The Very Best Book You Read Last Year

[Jean]

"Last year" means 2007... till next January.

EDITED: no, now it means 2013!! http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear-176.gif (http://s91.photobucket.com/user/mishemplushem/media/Facilitation/bear-176.gif.html)

"The very best" means you can name only one.

It also should be a new read, not a re-read, even if your tenth time through The Waste Lands was your last year's best reading experience.

Mine was definitely The Bear Went Over the Mountain by William Kotzwinkle! I can't thank Lisa enough. http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

[Seymour_Glass]

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.

[Jean]

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.
I love that one, too - actually, it's the only book by Salinger I love with all my bearheart

[Sam]

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn. The entire series was a great read, but this was my introduction to it. It helped me keep my mind occupied when I needed it.

(No King books were published in 2007, so nothing was new on that front.)

[Seymour_Glass]

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.
I love that one, too - actually, it's the only book by Salinger I love with all my bearheart

How, many have you read?

[Jean]

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.
I love that one, too - actually, it's the only book by Salinger I love with all my bearheart

How, many have you read?

The Catcher in the Rye
Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters
A Perfect Day for Bananafish
Franny and Zooey

also a lot of short stories, like For Esmé with Love and Squalor (my favorite of them, I think) etc. I like them all, but with either some or, sometimes, a lot of reservations/qualifications

[Seymour_Glass]

Salinger's one of my favorite writers, as you could probably tell.

[Jean]

Salinger's one of my favorite writers, as you could probably tell.
it wasn't very hard to guess http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_wink-1.gif
why don't you start a Salinger thread here? he sure does provide a lot of stuff for discussion

[Seymour_Glass]

I just might.

[mia/susannah]

Lisey's Story was the best book I read last year.

[funky dredd]

Heart Shaped Box (Joe Hill)

[ManOfWesternesse]

The Road - Cormac McCarthy.

[jhanic]

I read the proof of Duma Key last year. By far the best new book I'd read.

John

[fernandito]

Fevre Dream by George R.R Martin.

:wub:

[sarah]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[Ruthful]

My memory is exceptionally bad in this respect, but I'll give it a shot.

Fiction: Black House-Stephen King

Non-fiction: America Alone, by Mark Steyn

[obscurejude]

"The Bridge" by Doug Marlette.

[turtlex]

"The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time" By Mark Haddon.

Outstanding.

[The Lady of Shadows]

We Need To Talk About Kevin
Lionel Shriver

[Jean]

Heart Shaped Box (Joe Hill)
I am going to read it soon, too!

(thank you Lady Linda!!! http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_wub.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_wub.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_wub.gif)

[mia/susannah]

My in laws gave me A paperback copy of the Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Jean, you will love it. It is very good.

[Darkthoughts]

"The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time" By Mark Haddon.

Outstanding.
Very much so! Have you read A Spot of Bother too? It's also great.


We Need To Talk About Kevin
Lionel Shriver
I read that last year too. Very disturbing but very compelling.

Like Maer, I'll go with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There were quite a few books I read last year that are worthy of the title "The Best" - but I think the anticipation and excitement and sorrow I felt over DH, are what make it my number one.

[Brice]

I think I'll have to agree on The Deathly Hollows. :D

[jayson]

From the Velvets to the Voidoids: The Birth of American Punk Rock - Clinton Heylin

[MonteGss]

I love this thread but I'm not sure I can adhere to the rules put forth. There are two that are just so different and I love them for different reasons. :( I cannot answer. Both have been listed already though. :)

[Brice]

Nope, sorry Monte, but you're gonna' have to pick one of them.

[MonteGss]

:lol:
I can't!

[Brice]

Okay, then. What were the two?

[jayson]

Yeah, we'll choose for you. :)

[MonteGss]

:lol:

I think I know what you'd choose...

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
(say what you want about the series, this is a damned good book, well written)

Heart Shaped Box
(first book in a while to actually scare me!)

