A Work in Progress

Looking Forward to 2009

 

Even though I always tell myself I'm not going to make any (or at least many) plans for the upcoming year, I can't quite help myself thinking about it a little bit.  I am going to try and keep things as simple as I can.  I like the idea of just choosing my books in an organic sort of way.  One book leading to the next.  So you might just see some of the above books in upcoming posts.  Then again you might see some completely different books!  I just hope I can read more from my own piles, and hopefully include some of these books.

There are two challenges I would like to work on, only because they allow me to read some books I've been meaning to read for ages.  I've come up with a list of books for both the What's in a Name challenge (one book already completed) and the 9 in 2009 challenge (two books already in progress).  I'm pretty laid back about challenges, though.  If I finish them--wonderful, if not, that's okay, too.

I'm not going to read a short story a week like I did this year.  You can see my handiwork here.  Although I really enjoyed reading short stories, writing about them every week could at times be challenging.  Towards the end it felt a little bit like work, though I have to say the stories have remained fixed in my mind much better than had I not written about them.  I do plan on trying to keep one story collection on the go most of the time (let's just hope it's not the same one all year long!), and writing about the collection as a whole.

I wouldn't mind reading essays in the same way I read stories, but I don't want that to end up like work either, so we'll see.

I do want to read more nonfiction.  Much more nonfiction!  I read a pathetically small number of NF books this year and I have so many good ones waiting for me, it's a pity to let them languish.  

That just leaves what nice, long, epic read I'm going to choose for 2009.  It's become a little bit of a tradition with me to choose at least one really long novel to keep me busy.  I think this year I'll work on Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time.  The series of books is made up of four movements, each movement including three novels.  I've got the first movement ready to go, though I don't expect to start until after I finish Bleak House.  The serial novel has been called one of the "most important works of fiction since the Second World War".  The first set of novels features four different young men on the threshold of manhood.  "Powell's epic creates a rich panorama of life in England between the wars."       

Happy New Year and happy reading in 2009 everybody!

Best Reads of 2008

I really like Cornflower's comparison of favorite reads to chocolates in a chocolate box.  How do you "compare the light and fluffy with the dark and bitter, the soft buttercream with the rich ganache?"  Being a chocolate connoisseur, I can appreciate the distinctions between a light fluffy buttercream and a rich, dark truffle.  Sometimes only a chocolate filled with caramel and dipped in pecans will do.  The thing is, books meet different needs and they may be light and fluffy or they may be challenging and dense.  The prose may be elegant and uplifting or the plot may grab me and push me to read at breakneck speed, but I need and appreciate them equally for what they can give me despite their differences.  

So with that in mind I looked over my list of reads this past year and tried to decide which were particularly satisfying to me.  I could easily have made my list twice as long, but the idea is to pick the best right?  That's not to say that I didn't greatly enjoy  many other books I read.  As a matter of fact I think I take some authors for granted as they continually put out marvelous books (I'm mostly thinking mysteries here).  So without further ado, here are some of my favorites from 2008 (in no particular order):        

Sue Gee's Mysteries of Glass  - I loved this book.  It's a gorgeous story set in the English countryside during Victoria's reign.  A curate on his first assignment falls hopelessly in love with the vicar's lovely young wife.  It's a beautiful book both in the story it tells and the evocation of time and place.  The prose is perfect as Gee tells the story of the inner lives of the characters enmeshed in a web of deceit.  More...   

Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves - This was a surprisingly good book.  Actually it was a great read for me.  It was surprising only that I enjoyed the setting as much as I did, though I had heard many good things about the writing.  Penney won the Costa Award for it in 2006.  For some reason the frigid Canadian wilderness in the 1800s didn't appeal to me at the time, but I knew I wanted something good to read, so I took a chance.  It was a completely absorbing read and I loved how she constructed the plot using both first and third person narrators and multiple perspectives.  It sounds a bit complicated and it was, but it worked very effectively for me!  Isn't she writing  more?  I would happily follow her back into the Canadian wilderness!  More...

Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca - Rebecca was a reread and one that I had enjoyed the first time round at that.  I'm still counting it as a favorite as I think I appreciated (and got it) far more this time than at the first go (which was many years ago).  It's a classic story of gothic horror, though the horror is psychological.  I think this is du Maurier's masterpiece as she follows the young narrator's struggle with a dead nemesis, Rebecca.  This is just such a perfect novel that works on so many levels.  More...  

