I read about 70 books this year, which is about my average. Best reads of 2007 (listed in order read)

Fiction

Book of Lost Things John Connelly

Suite Francaise by Irene Nimrovsky

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Pastors Wife by Eliz Von Arnim

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseinni

Non fiction

Mighty and the Almight by Madelene Albright

Banvard's Folly by Paul Collins

The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley

One Dead in the Attic by Chris Rose

Book of Incredible Journeys from Conde Nast

My Kind of Town Susan Orlean

Honorable Mention

Notes on a Scandal Zoe Heller

Sweetness in the belly Camilla Gibb

There is room for you by Charlotte Bacon

Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirvsky

Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

The Preservationist by David Maine

Favorite 'new' author: W. Somerset Maughm

I can only come up with seven books that I really liked this year. They are:

My Family and Other Animals
The book has several funny stories; Durrell does a great job of relating the "sense of wonder" when learning about different animals.

Another Sort of Learning
Father Schall has written a delightful collection of essays for people like me who made it all the way through college without managing to get a truly liberal education. The book talks about gathering books on diverse subjects for a personal library. Bibliophiles will love the lists, including: "SchallÂs Unlikely List of Books to Keep Sane By", "Books You Will Never Be Assigned", "Eight Collections of Essays and Letters Not To Be Missed", "Ten Books on Grace and Thought", and "Five Books Addressed to the Heart of Things".

The Glass Castle
A riveting account of the author growing up in a very dysfunctional family. The children were much neglected by their parents and had to fend for themselves most of the time.

Odd Thomas
Young Odd Thomas is a fry cook who can see the lingering dead. He uses his ability to solve crimes. This story is exciting and at times macabre. However, Koontz throws in some humor to lighten the story.

How Reading Changed My Life
This is a very brief book, more like a long essay, about the joys of reading. Quindlen mentions several books in her essay that you'll want to read.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
This was a great ending to the series.

The Adrian Mole Diaries
The fictional diaries of British teenager Adrian Mole are quite funny. They are also at times poignant and sad as Adrian deals with his dysfunctional family off-beat friends.

My favourites were:

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett
The Reader by Bernhardt Schlink
Feeling the Heat by Pat Lowe
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
Reading like a Writer by Francine Prose
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
Conversations with Capote by Lawrence Grobel

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Septembers in Shiraz by Daria Sofer
Jumping Over Fire by Nahid Rachlin
A Thousand Splended Suns by Khalid Hosseini
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

Perfume - Patrick Susskind
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Berniere
The Worst Hard Times (about the Dust Bowl) - Timothy Egan
Larry's Party - Carol Shields
Quartet In Autumn - Barbara Pym
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hossein
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller

I've read five books this year:

The Beautiful Boy - Germain Greer
Poop Culture - Dave Praeger
HP and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
Love over Scotland - AM Smith
The Careful Use of Compliments - AM Smith

I don't have a favorite.

Well, I just perused my book list for 2007, so far I have listed 116 books, only 4 of them I have not finished.

In no particular order:

Bad Luck & Trouble-Lee Childs
24 Hours-Greg Iles
One Thousand Splendid Suns-Khalid Hosseni
HP & The Deathly Hallows-J.K. Rowling
Secret Servant-Daniel Silva
Protect & Defend - Vince Flynn.

I have enjoyed many others, but these were the most memorable.

Pat

What a great year it has been for reading! Here are my favorite reads:

Fiction
Disgrace  J.M. Coetzee. My first exposure to this authorÂs work, and I loved it.
The Life & Times of Michael K Â J.M. Coetzee. The title character completely captivated me.
Nineteen Minutes  Jodi Picoult. The best novel IÂve read on a school shooting.
The Attack  Yasmina Khadra. Great story about a compassionate doctor whose is stunned when his wife turns out to be a suicide bomber.
Last Days of Summer  Steve Kluger. Honestly the most IÂve ever laughed out loud at a book.
How to Talk Like a Widower  Jonathan Tropper. Touching story about grief and healing. I really didn't expect to love this as much as I did.
The Kite Runner  Khaled Hosseini. I loved this book so much IÂm saving his second as the first read of the new year.

Crime Fiction
The Cloud of Unknowing  Thomas H. Cook. Even being prepared for a twist, I didnÂt see the end coming.
Sharp Objects  Gillian Flynn. A dark thriller, and a very different heroine.
Heart Sick  Chelsea Cain. A female Hannibal Lecter, yet it worked for me. But I closed my eyes at the scary parts.
Down River  John Hart. HartÂs first was one of my favorites last year, and the second was very different, yet great on its own.
The Woods  Harlan Coben. My favorite of all his books, which is saying a lot.
The Reincarnationist  M.J. Rose. Great mystery that splits between modern day and ancient Egypt.
No Dominion  Charlie Huston. HustonÂs series on a vampire set in an alternate New York City is dark and violent. Terrific stuff.