Ok, Brice and R_of_G get to decide my fate...
Please quote this part and fill in the answer

The Very Best Book I read last year (2007):
______________ by _________________

[Brice]

:lol:

I think I know what you'd choose...

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
(say what you want about the series, this is a damned good book, well written)

Heart Shaped Box
(first book in a while to actually scare me!)

Ok, Brice and R_of_G get to decide my fate...
Please quote this part and fill in the answer

The Very Best Book I read last year (2007):
______________ by _________________

I can't. Those are two of the three I was torn between. :(

[jayson]

I could decide for you but then everyone will throw things at me. I'm not much of a Harry Potter fan.

:ducks projectiles:

[Darkthoughts]

Heart Shaped Box was one of mine too. A proper ghost story - excellently done :thumbsup:

[Heather19]

20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill.
Heart Shaped Box was good, but I liked this one a bit more. Also I didn't read it till this year, so technically it doesn't count for me.

[Woofer]

Toss up between Biography of a Space Tyrant: Vol. 4 Executive or Biography of a Space Tyrant: Vol. 5 Statesman both by Piers Anthony.

I did enjoy HPatDH very much, too. I like to joke with one of my direct customers that I reread the first 6 HP books and first time read the 7th HP book while waiting on his boss to review and approve one paragraph of additional documentation in a manual I was writing. It was only a two and a half week period and I read very fast, but it sounds pretty funny when you verbalize it:


Me: What's taking K so long to read that? I've read the entire Harry Potter series since he's had it!
Customer: *bursts into laughter*
Me: No, seriously. I've read the entire series.
Customer: Seriously?
Me: *nods*
Customer:*laughs again, this time even harder*

[Hallvard]

Shit. I read every single Dark Tower book this year..

I'll have to say The Drawing of The Three.

[Brice]

20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill.
Heart Shaped Box was good, but I liked this one a bit more. Also I didn't read it till this year, so technically it doesn't count for me.

That would be the previous year's best book for me. :D

[Jean]

Shit. I read every single Dark Tower book this year..

I'll have to say The Drawing of The Three.
it's all right, in this extraordinary case The Dark Tower saga counts as one single book! http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

[Tiffany]

The Road - Cormac McCarthy.

I second this motion.

[Matticus-Finch]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

[CyberGhostface]

I'd say 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill.

[educatedlady]

1776 by David McCullough.
I LOVE that book!

The best I read last year was probably...

Sex, drugs, and cocoa puffs: a low culture manifesto By Chuck Klosterman

I loved everything about it.

[Duck]

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - a wonderful novel interweaving 6 stories that begin during the days of the slave trade and finish in a post apocalyptic future world where man has returned to subsistance living and only remnants of the "old world" remain (sound familiar?). A uniquely wonderful novel on the destructiveness of man's will to power.

[Jean]

Year 2009 has began!

The best book I read in 2008:

Duma Key

[Girlystevedave]

The Shining :)

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Although I am ashamed that it took me so long to get around to it, the best book I read in 2008 was Lord of the Flies.

[ManOfWesternesse]

Best Book in 2008 for me has to be "Knife of Dreams" - the 11th Book of Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time' Series.
Strangely, I assumed I'd already read this Book back in '05 when it was published, but discovered in late '08 , to my delight, that it had sat unread on my bookshelf for three years and the pleasure of a first-read still awaited me.
I really enjoyed this one, and all the more I guess for knowing its the last he ever wrote.
R.I.P. Robert Jordan.
I hope Sanderson does as good a job in completing the series for you.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Never heard of this series....

*Goes to research*

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

hmm. sounds interesting.
However, I am planning to read the LoTR this year, and a friend has been bugging me to read the George RR martin series. So, I doubt I would get to another undertaking of this magnitude. Though I might try to read Eye of the World to get a taste.

