Books I read in 2008
Okay, okay, it's February, but I never got around to posting my 2008 book stuff.
Total: 127
First reads: 88
Rereads: 39
Fiction: 102
NF: 5
Kidlit/YA: 20
If you want to know what I thought about any of these, just ask.
January
Moonraker’s Bride - Madeleine Brent
A Savage Place - Robert B. Parker
Looking for Rachel Wallace - Robert B. Parker
Passage - Connie Willis (reread)
Thus Was Adonis Murdered - Sarah Caudwell (reread)
Ceremony - Robert B. Parker
Masters of Illusion - Mary-Ann Tirone Smith
Jhereg - Steven Brust (reread)
Rock Star’s Girl - Kate William (reread)
Yendi - Steven Brust (reread)
The Ionian Mission - Patrick O’Brian
Teckla - Steven Brust (reread)
Phoenix - Steven Brust (reread)
Treason’s Harbour - Patrick O’Brian
February
The Saturdays - Elizabeth Enright (reread)
The Four-Story Mistake - Elizabeth Enright (reread)
The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper - John D. MacDonald
How Much For Just the Planet? - John M. Ford (reread)
Then There Were Five - Elizabeth Enright (reread)
Brokedown Palace - Steven Brust
The Bookshop at 10 Curzon Street - John Saumarez Smith (ed.) (reread)
Spiderweb for Two - Elizabeth Enright (reread)
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Dress Her in Indigo - John D. MacDonald
March
Issola - Steven Brust (reread)
April
Medea - Euripides
Something Borrowed - Emily Giffin
Harriet the Spy - Louise Fitzhugh (reread)
Flying in Place - Susan Palwick (reread)
Post Captain - Patrick O’Brian (reread)
Romancing Mr. Bridgerton - Julia Quinn
Bad Girls - Cynthia Voigt
The Translator - John Crowley (reread)
The House in Paris - Elizabeth Bowen
Wit’s End - Karen Joy Fowler
The Long Secret - Louise Fitzhugh (reread)
Impossible Things - Connie Willis (reread)
The Duke and I - Julia Quinn
Don’t Care High - Gordon Korman (reread)
May
Daggerspell - Katharine Kerr (reread)
Shards of Honor - Lois McMaster Bujold (reread)
The Far Side of the World - Patrick O’Brian
The Nonesuch - Georgette Heyer
The Long Lavender Look - John D. MacDonald
Gossip Girl - Cecily von Ziegsar
You Know You Love Me - Cecily von Ziegsar
The Oresteia - Aeschylus
Mister Sandman - Barbara Gowdy
The Reverse of the Medal - Patrick O’Brian
When He Was Wicked - Julia Quinn
All I Want is Everything - Cecily von Ziegsar
Sprig Muslin - Georgette Heyer (reread)
The Widening Gyre - Robert B. Parker
A Tan and Sandy Silence - John D. MacDonald
It’s in His Kiss - Julia Quinn
The Scarlet Ruse - John D. MacDonald
Darkspell - Katharine Kerr (reread)
Look at Me - Anita Brookner
June
Slow River - Nicola Griffith
Barrayar - Lois McMaster Bujold (reread)
Tam Lin - Pamela Dean (reread)
The Letter of Marque - Patrick O’Brian
T is for Trespass - Sue Grafton
Friend of My Youth - Alice Munro
Happy All the Time - Laurie Colwin
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen (reread)
Bad, Badder, Baddest - Cynthia Voigt
Roommates - Emily Chase (reread)
Much Ado About You - Eloisa James
I Like it Like That - Cecily von Ziegesar
So Long, See You Tomorrow - William Maxwell
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway (reread)
Cat’s Eye - Margaret Atwood (reread)
Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary - Pamela Dean (reread)
The Thirteen Gun Salute - Patrick O’Brian
The Heat of the Day - Elizabeth Bowen
July
Valediction - Robert B. Parker
Web of Love - Mary Balogh
Phoenix - Steven Brust (reread)
The Nutmeg of Consolation - Patrick O’Brian
Devil’s Cub - Georgette Heyer
The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
Hide - Lisa Gardner
The Bristling Wood - Katharine Kerr (reread)
Human Croquet - Kate Atkinson
This Alien Shore - C. S. Friedman
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Jenna Starborn - Sharon Shinn
Wit’s End - Karen Joy Fowler (reread)
The Dragon Revenant - Katharine Kerr (reread)
The Year’s Best Science Fiction 20th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (ed.)
