of the Potter series--that honor goes to the sixth book, The Half-Blood Prince--but it was a more-than-satisfying end to what will probably go down as one of the most beloved series of all time (Frodo and Gandalf might have something to say about that now, but not in 50 years). My only real gripe: Rowling should have taken another 10 or 15 pages for the epilogue. After 25,000 pages, couldn't you give us readers just a bit more falling action? (And I'm not talking about that Dumbledore was gay stuff, either.)

1. The Road, Cormac McCarthy
I reviewed The Road on this blog, so I won't deconstruct here. But damn, what a read. I'm interested in seeing the movie, starring Viggo Mortensen, which should begin shooting pretty soon. McCarthy is all of a sudden the new black in Hollywood; his No Country For Old Men is getting rave reviews in theaters, and is on my 2008 reading list. If you haven't read The Road, put it on your own.

Any suggestions for my 2008 list? Post them in the comments.

Peace,

ML