[ManOfWesternesse]

All 3 are worthy undertakings. Is LotR a first-read for you too? *envious*

Definitely LotR first.
Then either of the other 2. They are both unfinished as yet. But Wheel of Time 'should' be complete late in '09 with publication of the 12th (& last) Book. A Song of Ice and Fire (GRR Martin) probably has a couple of Books to run yet over the next few years.

[Darkthoughts]

My best book of 2008 was:
The Pilo Family Circus

Top marks for originality and being such an engrossing read - totally recommend it :cool:

Feev, I bought Fevre Dream last week because you enjoyed it so much :thumbsup:

[Brice]

I have to say Pilo Family Circus was best for the year for me also. :couple:


And Feev is right; Fevre Dream is a great book. :D

[jayson]

For 2008, it was Clinton Heylin's The Act You've Known for All These Years: A Year in the Life of Sgt. Pepper and Friends.

This was a very interesting look into an album many know inside and out. More than that, it put the whole thing in context. The Sgt. Pepper mythos is huge, but I think this book reigned in the superlatives and gave an honest assessment of the music and culture of the time and where the album fit in.

Though I despise much of what could be labeled "musical criticism" I like Heylin's style. He has enough of a sensibility for history as he does music. I've read most of his work, much of it on aspects of music or the music business in which I am very interested. It helps that he seems to enjoy a lot of the same music I do. His Dylan biography is by far the most accurate and honest appraisal of Dylan I've ever read, as well as being an entertaining read. If I remember correctly without checking the history of this thread, I'm pretty sure I picked his From the Velvets to the Voidoids: A Pre-Punk History for a Post-Punk World as my very best book I read in 2007. There are still a few of his books I've yet to read and they are all on the radar for this year's reading so he could get the 3-peat. Stay tuned...

[The Cosmic Geek]

The very best book I read last year was also the most heartbreaking for me.

It's titled Ghost Rider by Neil Peart, the drummer of the band Rush.

It's his bio basically about how he survived the most horrific thing to ever happen to him. In the course of a year his daughter died in a car accident, then his wife died of cancer. The book is about how he packed up his motorcycle and rode along "the healing road" as he called it, trying to make sense out of it all. He rode through Canada (where he lives), the US and Mexico.

Amazing, amazing story, one that literally breaks your heart.

Peart has other books out, The Masked Rider, about a bicycle tour he took through Africa, and two others, which I haven't read yet.

[Tiffany]

My favorite book of 2008 is gonna have to be American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

[Daghain]

I have to agree with Jean: Duma Key. I loved it!

[fernandito]

My favorite book from 08' was Speaker For The Dead - another excellent entry in the Ender series.

[Heather19]

The best book I read in 2008:

Duma Key


I have to agree with Jean: Duma Key. I loved it!

and Duma Key would be it for me as well. I just loved that story.

[Gunkslinger]

For me it was "Miranda" by John Little. An unexpected gem.

[theyspunaweb]

My favorite book from 08' was Speaker For The Dead - another excellent entry in the Ender series.

This series has for a long time been considered my favorite. Then I read the dark tower. They are both very special to me, I need to re-read the enders series over again to compare the two realistically.

[Jean]

bump for year 2009

[Darkthoughts]

My best book of 2009 was probably Tim Powers Fisher King trilogy, which comprises of Last Call, Expiration Date and Earthquake Weather. Really unique and powerful writing.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Best book of 2009 was Something Wicked This Way Comes.

[Jean]

Lovecraft Collection. It competed in my heart with 20th Century Ghosts, and won.

[sarah]

The Best Book that I read in 2009 was The Pillars of the Earth. It came out several years ago and has been on my bookshelf for a long time. I finally got to reading it and loved it. Recommended.

[Daghain]

My vote has to go to World War Z by Max Brooks. A close second is his The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead . Both were great.

[jhanic]

I have to say it was The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I had real trouble getting into it, but it was definitely worth the effort.