You’re the One that I Want - Cecily von Ziegesar
Jhegaala - Steven Brust
At Large and At Small - Anne Fadiman
The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
August
A Catskill Eagle - Robert B. Parker
Powder and Patch - Georgette Heyer
The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
The Thin Man - Dashiell Hammett
The Dud Avacado - Elaine Dundy
Nadya - Pat Murphy
The Viscount Who Loved Me - Julia Quinn
The Black Moth - Georgette Heyer
Dreaming of You - Lisa Kleypas
To Sir Philip, with Love - Julia Quinn
Taming a Sea-Horse - Robert B. Parker
The Turquoise Lament - John D. MacDonald
Middlemarch - George Elliot
September
Friday’s Child - Georgette Heyer
The Ivy Tree - Mary Stewart
The Truelove - Patrick O’Brian
Pale Kings and Princes - Robert B. Parker
The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Close to a Killer - Marsha Qualey
October
Belong to Me - Marisa de los Santos
Paladin of Souls - Lois McMaster Bujold
Brainiac - Ken Jennings
The Big Love - Sarah Dunn (reread)
The Edible Woman - Margaret Atwood (reread)
Red Seas Under Red Skies - Scott Lynch
November
Cranberry Queen - Kathleen DeMarco
Crimson Joy - Robert B. Parker
December
Playmates - Robert B. Parker
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - Barbara Robinson (reread)
The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas
Favourites
In no particular order, and I can only pick favourites from first reads. That's just the way it is. I originally tried to describe the plots of these books, but they all came out sounding hopelessly boring, and they’re really not! I love these books because they are about people being people, and (with one exception) for the authors’ writing styles.
The House in Paris - Elizabeth Bowen
The Heat of the Day - Elizabeth Bowen
Damn. Where has Elizabeth Bowen been all my life? (Right, right. Dead. She died in 1973, same year as Nancy Mitford.) I need to read everything she's ever written. These are drenched in atmosphere and place and character and true things. The Heat of the Day takes place in London during WWII and one of the characters comes to believe she’s dating a spy. The House in Paris takes place mostly in England, actually, and has sharp, well-done children (though the book mainly focuses on the parents of one of the children).
Wit's End - Karen Joy Fowler
The only book I read twice in 2008. Fowler's sense of humour is very like my own, and I thought this was pretty damn funny. I love Fowler’s voice. The mystery plot is totally weak, but there’s not a lot of it, luckily, and Fowler’s characters and character development and story-telling more than make up for it. Neat things: Crime-scene doll-houses, a mystery author as a major character, (liberal) politics, immortality cult history, Wikipedia wars and fannish culture. And found-in-an-attic letters. It’s a pop culture wonderland.
Happy All the Time - Laurie Colwin
I fell so hard for this book. I would totally have married it after just the first chapter. I wanted to make this last and also to devour it in one big bite. I made it last for two days, but it’s pretty damn addictive, so it was hard. (Though I did mumble something in my reading journal about the style being a bit much in large doses.) It made me giggle a lot. I want to read all of Colwin’s other books, but I’m worried I’ll wind up not liking this one as much if I do. Is that strange?
The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
This the odd book out on list because it’s the only one I don’t love for its use of language. Lynch’s writing is perfectly acceptable, but it is his plotting and world-building I love. I read Red Seas Under Red Skies too, but it wasn’t as good. (I imagine I’ll buy Lynch’s third book in paperback, though.) Neat things: glass cities, confidence games, real consequences, suspense.
So Long, See You Tomorrow - William Maxwell
If I had secret pretend boyfriends, William Maxwell would totally be my dead-fiction-editor-for-The New Yorker boyfriend, but only because it sounds snappy: the important thing about William Maxwell is that he can write. (Also, he is smart and kind.) I love his sentences.
At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays - Anne Fadiman
Anne Fadiman should write about EVERYTHING, and she should do it ALL THE TIME. That is all.
Human Croquet - Kate Atkinson
This was marvelous. All of the style and mystery and fun I expect of Atkinson, but with bonus literary references. It’s kind of dark, too, and pretty trippy. Fairly close to the top of my list of favourite books by Atkinson.