And a link below for all who love lists.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compilation of Best Books Articles

On checking through my list of 'books read in 2007' I find it was not a memorable year and cannot even remember what some of them were about and am not inclined to 'keep going' with boring stuff!

The older I get the less fiction I read but quite enjoyed:

Gilgamesh - Joan London
Gentlemen and Players - Joanne Harris
The Road Home - Rose Tremain

non-fiction

Brensham Trilogy - John Moore
Perch Hill - Adam Nicholson
Through Siberia by Accident - Dervla Murphy

Oh dear.. I also love lists and this thread will be transposed onto another list called "RPs Best in 2007" and popped into by TBR notebook - currently a 3-ring binder with a 3-inch ring and filling up fast. Thanks for keeping my notebook filled.

Best fiction:
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde, re-read
The Warden, Anthony Trollope
The Book Thief, Markus Zuzak
New Grub Street, George Gissing, re-read, in the top ten books read ever in my life
Ethel and Ernest, Raymond Briggs
Harry Potter #7
The Daughter of Time, Jospehine Tey
Fire in the Blood, Irene Nemirovsky

Best non-fiction:
Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer, re-read
Murder in the Adirondacks, Craig Brandon
No Idle Hands, oops.. forgot the author, but it is a social history of knitting and of America. Awesome!

Worst:
Little Children, Tom Perrotta
The Ice Storm, Rick Moody
The Chicago Way, Michael Harvey
The Optimist's Daughter, Eudora Welty
The Tenth Circle, Jody Piccoult, I think she is starting to go off the deep end.
The Gathering, Anne Enright, I just can't stop thinking what this book could have been in the hands of a gifted writer.

PAM

>The Road Home - Rose Tremain

That is coming out here on the first, and the bookstore is putting a copy on hold for me. It will be one of the first books I buy with my gift cards!

>The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde, re-read

Oh I loved that book. Haven't reread it in years but remember how it gave me the creeps the first time, but still kept going back to it.

Worst books? I don't finish what I don't like, but one that stands out is Pillars of the Earth. I cannot believe Ophrah chose this one, I can't believe so many people on Amazon think its the best book they've ever read, and I can't believe I actually read this in colleg. It had to have been a different book, coz even back then I would have tossed this one aside.

Worst book? Easy -- definitely "The Maytrees" by the acclaimed author A. D. Dillard, whose previous work I had always liked.

Cindy, I had never read "Portrait of Dorian Gray" until a few years ago and was bowled over by the power of this work. I may need to re-visit it....

My list reached 60 on Christmas Day, with Martin Gardner's The Annotated Night Before Christmas. The most memorable fiction for me in 2007:

The Terror, Dan Simmons
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
Gifts, Ursula LeGuin
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood

The non-fiction I liked the best:

Majestic Lights, Robert Eather, about the aurora
The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson, about tracing a London cholera outbreak to a particular well in Soho

I stack the books I've read, so this list was easy to compile. From 2007, but by no means written in 2007, the best books I read were:
desert solitaire // edward abbey
the tree of man // patrick white
escape from colditz // p.r. reid
master & commander // patrick o'brian
enemy at the gates // william craig
one very hot day // david halberstam

So there's 3 works of fiction (2 set in actual wars or conflicts), 2 non-fiction works re: war or connected to the consequences of war, and the book by edward abbey, which is "metaphysical" I guess.

My favorite "guilty pleasure" books are anything by edgar rice burroughs or elmore leonard, both of whom were/are prolific. I read a few of their respective books as well this past year.

The tragic auto accident that took the life of David Halberstam earlier this year occurred within 2 miles of my place of employment. I remember him every time I pass that intersection.