John

[lowdown]

i read DT7 this year so ill bow out ......but i think between duma key and wolves of calla ...its a tough call

[Heather19]

Oh this was tough. It would probably be The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, but a very close runner up would be The Terror by Dan Simmons. It's hard for me to choose one over the other as I absolutely loved both of them.

[cody44]

My favorite book that I read in 2009 would have to go to IT :rose:

[Brice]

I read to many really good books to pick a best. :D

[ola]

I was racking my brain. Then I realized that I read The Dark Tower this year. Duh.

Also, I got excited because I saw jayson's post and thought it was from this year. How sad is that.

[Brice]

very :(

[Letti]

Flowers for Algernon

[special k]

best book i read in 09' was probably world war Z.

[SynysterSaint]

Best book of 2009 was Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I'm with you there, Brownings! Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of my favorite books as of this moment, and definitely worthy of the title "Best Book I Read in 2009". The Dark Tower was amazing, and it is my favorite book I read, but I feel that Bradbury brought more to the table than King this time around.

Except for the last line in The Dark Tower and Jake & Oy's deaths, I could have lived with a completely different narrative for the last book. He added in all of the necessary components, but Bradbury simply had a better narrative.

Fun fact: I had the outline for a story I wanted to write, and I found out through a Wikipedia article about the Best 100 Novels of the 20th Century that Bradbury had already written that book (SWTWC). That's how I first heard about it. Imagine how amazed and upset I was! However, it was a horribly fantastic narrative and, looking back, I feel he handled the story much more eloquently than I would have.

[Mattrick]

Much like the thread for movies, this is for your top ten list of the books we read this year. Either this list will be every book you have read this year or a small percentage. Figured with a month left before the end of the year it is a good time, if you read a book in the next 6 weeks thats listworthy edit it up.


1. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
2. Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. Candide by Voltaire
5. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
6. The Catcher In The Rye by J. D. Sallinger
7. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
8. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
9. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
10. The Pianist by Wladislaw Szpilman

[WeDealInLead]

I'll post mine in December. Top 10 2012 books and top 10 non-2012 books that I've read this year.

[Mattrick]

I think the most recent book ive read all year was Under The Dome.

[WeDealInLead]

Dang, I'm at 26 2012 books already and I think I'll read at least 5 more by year end.

I'll start now with 2012:

Railsea - China Mieville
Pure - Julianna Baggott
The Fleshless Man - Norman Prentiss
The Underdwelling or Puppet Graveyard - Tim Curran
Hide Me Among the Graves - Tim Powers

I'm still reading The Twelve by Cronin and I won't have time to read Nothing As It Seems by Tim Lebbon but I've read most of the stories already. Those two will be on the list for sure. In the words of Rorschach... "Hrm"

[Jean]

bears have read tons of great stuff this year, will post later, now the first things that come to mind:

1. Crichton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (all the four books I've read so far)
2. Shirley Jackson. The Haunting of Hill House
3. J.K.Rowling. The Casual Vacancy
4. Joe Hill. Horns
5. Dan Simmons. Summer of Night

absolutely adored all of the above

[alkanto]

let's see...so far, I think I can some up with these at least? I didn't read very many new books this year, unfortunately...a lot of re-reads.

1. This Book is Full of Spiders - David Wong
2. Black House - Stephen King/Peter Straub
3. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
4. The House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz
5. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

[Mattrick]

How is Black House? It sounded intriguing on the jacket.

[alkanto]

I really, really liked it. It was creepy, horrifying, and awesome. it's now one of my favorite King novels, actually

[Jean]

what Jen said

[Darkthoughts]

Yes, Black House is one of my absolute favourite King books too. Imagine a life without having known Henry Leyden?! Matt, you should read it immediately!!

Jean, what did you like about Casual Vacancy? I couldn't stand it, I found it very tedious - I'm interested to know why Bears liked it!

[Jean]

Jean, what did you like about Casual Vacancy? I couldn't stand it, I found it very tedious - I'm interested to know why Bears liked it!I relished every sentence. I'll try to post a review.

