A house without books is like a room without windows

The 20 Best Books I Read in 2007
(Because I couldn't pick just 10)
by Sage

20. The Prestige by Christopher Priest

I decided to read this novel after I enjoyed the film version. The book differs quite a lot from the movie but the main story remains the same - a pair of rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London each has a winning trick the other craves, but so incredibly difficult are they to perform, that they take on a peculiar life of their own. The rivalry of the two men is such that in the end, it consumes them both, and affects their respective families for generations.

19. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

A private detective (ex-cop, ex-husband, and weekend dad) takes on three cases involving past crimes that occurred in and around London. His reluctant persistence heats up these cold cases and by happenstance leads him to reassess his own painful history.

18. God Grew Tired of Us: A Memoir by John Bul Dau

Just 13 in 1987 when he was driven from his village and separated from his family in the civil war in southern Sudan, John Bul Dau spent years in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, until in 2001 he came to the U.S. as one of the 4,000 Lost Boys of Sudan.

17. Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan

Grogan describes his family’s true-life experiences with raising Marley, the “world’s worst dog.” He details how Marley was kicked out of obedience school after humiliating his instructor, swallowed a gold necklace, and many more adventures. A must read for dog lovers.

16. The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

Gregory brings the women of Henry VIII's court vividly to life. Among the characters, who alternately narrate: Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves; his fifth wife, teenager Katherine Howard; and Lady Rochford, the jealous spouse whose testimony helped send her sister-in-law Anne Boleyn to her execution. Ashley introduced me to Gregory’s novels and I’m glad she did!

15. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

George, recently retired, thinks talking is "overrated" and greets the death of a friend with relief "that they would not be playing squash again." Obsessed with his own mortality, he barely registers the dramas around him: his wife is having an affair, his daughter is marrying a man she's not sure she loves, and his son is afraid to bring his boyfriend to the wedding.

14. Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino

Translated from Japanese, this twisted novel of suspense follows the Apartment Serial Murders case, which involved the brutal killings of two Tokyo prostitutes. The events leading to the killings are related from a variety of perspectives—that of a sister of one of the victims; of each victim; and of the accused.

13. The Life and the Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson

Very few authors tickle my funny bone as much as Bryson. In this memoir about growing up in Iowa, he describes his many adventures and we meet his parents–a loving mother who didn't cook and was pathologically forgetful, and a dad who was the greatest baseball writer that ever lived and took his son to dugouts and into clubhouses where he met famous players.

12. A Simple Plan by Scott Smith

Another movie that inspired me to read the novel it’s based on. On an afternoon jaunt, Hank, his brother, and a friend accidentally discover a wrecked plane. Inside they find the dead pilot and a sack containing four million dollars. The men know that they should notify the authorities, but instead they devise a foolproof scheme for keeping the money. They will hide it for one year, tell no one, live normally, and then divide the loot into three equal portions. Nothing can go wrong with such a simple plan- or can it? Also good is Smith's The Ruins, which almost made my list.

11. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung

In 1975, Ung was a five-year-old in a large family living in Phnom Penh, Cambodian when the Khmer Rouge took over the country. It's a tough read, but the author's personality and strength shine through on every page – she never stops fighting for escape and survival.

10. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Camille Preaker, a novice reporter, is sent to her hometown in Missouri to cover the murder of one teenage girl and the disappearance of another. There, she must face a variety of monsters from the past and the present, including her aloof and patronizing mother, her obnoxiously precocious 13-year-old stepsister, and an unknown serial killer whose mutilated victims bring back haunting memories.

9. A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City by Anonymous

Anonymous, then a well-known 34-year-old German journalist, started this eight-week diary in April 1945, when the Russians were invading Berlin and the city's mostly female population was heading to its cellars to wait out the bombing. Soon the liquored-up Russian soldiers were everywhere, raping women indiscriminately. When this memoir was first published in 1959, it was met with controversy and did not sell well, as it was felt that it brought shame on German women and because the criticism of Russian soldiers was felt to be exaggerated. It was only after the author’s death in 2001 that her identity was reveled, and her story was published again. It became a bestseller in 2003.

8. The Cloud Garden: A True Story of Adventure, Survival, and Extreme Horticulture by Tom Hart Dyke and Paul Winder

The Darién Gap is a dense jungle along the Panama/ Colombia border. Few cross this lawless wilderness, where drug traffickers and guerrillas hide out. Botanist Dyke and banker Winder were hiking the gap (despite knowing the dangers) when they were kidnapped by a guerrilla group and held for nine months.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

A bittersweet read. I raced through it to see how the series would conclude yet I was depressed after finishing it when it hit me this was the last Potter book ever! It’s probably the weakest of the seven, but still a great read. There is plenty of action right from the get-go - duels, daring escapes, and amazing twists of fortune as Harry and the gang are on the quest for the all-important Horcruxes.

6. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. But soon her scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces.

5. Babylon’s Ark: The Incredible War Time Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo by Lawrence Anthony

Anthony, a South African conservationist, details how he entered Iraq soon after the American invasion and led the fight to save what was left of the Baghdad Zoo. Most of the animals were killed by war and looting; the remainder were starved and in filthy cages, with no staff to care for them. Anthony describes how he, along with several brave workers, risked daily danger to save the remaining animals. A must read for animal lovers.

4. I’m Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti

Yet another movie that inspired me to read the novel it’s based on. This thriller takes place during a piercingly hot Italian summer. A nine-year-old boy called Michele explores a derelict house and discovers a horrifying secret. The boy's story, which includes kidnapping and ransom, builds to a heart-stopping climax.

3. Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs

Burroughs is my second favorite non-fiction writer after David Sedaris. He is mean and outrageously X-rated, but if you can get past those two things, you’ll love this collection of essays. He has what seems to be an endless supply of offbeat life experiences.

2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Hosseini follows up his bestselling The Kite Runner (which I also loved) with another story of Afghanistan in turmoil. This one covers three decades of civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women. Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. We also meet 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl who becomes unlikely allies with Mariam.

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Death himself narrates this World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family. The child arrives having just stolen her first book, although she has not yet learned how to read. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, and the mayor’s reclusive wife.

The Worst Book I read in 2007:

Next by Michael Crichton

Crichton is one of my favorite authors (Jurassic Park, Congo, and Sphere are all great) and that’s why his latest was such a disappointment. In Next, he once again focuses on genetic engineering by interweaving many plot strands. One involves a California researcher who has mixed human and chimp DNA while working at NIH, and who ends up rescuing this “man-chimp” from the government and passing him off as a fully human child. It’s as ridiculous as it sounds! Crichton’s previous novel, State of Fear, wasn’t much better so he better turn it around for his next one or I’ll be very disappointed.

Coming soon... Sage's favorite movies of 2007!