Richmal Crompton's Family Roundabout - Richmal Crompton is one of my great finds this year (there are several on my list).  Persephone Books has brought her back out of obscurity, and though many people had recommended this book to me, I was slow to pick it up.  Once again I thought I would find a 'family story' not terribly exciting--that I wouldn't be able to relate to it not having children of my own.  However, I can't say enough good things about it.  It's well written, and while the story is quiet and introspective I never found it boring.  The opposite is true.  From the very first pages I fell into the rhythms of the lives of the two families portrayed and was sorry to see the story come to an end.  I only wish more of her books were in print.  More...   

Mollie Panter-Downes' One Fine Day - This is a beautifully descriptive story told over the course of 'one fine day' about an ordinary Midlands family.  I could easily read and reread some of the passages Panter-Downes wrote in this book.  It's set in post-WWII England looking forwards but still feeling the effects of the past.  She captures perfectly the lives of one family as Britain was changed irrevocably after the War.  Panter-Downes is another of my great finds.  I read one of her earlier (now out of print) novels this year as well, which was very good but not quite up to the same standard as One Fine Day.  More...  

Tobias Wolff's Old School  - This book was a pleasure to read for a variety of reasons.  How could any reader not appreciate a story about one writer's beginnings?  Although fiction, this was also autobiographical, so there was a feeling of genuineness to the story.  And Wolff writes with crisp, clear, elegant prose that made it a delight to read and hear the sentences in my head.  Both this book and the Sue Gee novel were unplanned reads, each book a choice for Cornflower's reading group, which just goes to show you sometimes the best reads are the ones that happen serendipitously.  I wrote about it here and here.  

Virginia Nicholson's Singled Out - I read a pathetically small number of nonfiction this year.  On the up side, every NF read was a really good one and I would mention them all here, but somehow that seems to defeat the purpose of this list.  Singled Out stands out as an especially good book.  It is not dry history, but Nicholson writes in an interesting and enlightening fashion about a period I've been very interested in.  The book is very anecdotal with lots of personal history and it has one of the best bibliographies I've come across in a long time.  I wrote about it here and here.  

Wilkie Collins' Armadale- I'm pretty much a sucker for anything by Wilkie Collins, though I have to say Armadale is my favorite of his books that I've read thus far.  I read most of the book in 2007 but didn't finish until the early months of this year, but I'm still counting it here.  It's a novel full of confused identities, murder, revenge, illicit love--you know, everything necessary in a good Victorian tale (as only Wilkie Collins can write it).  I wrote about it here and here.

Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel - Is it possible to dislike a main character (at times intensely) yet still love the story she tells?  Hagar Shipley is one of the meaner old women I've encountered in fiction, yet it was hard at times not to feel sympathetic to her no matter that she often made life even more difficult than it needed to be.  It's the sign of a truly masterful author who can pull that off.  More...

Jo Nesbo's The Redbreast - Ah, Harry Hole.  I like Harry.  A lot.  Yes, right here, another great find.  Scandinavian crime writers seem to pop off excellent crime fiction effortlessly.  The Redbreast is a complex, fast paced, engrossing story set in Norway that flips back and forth in time.  I love a good, gritty crime novel now and then and Jo Nesbo's book fit the bill perfectly.  More...

It's hard to keep the list to a simple ten, so I have two honorable mentions.  I love historical fiction, so I have to add Catherine Delors' Mistress of the Revolution to the list. I sometimes think that historical fiction gets a bad rap--like it's all just fluffy romance set in an earlier era with a few historical details thrown in for good measure.  You'll change your mind if you read Mistress of the Revolution--it's intelligent, literate (and very accurate) fiction.  Delors is French and knows well the subject about which she writes.  Check out her blog, Versailles and More, for a taste of French culture and history.  I wrote about Mistress here.

Linda Gillard is a contemporary author who deserves to be better known.  Actually I think she's fairly well known in the blogging community, but her work should be more widely read and talked about.  I've greatly enjoyed two of her novels, most recently Star Gazing.  Linda's heroines are always strong characters, unique but not always in the way you expect them to be.  I hesitate to call her books romances, though I think (unfortunately) that's how they're classified.  The situations and characters are never typical or conventional.  There's always more at work in her stories than what you see on the surface, and the resolution to the story is not necessarily an easy one.  She writes with clear prose and her settings are magical.  I wrote about it here.   

So, there you have it.  A dozen good books I can heartily recommend to you!