Total: 127
First reads: 88
Rereads: 39
Fiction: 102
NF: 5
Kidlit/YA: 20
If you want to know what I thought about any of these, just ask.
January
Moonraker’s Bride - Madeleine Brent
A Savage Place - Robert B. Parker
Looking for Rachel Wallace - Robert B. Parker
Passage - Connie Willis (reread)
Thus Was Adonis Murdered - Sarah Caudwell (reread)
Ceremony - Robert B. Parker
Masters of Illusion - Mary-Ann Tirone Smith
Jhereg - Steven Brust (reread)
Rock Star’s Girl - Kate William (reread)
Yendi - Steven Brust (reread)
The Ionian Mission - Patrick O’Brian
Teckla - Steven Brust (reread)
Phoenix - Steven Brust (reread)
Treason’s Harbour - Patrick O’Brian
February
The Saturdays - Elizabeth Enright (reread)
The Four-Story Mistake - Elizabeth Enright (reread)
The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper - John D. MacDonald
How Much For Just the Planet? - John M. Ford (reread)
Then There Were Five - Elizabeth Enright (reread)
Brokedown Palace - Steven Brust
The Bookshop at 10 Curzon Street - John Saumarez Smith (ed.) (reread)
Spiderweb for Two - Elizabeth Enright (reread)
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Dress Her in Indigo - John D. MacDonald
March
Issola - Steven Brust (reread)
April
Medea - Euripides
Something Borrowed - Emily Giffin
Harriet the Spy - Louise Fitzhugh (reread)
Flying in Place - Susan Palwick (reread)
Post Captain - Patrick O’Brian (reread)
Romancing Mr. Bridgerton - Julia Quinn
Bad Girls - Cynthia Voigt
The Translator - John Crowley (reread)
The House in Paris - Elizabeth Bowen
Wit’s End - Karen Joy Fowler
The Long Secret - Louise Fitzhugh (reread)
Impossible Things - Connie Willis (reread)
The Duke and I - Julia Quinn
Don’t Care High - Gordon Korman (reread)
May
Daggerspell - Katharine Kerr (reread)
Shards of Honor - Lois McMaster Bujold (reread)
The Far Side of the World - Patrick O’Brian
The Nonesuch - Georgette Heyer
The Long Lavender Look - John D. MacDonald
Gossip Girl - Cecily von Ziegsar
You Know You Love Me - Cecily von Ziegsar
The Oresteia - Aeschylus
Mister Sandman - Barbara Gowdy
The Reverse of the Medal - Patrick O’Brian
When He Was Wicked - Julia Quinn
All I Want is Everything - Cecily von Ziegsar
Sprig Muslin - Georgette Heyer (reread)
The Widening Gyre - Robert B. Parker
A Tan and Sandy Silence - John D. MacDonald
It’s in His Kiss - Julia Quinn
The Scarlet Ruse - John D. MacDonald
Darkspell - Katharine Kerr (reread)
Look at Me - Anita Brookner
June
Slow River - Nicola Griffith
Barrayar - Lois McMaster Bujold (reread)
Tam Lin - Pamela Dean (reread)
The Letter of Marque - Patrick O’Brian
T is for Trespass - Sue Grafton
Friend of My Youth - Alice Munro
Happy All the Time - Laurie Colwin
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen (reread)
Bad, Badder, Baddest - Cynthia Voigt
Roommates - Emily Chase (reread)
Much Ado About You - Eloisa James
I Like it Like That - Cecily von Ziegesar
So Long, See You Tomorrow - William Maxwell
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway (reread)
Cat’s Eye - Margaret Atwood (reread)
Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary - Pamela Dean (reread)
The Thirteen Gun Salute - Patrick O’Brian
The Heat of the Day - Elizabeth Bowen
July
Valediction - Robert B. Parker
Web of Love - Mary Balogh
Phoenix - Steven Brust (reread)
The Nutmeg of Consolation - Patrick O’Brian
Devil’s Cub - Georgette Heyer
The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
Hide - Lisa Gardner
The Bristling Wood - Katharine Kerr (reread)
Human Croquet - Kate Atkinson
This Alien Shore - C. S. Friedman
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Jenna Starborn - Sharon Shinn
Wit’s End - Karen Joy Fowler (reread)
The Dragon Revenant - Katharine Kerr (reread)
The Year’s Best Science Fiction 20th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (ed.)