Some of my favorites from the year (includes books I've enjoyed from a critical standpoint as well as those that I enjoyed just as entertaining reads):

The Last Light of the Sun - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Remedy - Michelle Lovric (I'm probably in the minority for liking this one)
King Hereafter - Dorothy Dunnett
Kristin Lavransdatter - Sigrid Undset
The Antelope Wife - Louise Erdrich
A Dictionary of Maqiao - Han Shaogong
Perfect Circle - Sean Stewart
We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
The OrphanÂs Tales: In the Night Garden / In the Cities of Coin and Spice (two volumes) - Catherynne Valente
Liitle, Big - John Crowley

Best re-reads:
Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson
1984 - George Orwell

Best neglected little gem:
The Face in the Forst - John Bellairs

Disappointments:
Pillars of the Earth - Follett
Softspoken - Lucius Shepard
The Book Thief - Zusak (based upon my reading at the half point so far -- not a bad book, but so far I'm finding it overrated and dislike the gimmicky narrative device the author employs)

I've read about 85 books this year. Many were forgettable, some were enjoyable, some were downright horrid, and a few were standouts. My favorites:

General Fiction

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Perfume - Patrick Suskind
American Gods and Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
The Terror - Dan Simmons
The Piano Tuner - Daniel Mason
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
The History of Love - Nicole Krauss
Pretty Birds - Scott Simon
Mr. Pip - Lloyd Jones
His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman
The PeopleÂs Act of Love - James Meek
The Children of Hurin - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides
The Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

Crime Fiction/Mystery/Thriller

Silence of the Grave - Arnaldur Indridason
Bad Luck and Trouble - Lee Child
The Tin Roof Blowdown - James Lee Burke
In The Woods - Tana French
Find Me - Carol OÂConnell
Dexter in the Dark - Jeff Lindsay
Heartsick - Chelsea Cain
The Watchman - Robert Crais
City of Fire - Robert Ellis

Biggest Disappointment

The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai

From the 32 I recorded in my journal. (When I am reading the most, is when I neglect the journal!)

Best Books:

Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns
Bohljalian - Double Bind
Tyker - A Patchwork Planet
Eugenides - Middlesex
Gunning -The Widow's War
Doig - The Whistling Season
McCullough - 1776
Brinkman - Up High in the Trees
Patchett - Run
Barclay - No Time for Goodbye

Disappointments;
Lupica - Travel Team
Messyd - The Emporer's Children closed it before finishing
Sparks - The Choice Egads...has Sparks been taken over by aliens. While I would never describe his books as great literature...I usually can enjoy them, and have fun with them. This was torture!

>I had never read "Portrait of Dorian Gray" until a few years ago and was bowled over by the power of this work

PAM thats one of my fav books. Woodnymph there is an excellent movie based on the book, I think it came out in the 40s, if you are interested. Talk about shivers down the spine. BTW you both might want to take a look at more Oscar Wilde. He is one of my favorite authors from that time period (along with Bernard Shaw and Mark Twain). His plays are great fun: Good Husband and Importance of Being Ernest are my favs. I also love his quotes; see below

>desert solitaire // edward abbey

He's from my neck of the woods. Always have loved him; tho Monkey Wrench Gang is probably my fav

georgia, one of the interesting bits in our discussion of Book Theif was the narration. Many felt the same way you did; I liked it but certainly understand why it turned people off. I wonder if its similar to me not liking animal narrators. There are some that just love it; I find it incredibly silly.

Here is a link that might be useful: quotes from the work of Oscar Wilde

I've particularly enjoyed Leif Enger's Peace Like a River as well as Kristin Lavransdatter, The Painted Veil and Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Oh, and The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue, which had me wishing for a sequel.

I don't keep a list about books I read, so I don't know how many books I read this year. The tally can be any figure from 30 trough 45 I guess. After a quick glance at my shelves I picked as the best:

The Queen Gambit by Walter Tevis
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

the worst ones

The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham

grelobe

I have read 177 books so far this year. Here is a list of some I particularly enjoyed:

The Smoke, Tony Broadbent
The Tin Roof Blowdown, James Lee Burke
Water Like a Stone, Deborah Crombie
Peace Like a River, Leif Enger
The Christmas Pearl, Dorothy Benton Frank
In This House of Brede, a re-read, Rumer Godden
The last 17 books of the Morland Dynasty that are out in paperback, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
The Risk of Darkness, Susan Hill
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Merry Hall; Laughter on the Stairs; Sunlight on the Lawn, Beverley Nichols
At Some Disputed Barricade; We Shall Not Sleep, Anne Perry
The Secret Servant, Daniel Silva
A False Mirror, Charles Todd
The Hawk and the Dove, Penelope Wilcock

I have 29 books listed, although I suspect there are several missing. Of those, these are the best:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
The Interpretation of Death by Jed Rubenfeld
Fallen Angel by Andrew Taylor
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (not yet published)
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling

Special mention to Damien Leith for One More Time, a debut novel.