A Few Numbers from 2008

 

It's always interesting to look back over the year and see how my reading progressed--did I stick with my reading plans or veer off on unplanned paths?  I tend to be pretty predictable, but I still like comparing from year (2007) to year (2006).  I'm going to cheat a little as I am nearly finished with my short story collection, so I'll count that in now.  And with two  more days left in the year and (finally) no plans I might even finish another book as well.  Here's what my reading year for 2008 looked like:

• Books completed: 84  
• Fiction (not mysteries or short stories): 59
• Nonfiction: 6
• Classics: 15
• Books from the Modern Library list: 1
• Mysteries: 16 
• YA novels: 0
• Books written by women: 70
• Books written by men: 14
• Books written by multiple authors: 0 
• Books by American authors: 18 
• Books by British authors: 52
• Books by Canadian/Australian authors: 2
• Books in translation: 8 
• Short story collections: 3 
• Individual stories: At least 52 but probably a few more
• Graphic novels: 1
• Plays: 0
• Virago Modern Classics: 5 
• Persephone Books: 3
• Books read that were checked out from the library: 23 
• Rereads: 2
• Different books by the same author: 5 (Wilkie Collins, Georgette Heyer, Mollie Panter-Downes, Margery Allingham and Ruth Rendell)

I contemplated breaking down my reads by centuries, but the vast number of books I read were solid 20th century publications, with a smattering of 19th and 21st century books.  And most of the contemporary novels I read were actually historical novels.  I read even fewer books by men this year than last as well as fewer classics (and I was pretty generous in what I considered a classic!).  It was a little tricky figuring out which books were by British or American authors.  Do you considered someone born in the UK but now living in the US American or British?  I counted them as British.  In any case I already knew I've been reading far more British authors than American and not as many books in translation than I hoped.  Not even 10% of the books read were nonfiction!  But I did read more short stories and a few more mysteries.  Maybe next year I can get a bit more variety in my reading? 

Last Short Story(ies) of the Year

Since today is my last short story day of the year (I've been a dedicated short story reader for nearly every Sunday of this past year), I had wanted to pick something fun to read, maybe a new story from the New Yorker or something humorous, but I am a little behind in my plans.  I was doing well, making progress in Wave me Goodbye, but then last week I (as usual) didn't get in as much reading time as I had hoped and didn't pick up this book even once.  You probably thought you finally saw the back cover of it, didn't you?  But with only three (well, three and a half if you count the rest of today) days left in 2008 and about a third of the book left to read, I'm afraid it's a few more WWII stories.  I only wish I could speed read the last hundred or so pages, but I am hopeless when it comes to reading quickly.

I still plan on reading short stories next year, but I'll be approaching them in an entirely different manner (but more about that later).  Still, I think I can manage to finish the last handful of stories before the year fizzles out, but you're going to have to bear with me just one more day.  I still think this is an excellent collection even if it has taken me ages to read it (pretty standard for me really when it comes to short stories!).

Even though the collection is all war stories, it's not all dire reading.  It's been interesting to read about the home front from a woman's perspective.  Margery Sharp was a prolific writer of not only short stories, but novels for adults and children, as well as plays.  She was popular in the 1930s both in the US and UK for her light comedies, and in "Night Engagement" she shows us that even through war life and love must go on.  Where's a nice girl to find friends and more importantly a good beau when "shelter life" is just a constant passing through of people.  You'd not think being bombed in a shelter (literally having the thing fall in on you) would be a good thing, but it is for Doris when she finally meets "ever such a nice young fellow".   

Diana Gardner was a dedicated short story writer from the age of 11.  Persephone Books has even published one of her story collections, which I will have to add to my list as I enjoyed "The Land Girl" enormously.  With so many men off to war women not only filled their jobs in factories and other businesses, but on the land as well.  It wasn't just the middle classes but upper class women also heard the call and did their part for the war effort.  "The Land Girl" is told in first person quite effectively.  Una is a young woman, but also a lady who works hard on the land, and though the farmer approves of her, the farmer's wife does not.  Let's just say Una doesn't put up with any crap from anyone, and she takes her revenge.  I'm not sure whether to account for her actions due to social class or youth--maybe a combination of both.

