Best Books READ of 2007 (fiction)
It turns out that 5 of my 10 best books of 2007 were in fact published in 2007, and an additional 2 were paperbacks which were released in 2007…so this list has more validity than I expected. Yay for me!…
You can also read Part One and Part Two if you’re feeling left out.
10. Lady Into Fox, By David Garnett. Originally published in 1922, Reprinted by McSweeney’s in 2004.
I’m hesitant to write complicated reviews of each of these books, since I’ve already done that in review format over the year, so I’m just going to link to them here and add a sentence or two if I feel so moved…okay? Great. So Lady Into Fox really surprised the hell out of me. It’s never a book I would have expected to make a top for the year list for me, but I really ended up loving this bizarre story of love and loss…it’s a great creative metaphor for a lot of other things in life. Read more about Lady Into Fox here.
09. Water For Elephants, By Sara Gruen. Published in 2006 (the softcover – which I read – 2007).
Water For Elephants surprised me as well, if only because I don’t consider myself a NY Times Bestseller reader in general, but this book was really beautiful and well conceived. I finished it quickly, which is always a great compliment. Read more about Water For Elephants here.
08. Midnight At the Dragon Cafe, By Judy Fong Bates. Published in 2004 (the softcover – which I read – 2005).
I adored China Dog, Bates book of short fiction, and didn’t figure Midnight At The Dragon Cafe could live up, but I loved this as well. Bates has a brilliant way of turning a story on its ear, just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, read more about Dragon Cafe here.
07. Astonishing X-Men #1 – #22, By Joss Whedon & John Cassaday. Published in issues 2006 – 2007.
I can’t say enough good things about this collection, and my only complaint is that it’s ending soon. The last issue of this arc is due to come out soon, and it will signal the end of the Whedon/Cassaday team up. I’m very sad about it, although maybe it means Planetary will someday get finished? One can only hope. Read more here.
06. St. Lucy’s Home For Girl’s Raised By Wolves, By Karen Russel. Published in 2006 (the softcover – which I read – 2007).
This was a great and really creative collection. The title really beautifully summarized what I should expect and it totally delivered. Read more about St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves here.
05. Shortcomings, By Adrian Tomine. Published in collected hardcover format, in 2007.
I’m a huge Tomine fan and Shortcomings is just a beautiful beautiful work. Read more here.
04. One Hundred And Forty-Five Stories In A Small Box, By Dave Eggers, Sarah Manguso, and Deb Olin Unferth. Published in 2007.
I knew this was going to be great, with the creative format and the brilliant ideas that McSweeney’s is always swinging around, but I was unprepared for how much I was going to love both Eggers and Manguso’s books. Manguso’s collection stands out particularly as wildly creative and heartbreaking, although Eggers has my favorite piece overall. Read more here.
03. Famous Father’s Other Stories, By Pia Z. Ehrhardt. Published in 2007.
Ehrhardt was a new author for me and I was incredibly impressed. A wonderful collection. Read more about Famous Fathers & Other Stories here.
02. The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao, By Junot Diaz. Published in 2007.
I freaking LOVED this book. It blew me away, and was an excellent way to end the year. I had been anxiously awaiting Diaz’s follow up novel (like everyone else) after I was shocked by his wonderful first book Drown, a collection of short stories. This far surpasses Drown in so many ways. I don’t care how long I have to wait for the next one, so long as it is as good. Read more about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao here.
01. The Road, By Cormac McCarthy. Published in 2006.
What can I say? You don’t win the Pulitzer for writing a mediocre book. I haven’t ready any of McCarthy’s other works, and I’m very intrigued as I love his style, but I suspect he won’t ever be able to hit closer to home for me than he did with this book. Reading The Road was a singular experience that I will always cherish, and sadly, probably never duplicate…but I’ll spend my life trying. Read more about The Road here.
Honorable Mentions: You Are A Little Bit Happier Than I Am – Tao Lin (Poetry); Tell Me Why – Clare Jacobsen (Non-Fiction); Superbad – Ben Greenman (Short Fiction); No One Belongs Here More Than You – Miranda July (Short Fiction); Transparency – Frances Hwang (Short Fiction); and The Walking Dead – Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard (Graphic Fiction/Comic Book Series).
Worst Book Of The Year: I’m not going to say. I know that’s a cop out, but it’s easier than explaining why it is the worst book I read this year. And words like “bitter” would surely be tossed around in the comments section and y’know what? I don’t need that. :0
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I’ve read only but one of your favourite ten books, “Midnight at the Dragon Cafe” by Judy Fong Bates, that I unreservedly recommend to any who’ve not read it.
An autobiography of a young girl of Chinese parentage, growing up in small-town Canada, I found this book unputdownable.
I’ve noted the other 9 books in your list, and I’ll keep them in mind when choosing books for further reading.
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Very intriguing list you have here. Many I’ve not heard of but I’m going to jot down some titles and see if they’re at the library.
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Ohhhh, Joss Whedon comics. Will have to track them down! Other than that, The Road is definitely something I’d like to read…eventually. Too many books, not enough quiet rainy nights. I can’t wait for summer so I can go to the park and read an entire book in one sitting again…
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Melissa: Midnight is really great. Did you read her short story collection China Dog? It’s equally as good. Thanks for reading!
Trina: Thanks, I try. I love to read and this year had a lot of great books, but a surprising number of misses considering how many I read (52). Everything on this list is really solid though – great stuff. Let me know if you check any of them out and what you think.
Paul: You should DEFINITELY check out the Joss Whedon X-Men stuff. I assume if you’re a Whedon fan, then you’re also a Buffy fan yes? If so, are you reading the Buffy “Season 8” comic book series? It’s surprisingly good. Whedon steps in to write issues here and there (and they are always the best – especially a recent one that focused on Buff and Willow) but the series is pretty good overall. It really grasps the essence of what these characters were. The Angel series isn’t bad either, but not great.
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Paul: Also – the Whedon/Cassaday X-Men stuff is available at Amazon in trade paperback form – not too expensive. I think it’s three issues that are out now, and a fourth coming out late spring/early summer, as there is one more issue still to drop…
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I’m going to refrain from saying, “Comics aren’t books” (I’ve been known to enjoy one or two in my time.)
The Road is pretty different from McCarthy’s other stuff, at least as far as writing style goes. It’s a much simpler read. Go back a few years to Blood Meridian and your gonna need a dictionary and a working knowledge of obscure Midwestern flora and fauna. I highly recommend No Country, which falls somewhere in between.
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thanks for the McCarthy recommend. I suspected as much. I owe him a try though I think.
As for comics…they are books, hence the title “Comic Books”. I was unsure whether I wanted to include them, but since I haven’t been reading enough comics to generate a “10 best comics of 2007” I felt it was unfair they get excluded. Also, I did count both of these as “books” on my 52 books attempt, so if I counted them there, fair enough that they be included here.
Yes, it’s all a lot of rationalizing, but I’m comfortable with that.
Not really.
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I am very ignorant in this aspect… thanks for shedding some light on where to start… Let me see how “the road” is.
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Arun: Hope you enjoy it – it’s not exactly an uplifting read, but it’s quite wonderful and horrifying.
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The Road was very good. It usually takes me months to finish a book. I finished this one in about a week and a half. Very gripping…you just don’t want to put it down until you know that the characters will be ok.
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