These are the books I marked with five stars this year:

The Terror by Dan Simmons
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead by Crystal Zevon
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Woman in Charge by Carl Bernstein

In addition to reading I also listen to many books but don't write them down. However, I know I thoroughly enjoyed (for approximately 86 hours!):

The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett

I've only just started keeping my book journal again (a lovely and already well-used Christmas present) but I can certainly mention His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, and Irene Nemirovsky's Fire in the Blood. I have just finished reading them and awarded five stars to each. Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise also ranks very high. I will definitely read as much of her work as I can find.

On the down side, I give -5 stars to one of my textbooks, Mechanical Ventilation by Susan Pilbeam. Containing way, way too much information for a beginning student and written in a dense, incomprehensible style, the book also has the dubious quality of weighing 12 lbs. This student was left with a pinched nerve in her shoulder after a semester of obeying the instructor's command to bring the text to every class, even though we only looked at it twice. (Sorry, I just had to vent.)

These are my 3 favorites reads of 2007:

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
These is my Words by Nancy Turner (comparable to "Lonesome Dove")

Also enjoyed:

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Least favorite read (book club pick)

Memory Keepers Daughter

I feel as if I've read dozens of books this year, but few of them would make my top ten list. Those I enjoyed the most were:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
His Dark Materials trilogy - Pullman
American Gods - Neil Gaimen
Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett

I'm hoping for some really good books in 2007.

It's not even the new year yet and I'm already messing up the date. That would be "hoping for good books in 2008!"

I had a really,really hard time this year picking out my Top 10. I
read several books this year I rated 5/5 (17 total), but did manage
to narrow it down to my Top 10:

1) Cities of the Plain--Cormac McCarthy
2) Half of a Yellow Sun--Chimanda Ngozi Adichie
3) The Stolen Child--Keith Donohue
4) The Great Gatsby--F.Scott Fitzgerald
5) The Girls--Lori Lansens
6) Affinity--Sarah Waters
7) The Garden Party and Other Stories--Katherine Mansfield
8) The Awakening--Kate Chopin
9) Through a Glass Darkly--Karleen Koen

10. The People's Act of Love--James Meek

And, for my Worst 10 of 2007 list:

1) The Inheritance of Loss--Kiran Desai
2) The Memory Keeper's Daughter--Kim Edwards
3) The Keep--Jennifer Egan
4) The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank--Ellen Feldman
5) Smilla's Sense of Snow--Peter Hoeg
6) Perfume--Peter Suskind
7) The Almost Moon--Alice Sebold
8) Summer of Night--Dan Simmons
9) The River Wife--Jonis Agee

10. Rumpspringa by Tom Shachtman

I read 88 books total in 2007--the exact same number I read in 2006.
As usual, my goal is to reach 100 in 2008.

Kelly

Gack, I think those days of 100+ reads are gone for me; the most I can usually do is 80 or so, and thats with my summer vacation reads. My problem is that I am reading longer books. I dunno, shouldn't a 500+ count as two? :)

>These is my Words by Nancy Turner

Thats my book groups selection this month. I haven't picked it up yet - for one thing I have read enough pioneer books, for another its about Arizona and I've read enough about the white settlers here. But I've heard good things about it. I should probably go just to hear the discussion.

>The Great Gatsby--F.Scott Fitzgerald

I read that for a college class and just loved it. Could never get into anything else by him, but that one is just a classic.

Please add this to my list of the Best of 2007 (and its a book with a 2008 pub date, go figure)

>The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Cindy, that's good to hear, I just ordered my copy of The People of the Book and can't wait for it to arrive. I hope it winds up on my 'best of' list for next year.

>These is my Words by Nancy Turner
>Thats my book groups selection this month. I haven't picked it up yet -

"These is my Words" was given to me by a friend along with a stack of 5 other books. It was the last one I read because I found the subject matter unappealing. However, I was immediately drawn into the story, into the main character's head. Probably because of the uniquie way it was written, first-person narrative journal format. The format enabled the reader to experience the main character's perceptions and misperceptions.....some of them quite hilarious! I didn't feel I was reading a story as much as experiencing it. A few friends and family members found the book in their Christmas stockings.
Okay, enough pushing.......I hope your book discussion goes well. Of course, it's always more fun if you actually read the book, right? :)

At this time of year I'm always behind on anything that isn't Xmas. But I kept a reader's journal for the 1st time since school days and am glad I did. Thanks to all of you for suggesting it. I don't know when I stared it since the entries aren't dated but I know it was last winter when I started. And I can now rember so many more books I read!

