Notable Books

Here's a list of the most notable books of 2006, according to the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/review/20061203notable-books.html?ref=books&pagewanted=print

How many have you read?  What did you think? C'mon!  Spill!

Comments

[Nancy]

Okay, I'm a slug. I've read one book on this list---AFTER THIS by Alice McDermott, which is excellent. A Irish-Catholic family saga--post WWII to post Vietnam, and I eventually loved all the characters.

This feels like that old game played among English department faculties everywhere.--What's the most famous book you haven't read? (For me? WAR AND PEACE. So sue me.)

[Kerry, the Martial Tart]

Wow. I missed every one of them. But the Hepburn biography sounds intriguing . . .

[Nancy]

My husband read the Clemente book, does that count?

Also, I realized I've purchased some of these books--but haven't read them yet! If they're going to sit around my house for months, why don't I just wait for the paperbacks??

[michele]

Thanks for posting this, Nancy. It strikes me that nobody I know from the mystery community is on this list, though many of our colleagues have written wonderful books this year. I'm glad to see Stephen King's name.

I saw a great documentary last night which has put me in the mood for some non-fiction, so maybe I'll check out a few of the non-fiction books on this list. The documentary was the first episode of Ken Burns's "War," about WW II, which will air on PBS next year. Really powerful stuff.

Happy weekend!

[Laura (in PA)]

Not one.

I did read one from last year's list - Harry Potter.

I guess my reading list and the New York Times' aren't very similar.

[Faith]

I read "Heat". I recognized a few more of the titles, but most I haven't heard of. I do some serious reading for my master's program so my personal reads are all fun reads generally!

[Rebecca the Bookseller]

One. Uno. If it had not been about one of my heroes, Roberto Clemente, it would have been zero. Hmmm.

My husband read several of the non-fiction - Fiasco, Greatest Story Ever Sold, and a few others in that general category.

Now is a great time to buy books for your holiday gifts - it's only one click away at our new and wonderfully improved website!

http://mysterylovers.com/

[ramona]

The Great Deluge is really good. Douglas Brinkley has an agenda, maybe, but shouldn't someone?

"Magazine articles with a moral framework" made me go, huh?

[Laura K]

Ummm...I've read one. State of Denial. And "read" in that particular case is more like "skimmed." I do have Reading Like a Writer on my wish list, so maybe someone in my family will give it to me for xmas.

If you're trying to figure out what to buy from Rebecca's site or your local bookstore for various "hard to buy for" folks, check out this great list from one of my favorite websites, the One Minute Reviewer: http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2006/12/01/a-print-and-save-holiday-gift-book-guide-…-for-everyone-on-your-list-from-a-to-z/ .

[Nancy]

Thanks for the link, Laura!

[Cassie]

I am surprised that I have actually read one of the books on the list! "Digging to America," by Anne Tyler. Loved it, as I love all her books. So charming, quiet, easygoing, yet stays with you for weeks afterwards.

I'm also delighted to note that there are two books on the list written by professors at my alma mater, Barnard College: "The Stories of Mary Gordon," by Mary Gordon (I WORSHIP HER!) and "Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution," by Caroline Weber. I heard Prof. Weber talk about the book and give a reading, and I'm hooked. Both of these books are on my Christmas list.