"The Sailor's Wife" by Anne Chadwick, was quite clever.  It is an autobiographical story, as Chadwick herself was married to a sailor.  The young woman who is the sailor's wife in the story is under pressure to find some sort of lodging for herself and her baby while her husband is at sea.  She's followed him to the coast to be near him when he's on leave.  Between an RAF station and a torpedo factory it seems there's not a spare room to be had as she goes from house to house knocking on doors and making enquiries.  It just goes to show you how times have changed as the young woman was able to leave her baby in its pram with the hotel housemaid only to keep an eye on it (and if I read correctly the baby was even left out of doors!).  So as time runs out and she can find no room (she must get back to her child), she's suddenly knocked down by a lorry.  There's this wonderful scene as all the images and refusals run through her mind--you can just feel the tension she's been under.  It's a blessing in disguise, however, as she's able to make a deal regarding a room with the lorry driver through a bit of finagling.  It's always good to have a bit of leverage in cases like these.

I've really enjoyed reading short stories this year, and thanks to Kate's Short Story Reading Challenge for giving me the impetus to actually stick with a plan for once.  I've discovered quite a few wonderful new (to me anyway) authors via their short stories.  I've added names to my wishlist and story collections to my TBR piles.  Hopefully I'll keep up the trend in 2009--there are certainly a fair few books and authors I want to get to.

Reading Notes: The Tiger in the Smoke

The more I read Margery Allingham's mysteries the more I like her work.  She writes wonderful cozy mysteries, but they're smart, intelligent (well written) cozies!  The Tiger in the Smoke really deserves a more insightful post than I'm going to give it, but I'm feeling a bit lazy and faced with such an intricate plotline that makes up this story, I think I'll direct you instead to Cornflower's wonderful description and the subsequent discussion of the book, which shed invaluable light on things for me.

I will say that though this is an Albert Campion mystery, he takes a backseat in the proceedings.  I got my first taste of  aristocratic Albert Campion's quirkiness in Mystery Mile, which was a much lighter read in a variety of ways.  Mystery Mile is Allingham's second (though the first really proper Campion mystery where he is a true sleuth in his own right) novel.  The Tiger in the Smoke was written much later, and as you would expect Albert is older and more mature. 

I had no idea that London is (was?) referred to as "The Smoke", though curiously after just learning this, I've come across the reference in another of my books recently as well!  The Tiger in the Smoke is set in a dull, gloomy, post-WWII London.  It's an extremely dark and atmospheric novel.  November brings with it dense fog, which presses down on characters and story alike.  To be honest I felt a bit in a fog as I was reading, but persevered until the plot untangled itself.  It's a mystery worthy of a more careful reread.  Not only is the weather dark, but so are the villains--none of your garden-variety murderers here. 

The story opens with a young woman, a widow, planning on remarrying.  For five years she's believed that her husband was killed in the war, but all of a sudden someone has been sending her photos of a man resembling him.  The confusion and doubt is relayed to Albert Campion, a friend of the family (peripherally anyway), and by association, the police.  It may be a simple case of blackmail, but then bodies start turning up and things become messy for both Meg and her fiancé, Geoffrey.  This is a novel where details are important (well, no doubt with any mystery, but this is one where you can't let your mind wander) and relationships particularly so.  I had to backtrack a few times as I was muddling people, and one of Allingham's strengths are carefully developed characters.     

For a slender novel (though one with tiny print) this story packed quite a punch.  It is considered Allingham's best work, and the biographical sketch notes that Allingham has been compared to Dickens in "her evocation of the city's shady underworld".  I had already decided I would go back to the beginning and read all the Albert Campion mysteries in order, and this only confirmed my plans.  Happily Felonly & Mayhem Press has been reprinting her books on this side of the Atlantic.  Margery Allingham has been one of my great mystery finds of the year!       

More Holiday Reading

 

I'm thinking 2009 might just be my year of nonfiction reading as I have two more (much wished for) interesting reads to add to my growing NF reading list.  Along with these two books I received several very generous gift cards to bookstores yesterday, one of which I might just be using this afternoon!  Have you ever noticed that bookstores don't have quite the same sort of slashed prices sales as other retailers do?  Still, I might have a coupon or two around.  I have wanted The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters edited by Charlotte Mosley since it was first published.  I also have a biography of the family to read next year as well.  Joshua Zeitz's Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern also was under the Christmas tree for me, and it looks like fascinating reading--more about an era I've been especially interested in.   

 

I might as well mention a few books that I bought before the holidays.  I decided to just order Roberto Bolano's 2666 (since I had no luck finding it locally), as I have been hearing so many good things about it.  I've never read him, but it's time to find out what all the fuss is about, and I also want to read more contemporary fiction as well as foreign authors next year (but then I say that every year, I think).  