Favorites, Fiction

The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
Skylight Confession - Alice Hoffman (Loved the images in this one of the glass house. But I love Hoffman, usually.)
Chronicler of the Wind - Henning Mankell
Lords of Discipline - Pat Conroy (Re-read for trip to Charleston. Held up well and great descriptions of the city)
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen (Disliked the contrived ending but the rest was great.)
The B*stard of Istanbul - Elif Shafak Read this in prep for our trip to Turkey. Great job of contrasting cultures. And that family seemed similar to ones I saw in Turkey.)

Non-Fiction, I don't read enough of it.

The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
The Reach of a Chef - Mark Rhulman
Portrait of a Turkish Family - Irfan Orga

P.S. I don't believe that I was not allowed to print out the correct title of Elif Shafak's book! She was censored in Turkey but here!?! For a word that is laughably quaint?

>Of course, it's always more fun if you actually read the book, right? :)

Hee, sometimes :) If I don't care for a book I'll go anyway and listen to the discussion. That usually seals it for me if I read it or not; and if I do I am always very thankful for those perspectives. The only reason I really don't want to read it is that I live in Arizona and I just don't want to read another pioneer story. But I appreciate your comments and might just change my mind.

Yeah granjan, ironic isn't it. Yikes. Someone else here was trying to post a very famous poem but couldn't because it used a word that starts with f and rhymes with truck. Very childish, really - there was a very good reason the poet chose that word. But there we go.

I feel like I should start a written record of what I've read each year; it's getting so hard to remember. Anyway, from what I can recollect, and a quick perusal of my bookshelf:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--J.K. Rowling
His Dark Materials--Philip Pullman
Then We Came to the End--Joshua Ferris
Auschwitz Report--Primo Levi
I Capture the Castle--Dodie Smith
Heat--Bill Buford

Cindy,
Just a note to add my two cents. Run, don't walk, and grab a copy of These is My Words. I also read a lot of books about that time period, prairies, wagon trains, etc. But this is a GREAT book. Uh, but uh, don't buy it. Because if you bought and hated TWO books that I recommended, I might jump off of a bridge. (kidding.)

PAM

LOL! Dont worry, I suspect I'll be able to get it at the library first :)

I didn't make it to my personal goal of 200 books, but I did manage to read/listen to 189 books (even if many of them were re-reads). For my top 10 list, I am only including books that were new reads during 2007.
In no particular order:

Fiction

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Deephaven & Other Stories by Sarah Orne Jewett
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
Invisible Lives by Anjali Banerjee

Nonfiction (only had 4 that actually counted)

Murder in the Adirondacks by Craig Grandon
Sarah Orne Jewett (a biography) by Paula Blanchard
The Medicine Wheel Garden by E. Barrie Kavasch
The Creative Home Herbal by Susan Bellsinger & Tina
Marie Wilcox

Okay, I said I wasn't going to list any re-reads, but here are my top 5 favorite re-reads from 2007

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Farewell I'm Bound to Leave You by Fred Chappell

Yet another one -- "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer.

Rouan, I see on Amazon that there is a new Maisie Dobbs coming out soon. I've read and enjoyed all of them so far.

oh, mary, Into Thin Air is in my top ten forever. What an amazing experience, horrifying and mesmerizing at the same time. It has forever created a fascination with Mt. Everest for me.

PAM

carolyn ky,

That's great! I've read all of the series so far and have enjoyed each one.

I've started on the books I picked up at the library yesterday (on my lunch break as I foretold..). I finished The Game by Diana Wynne Jones, an interesting story of the Olympian gods living in modern days. Now I am about a third of the way through The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Vol 1. I am finding it very interesting and can see (to me at least) the evolution of Anne and other characters from Anne of Green Gables. Unfortunately, my library system doesn't have any further volumes so will have to interlibrary order them if I want to continue.

On my TBR table is Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass. For some reason, I don't seem to be able to get into it. Maybe I'll be in the right mood for it before it's due back at the library. I'd hate to not finish it as I've read all the rest of the series.

I tried to get into a new biography of poet Dylan Thomas, but it was so dry that I have discarded it momentarily for a riff on Emily Dickinson I found at the Publ. Lib. "The Sister" is by Paola Kauffman, written from the point of view of younger sister Vinnie, who was responsible for saving the fascicles of Emily's poems, found on scraps of paper, in drawers, after her death. The author has Vinnie analyze each family member, from Austin to Mabel to Susan, to the authoritarian father and passive mother. I rather like this novel.

Sorry, I posted this on the wrong thread. It was supposed to go on the new books 2008 thread. Mea culpa!

Snow Flower & the Secret Fan was wonderful.