Notable Reads of 2008

Like every year, 2008 was a year of books that made be laugh and made me cry.  Those that left me awed by the author’s talent, and thirsty for more.

The Best:

• Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
• Marley & Me by John Grogan
• Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
• Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and In Defense of Food:  An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
• The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
• Alice at Heart by Deborah Smith
• The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James
• The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho

Honorable Mention

• World Without End by Ken Follet
• Peony in Love by Lisa See
• The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
• Unaccustomed Earth and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Weirdest:

• Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore

The Most Fun:

• Julia’s Chocolates by Cathy Lamb

. . . and those that I just wanted throw at the wall.  Or even in the trash, though I could never actually do that to book!  But, geez, Iron Cowboy was such a waste of paper.

The Worst:

• Iron Cowboy by Diana Palmer
• Fearless by Diana Palmer
• In the Wake of the Plague:  The Black Death and the World it Made by Norman F. Cantor
• A Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber (also Most Disappointing)