Thursday, November 29, 2007

Tis' the List Season. . .

I take it for granted that anyone reading this blog is going to be doing two things over the month of December - catching up on a lot of reading and buying books for gifts. To that end, starting next week, we'll be posting lots of gift suggestions in a number of different categories, and tons of top ten lists of favourite books (kids and adult selections) not only from the Deweys but from a wide spectrum of the Canadian library world including librarians, library students and library wholesalers. Stay tuned.
To start the list ball rolling however, the New York Times just published their Ten Best Books of 2007 and it's a wonderfully ecclectic list.

Top fiction:

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano (great to see some work in translation make it to the list. I have his short story collection Last Evenings on Earth sitting on my to-be-read pile)
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson (this is the book I want Santa to bring me - it's gotten such amazing reviews)
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (also won this year's IMPAC award!)
Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas


Top non-fiction:


Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (terrifying stuff but wonderfully written)

The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History by Linda Colley (really happy to see this book get a nod. It' s another one I hope to get to soon; what a fascinating life!)


The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross

For more great suggestions, the Guardian had a terrific idea that I wish I'd thought of first. They asked writers to pick books that reminded them of Christmas past, books they'd recommend as gifts for today and books they are most looking forward to reading in the future. It makes for fun and nostalgic reading here.
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