You’re the One that I Want - Cecily von Ziegesar
Jhegaala - Steven Brust
At Large and At Small - Anne Fadiman
The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
August
A Catskill Eagle - Robert B. Parker
Powder and Patch - Georgette Heyer
The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
The Thin Man - Dashiell Hammett
The Dud Avacado - Elaine Dundy
Nadya - Pat Murphy
The Viscount Who Loved Me - Julia Quinn
The Black Moth - Georgette Heyer
Dreaming of You - Lisa Kleypas
To Sir Philip, with Love - Julia Quinn
Taming a Sea-Horse - Robert B. Parker
The Turquoise Lament - John D. MacDonald
Middlemarch - George Elliot
September
Friday’s Child - Georgette Heyer
The Ivy Tree - Mary Stewart
The Truelove - Patrick O’Brian
Pale Kings and Princes - Robert B. Parker
The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Close to a Killer - Marsha Qualey
October
Belong to Me - Marisa de los Santos
Paladin of Souls - Lois McMaster Bujold
Brainiac - Ken Jennings
The Big Love - Sarah Dunn (reread)
The Edible Woman - Margaret Atwood (reread)
Red Seas Under Red Skies - Scott Lynch
November
Cranberry Queen - Kathleen DeMarco
Crimson Joy - Robert B. Parker
December
Playmates - Robert B. Parker
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - Barbara Robinson (reread)
The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas
Favourites
In no particular order, and I can only pick favourites from first reads. That's just the way it is. I originally tried to describe the plots of these books, but they all came out sounding hopelessly boring, and they’re really not! I love these books because they are about people being people, and (with one exception) for the authors’ writing styles.
The House in Paris - Elizabeth Bowen
The Heat of the Day - Elizabeth Bowen
Damn. Where has Elizabeth Bowen been all my life? (Right, right. Dead. She died in 1973, same year as Nancy Mitford.) I need to read everything she's ever written. These are drenched in atmosphere and place and character and true things. The Heat of the Day takes place in London during WWII and one of the characters comes to believe she’s dating a spy. The House in Paris takes place mostly in England, actually, and has sharp, well-done children (though the book mainly focuses on the parents of one of the children).
Wit's End - Karen Joy Fowler
The only book I read twice in 2008. Fowler's sense of humour is very like my own, and I thought this was pretty damn funny. I love Fowler’s voice. The mystery plot is totally weak, but there’s not a lot of it, luckily, and Fowler’s characters and character development and story-telling more than make up for it. Neat things: Crime-scene doll-houses, a mystery author as a major character, (liberal) politics, immortality cult history, Wikipedia wars and fannish culture. And found-in-an-attic letters. It’s a pop culture wonderland.
Happy All the Time - Laurie Colwin
I fell so hard for this book. I would totally have married it after just the first chapter. I wanted to make this last and also to devour it in one big bite. I made it last for two days, but it’s pretty damn addictive, so it was hard. (Though I did mumble something in my reading journal about the style being a bit much in large doses.) It made me giggle a lot. I want to read all of Colwin’s other books, but I’m worried I’ll wind up not liking this one as much if I do. Is that strange?
The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
This the odd book out on list because it’s the only one I don’t love for its use of language. Lynch’s writing is perfectly acceptable, but it is his plotting and world-building I love. I read Red Seas Under Red Skies too, but it wasn’t as good. (I imagine I’ll buy Lynch’s third book in paperback, though.) Neat things: glass cities, confidence games, real consequences, suspense.
So Long, See You Tomorrow - William Maxwell
If I had secret pretend boyfriends, William Maxwell would totally be my dead-fiction-editor-for-The New Yorker boyfriend, but only because it sounds snappy: the important thing about William Maxwell is that he can write. (Also, he is smart and kind.) I love his sentences.
At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays - Anne Fadiman
Anne Fadiman should write about EVERYTHING, and she should do it ALL THE TIME. That is all.
Human Croquet - Kate Atkinson
This was marvelous. All of the style and mystery and fun I expect of Atkinson, but with bonus literary references. It’s kind of dark, too, and pretty trippy. Fairly close to the top of my list of favourite books by Atkinson.