I find myself spending more time these days browsing in the mystery section than fiction.  I used to have no trouble walking away with a stack of books by new to me fiction authors, but I find I am more selective and can never quite decide what to buy.  I somehow feel safer with older, tried and tested authors or novels that come recommended to me by others.  We'll see how I fare later today.  I was pleased to find two new mystery/suspense authors, however.  Sophie Hannah's Little Face is called a "seamless thriller with all the foreboding of Rebecca"!  That's quite a comparison, since not many can outdo Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca in my opinion!  Stella Rimington's Secret Asset sounds a bit more like a traditional espionage story, which I don't normally read, but for some reason I have this great desire to give it a try.  Maybe I've found a new genre to discover!  I'm trying not to diverge from my holiday reading plans, but it's hard when they all look so tempting!

Happy Holidays!

 

Happy Holidays everyone, however you celebrate the season!  I actually finished my Christmas sheep, aptly named Fa La La.  He has donned his stocking cap to keep his ears warm, but then he has a nice wool coat, so he probably manages the cold weather better than I do!  I hope your day is filled with family, friends, much happiness, good food, and maybe even a book or two under the tree!

Early Christmas Surprises

 

Last night I saw a friend who lives out of town that I have not seen in ages.  Every year we have a little gift exchange, though this year she really outdid herself.  I love art books, but I rarely buy them for myself, so it was a lovely surprise to get not one but two from her.  Both are books that have been on my Amazon wishlist for a while.  My wishlist is less an actual wishlist as a list of books I want to remember and possibly buy someday, so she really floored me when she handed me two large and very heavy packages to open.  I'm sure I'll be spending more than a few hours pouring over Art: The Definitive Visual Guide with a forword by Ross King and Fashion: A History from the 18th to the 20th Century from  the Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute.  I especially love the two volume set (which is also slipcased) on fashion.  It is a gorgeous set of books and the clothes are really fascinating to look at.  Both books are lavishly illustrated and I am feeling especially spoiled at the moment!

The Glassblower of Murano

The Glassbower of Murano by Marina Fiorato is a fluffy meringue of a book, though actually not too fluffy.  It's been excellent vacation reading particularly as I sit inside listening to the cold north wind blowing in subzero temperatures, tucked under my electric blanket and fantasizing about being in beautiful (and no doubt much more temperate) Venice with Nora Manin, or Leonora as she reinvents herself.

The Glassblower of Murano is a combination of historical fiction set in 17th century Venice, or the Republic of Venice as it was known then, a very cutthroat place to live if you were a talented artisan, as well as a contemporary romance set in England and Venice.  The two tales run parallel and finally converge nicely at the end with a mystery to unravel as well.

Nora is half-Venetian, the product of a failed marriage between a British professor and a gondolier.  When Bruno Manin, Elinor's Venetian husband refuses to return to England with her, the couple part.  He never writes, and it isn't until much later that we learn the reason why.  So Nora is raised in an all-female household by her mother and grandmother, eventually becoming a sculptor.  She faces bitterness of her own when she discovers her husband has been having an affair and leaves Nora for his expectant girlfriend.  Since her life is in turmoil she decides to recreate it by returning to her Venetian roots hoping to become a glassblower, the craft of the Venetian side of her family.

We meet Corradino Manin in the opening chapters, Leonora's ancestor, one of the most skilled glassblowers in the history of Venice.  I mentioned it was all a bit cloak and dagger as the novel begins.  The Republic of Venice was known far and wide for its glassblowing and the ruling body, The Council of Ten, went to great measures to ensure their secrets stayed safely tucked away on the island of Murano.  When Corradino is tempted by the French to sell his methods, the succeeding treachery wrought on all sides will be felt for generations.   

Fiorato gives a tantalizing glimpse into what the world of glassblowing must have been like, the skill necessary and the danger involved.  I had no idea that the glassblowers were all but imprisoned on the island to keep their secrets safe!  And the contemporary side to the story had a satisfying, though not too gushing or over the top, love story in it.  And yes, there is even a bit of a mystery that must be researched and solved.  Leonora gets a happy ending (though a bit of a rocky road along the way) and finds out the truth about her ancestor Corradino.  So all in all this was a perfect holiday read.  Marina has been included in the Spread the Word Books to Talk About long list, and I wish her well in making the short list.  You can see the full list of nominees here.  I've already got her forthcoming book, Madonna of the Almonds in my book pile.  It is set in sunny Tuscany, and if the Arctic freeze continues here, I might have to escape into its nice, warm pages sooner rather than later!  By the way, The Glassblower of Murano is due to be published in the US in May 2009.