[Darkthoughts]

Excellent!

[mae]

Sadly this was a very slow year for books for me. I don't think I even read ten books in all. The best would have to be 11/22/63. Inspired by Jean's fervor for Crichton, I'm hoping to read and re-read the entire MC oeuvre next year. That's my upcoming New Year's resolution.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

No particular order, but here is my favorite 10 from this year.
1. Horns -Joe Hill
2. Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
3. All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
4. Gullivers Travels - Jonathan Swift
5. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
6. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - H.S. Thompson
7. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
8. A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
9. Black House - SK
10. The Twelve - Justin Cronin

[Jean]

1. Horns -Joe Hill
4. Gullivers Travels - Jonathan Swift
9. Black House - SK
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

[Jean]

The year is nearing the end! Time to choose which is the best book you've read in 2013

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

Best of 2013

1. VERY BEST = Joyland

2. Life of Pi
3. Peter Pan
4. Lolita
5. Last of the Mohicans
6. Dr. Sleep
7. Cat's Cradle
8. NOS4A2
9. Rose Madder
10. The Turner Diaries

[Jean]

I've read such a lot this year that it's hard to pick the winner... Cloud Atlas and Joyland are sure among the best, but there's also Crichton... Luckily, we still have time make up our minds before the end of the year.

I believe the very best book I read this year, though, is The Terror by Dan Simmons.

I was surprised now, when I looked at my booklist, and found that I only read The Terror this year. I feel like I've lived most of my life with it.

The other best book is Watership Down... so hard to chose between the two!

[evilash]

The Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Not only the best book I read this year but may be the best book I have ever read.

[Mattrick]

I haven't read very many books this year but if I had to choose a top five it would be:

1. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
2. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
3. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
4. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
5. Blindness - Jose Saramago

I plan on reading a few books so it might change.

[DoctorZaius]

In no particular order
The Wind Through the Keyhole - King
11/22/63 - King
Joyland - King
Olympos and Ilium - Dan Simmons
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
Earth Abides - George R. Stewart
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
Ex Utero - Laurie Foos (funniest book I have read in years)
Vox - Nicholson Baker (sexy, sexy, sexy)
Mondo Barbie - (funny, sexy, demented, what more could you want in a short story collection?)
The Dante Club - Mathew Pearl
Burnt Offerings - Robert Marasco
The Lord of the Rings - ashamed to admit I had never read them

I will try to narrow it to one after thinking further

[Merlin1958]

Dr. Sleep, hands down!!!

[DoctorZaius]

Dr. Sleep, hands down!!!

I still haven't read it - gotta get to over my XMAS break from school.

[CyberGhostface]

Tough to say but going to throw out NOS4A2 for now.

[Joe315]

I'll give a top 5 in no particular order

Last Light by Alex Scarrow
After Light by Alex Scarrow
Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon
Wool by Hugh Howey
S. by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst - More because of the experience then because it was a great story, although I enjoyed both the margin story and the Ship of Theseus.

[Merlin1958]

Dr. Sleep, hands down!!!

I still haven't read it - gotta get to over my XMAS break from school.

You're in for a treat. "The Shining" is one of my top five King books and this sequel really puts the icing on a wonderful and scary cake!! IMHO

[Ruthful]

There were so many I can't really narrow it down to one. The most important-disturbing and fascinating for a number of different reasons-was Lost Girls by Robert Kolker. It's a book about the serial killer(s) at Gilgo Beach, the investigation itself-and the bungling of it by the Long Island authorities-but also an exploration of the history of the young women who were murdered.

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage-a collection of essays by my favorite writer, Ann Patchett-is a book that I throughly enjoyed reading. It reminded me of what an amazing writer she is-especially when she's not writing fiction.

In terms of fiction though, I would probably say The Kitchen God's Wife, which I would argue is Amy Tan's best work. Keep in mind, I haven't read her latest novel, which was published this year.