Best of 2008: The Book Bloggers' Lists

 

I recently posted a list of 'Best Books of 2008'as chosen by some of the larger media outlets, but many readers noted they preferred bloggers' 'Best of' lists, which have started popping up recently.  I'm not quite ready to post my list, but I've been avidly checking out everyone else's lists.  This is usually where I get myself into trouble--adding new titles to my wishlist, buying ever more books, and generally messing up my own reading plans as I'm seduced by books that are certain to be excellent reads.  So, without further ado, here are some fellow bloggers' best reads of 2008:

Litlove has broken her favorites down into categories.   

Cornflower's nonfiction favorites and her fiction picks.

Somer's Best of 2008 choices.

Torque Control's Best Novels of 2008 according to SFX readers.

Sam's Top 15 Reads of 2008, which includes a list of fiction as well as nonfiction.

Harriet Devine has also broken her Best of 2008 list into categories as well (and I have to agree Alison Light's book was excellent).

Ted has already listed his favorite Fiction, Nonfiction, Short Fiction as well as best Young Adult Fiction and Sci Fi reads.     

John has shared his Best Short Story Collections of 2008, which will come in handy as I plan on concentrating less on individual stories next year and more on collections. 

Bluestalking Reader has shared her 2008 Wrap-Up.

BooksPlease has posted her Best Books of 2008 by choosing a favorite read of each month of the year. 

Sibylle's Best Reads of 2008 list contains many books that are already in my piles! 

 Elaine's Books of the Year 2008 includes several titles that I have had on my TBR pile and am determined to read in 2009!  And I must check out Patricia Wentworth, too, I see.

Rob's Favorites of 2008 include not only books but music and movies as well. 

Oxford Reader's Top Reads of 2008 is another list that mentions a few that I hope to read next year.

Check out Ella's list of books she Read, Reread, Forgot, Enjoyed, Hated and Adored in 2008 and  I heartily concur that Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle is a wonderful read (must get it out and reread it sometime soon). 

Victoria's End of the Year Review includes favorites as well as a few reading statistics. 

Kimbofo's Best Reads of 2008 Part 1 and Part 2.  She always distills her thoughts down to such perfect little essences of each book, I usually want to give them all a try whether they would normally appeal to me or not.     

Dovegreyreader has chosen a dozen good reads: here, here, here, and here.     

Ana has chosen her top historical fiction reads.  I heartily concur with her choice of Catherine Delors' book! 

Katherine's Best reads of 2008 includes several titles I hope to get to in 2009. 

Marg's Best of 2008 has more juicy historical fiction finds.

International Noir Fiction's Best Crime Fiction Reads of 2008.  

Simon's Stuck in a Book's Books, which includes links back to his original posts. 

Hayden's Best Books of 2008. 

Melanie's Best of 08 includes a collection of short stories by Rosamond Lehmann--an author I said I would read her entire collection of work--I'll keep going next year (and will look for this Gipsy's Baby!). 

Kailana has shared her Best of 2008 historical reads. 

Musings of a Bookish Kitty's Year in Review.

Matt's Reading Wrap Up. 

Robin's 2008 Round Up.

Sassymonkey's Notable Books for 2008. 

A Life in Book's 2008: A Year in Review.

Dorothy's Best reading Experiences of 2008. 

Iliana's 2008 Favorites.    

Bookbath's 2008 Best of the Best.

Eva's 2008 Warap-Up.  (Oh, to read as many books as she can--just think how many NF books I could get through! :) )

Susan's Favorite Books.  (I really do need to read Rebecca West this year!).

Jenny's Year's End, 2008. 

Book Addiction's Top Reads. 

Ex Libris' 2008 in Retrospect. 

Carl's 2008: A Literary Year in Review.  (He always has the best illustrations to go with his posts!).    

Andi's Favorites of 2008.

Bloggin' 'bout Books' 2008: Year in Books. 

Krakovianki's Best Books of 2008. 

Tara's Best reads of 2008 . 

And I have to share Stefanie's 'anti' Top Ten List, which is made up of ten books she didn't get to read this year (I have a few of those myself...).

And don't worry, Stefanie shared her 2008: A Pretty Good Year, too! 

I'll be adding to this list as I come across more 'Best ofs'.  If you've already shared your list and I missed it, please let me know, and I'll add it here.  It's interesting to see where the media's lists and bloggers' lists cross paths (if indeed they do...).