>Set This House In Order, Matt Ruff

One of my fav books of all time. Amazing story.

My favs:

The March E.L. Doctorow

Small Islands Andrea Levy

Cloud Atlas David Mitchel

Hummingbird's Daughter Luis Urrea

Music and Silence Rose Tremain

Book Theif M. Zusak

Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Benieres

Birds Without Wings Louis de Benieres

Fingersmith Sarah Waters

I don't know if I have ten whole books that I just loved for 2006. Maybe I am not reading enough (is there ever time to "read enough"?) or maybe I chose poorly this year. But the great and awesome fiction category is sadly void of vast numbers of books.

Okay, enough whining.

Favorite newly discovered authors this year are both mystery writers:

Elizabeth George
John Dunning

Favorite non-fiction

The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
Under the Banner of Heaven - Jon Krakauer
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping - Judith Levine (this book is also one of my least-liked books but it keeps sneaking into my thoughts and I keep pondering it so that can only mean that something about it was more thought-provoking than originally suspected.)

Favorite work of literature never read before:
The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

Favorite re-read:
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

PAM

The Stolen Child: Keith Donohue

The Road: Cormac McCarthy (unforgettable!)

Turn of the Screw: Henry James

House of Mirth and Age of Innocence: Edith Wharton

Best re-read: Lord of the Flies: Wm. Golding

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
The Woman in Black - Susan Hill
Peace Like a River - Leif Enger
The Brief History of the Dead - Kevin Brockmeier
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
CorelliÂs Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
Affinity - Sarah Waters
The Stolen Child - Keith Donohue
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Bel Canto - Ann Patchett
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Out - Natsuo Kirino
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
Echo Park - Michael Connelly
The Hard Way - Lee Child

Best First Reads: not all new, but new for me!
The Stolen Child Keith Donohue
Thread of Grace Mary Doria Russell
Shadow Divers Robert Kurson
Alas, Babylon Pat Frank
Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons Lorna Ludvik
Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders John Mortimer

Favorite re-reads that I fit in this year:
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark
In This House of Brede Rumer Godden
Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor Anne Edwards
Royal Feud Michael Thorton
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
several of the Angela Thirkell Barsetshire novels

new-to-me mystery authors who I have collected this year-blessings on PBS and ABE books! I now own complete sets! They don't match, they're paperback and hardback, and some of the pages are verging on crispy-but I have them all on a shelf!
Ruth Dudley Edwards
Cyril Hare
Georgette Heyer-the mysteries

book I disliked the most:
Tattooed Girl Joyce Carol Oates. icky. received 12 thumbs down from the bookclub.

Small Island -- Andrea Levy
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer -- James L. Swanson
Pride and Prejudice -- Jane Austen
The Devil in the White City -- Erik Larson
The Innocent Man -- John Grisham
Mayflower -- Nathaniel Philbrick (even though I haven't finished it yet)

And, for sheer enjoyment:

The $64 Tomato -- William Alexander

The first ten books of the Morland Series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (and I have five more that have arrived this month from ABE--such riches!)
A Long Shadow; Charles Todd
Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth; Jacqueline Winspear
Summer of the Redeemers, Carolyn Haines
The Various Haunts of Men, Susan Hill
City of the Mind, Moon Tiger; Penelope Lively
Undaunted Courage, Stephen Ambrose
A Long, Long Way, Sebastian Barry
Pegasus Descending, James Lee Burke
Evil Intent, Kate Charles
Birds Without Wings, Louis de Bernieres
Under Orders, Dick Francis
Full of Grace, Dorothea Frank

My Antonia - Willa Cather
March - Geraldine Brooks
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
The Life of an Ordinary Woman - Anne Ellis (true life acct of pioneer woman in Colorado in late 19th century - written in her journal)
Talk Talk - TC Boyle
The Sunflower - Simon Wiesenthal (about forgiveness and whether it is possible when they have done something truly terrible to you)
Wicked - Gregory MacGuire
Dracula - Bram Stoker
Seasons on Harris: A year in Scotland's Outer Hebrides - David Yeardon
The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood

Fiction:

Abram's Daughters, the series by Beverly Lewis
Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
The Penge Bungalow Murders by John Moritmer...(Hey CC did you know a new Rumpole is out?....Rumpole and the Reign of Terror....my copy awaits me at the library)
Can't Wait To Get To Heaven by Fannie Flagg
The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood by Susan Wittig Albert

I can see that this list places me squarely in the Gentle Reads Faction. :)

Nonfiction:
Tapestry by Laurel Lee...a compilation of her journals plus new writings
Ex Libris by Ann Fadiman....a booklover's treat
I am sure there are others I can't think of right now, there was one about the astronauts Moonwalkers I think was the title.

Favorites rereads:
It seems I have done a lot of rereading this year, mostly my old faves....books by Kathleen Norris, Bailey White, Rumer Godden,Alexander McCall Smith, Stalking the Divine by Kristin Ohlson, The Best of Spiritual Writing, among others.

gbg, oh definitely a Gentle Reader

I also read the Winspear books and enjoyed them all.

gbg-it's in the TBR pile that I picked up today from the lib-after the New Year I plan to hibernate with the pile and lashings of tea. Bring on the snow days!

My top ten favorites this year were:

The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis
Gone With the Windsors by Laurie Graham
Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
A Writer's House in Wales by Jan Morris
Twelve Sharp (Stephanie Plum) by Janet Evanovich
She Got Up Off The Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel

Plus as a re-read, Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman.

Non-fiction

Flags of Our Fathers - James Bradley
Devil In The White City - Erik Larson
A Sorrow In Our Hearts - Allan Eckert

Fiction

Dead Secret - Beverly Connor
Eye of the Wolf - Margaret Coel

I've read so many, as usual, but loved Saturday by Ian McEwan. I just read a Ruth Rendell that was great....I thought I had read it, so was pleasantly surprised to find I had not.....The Crocodile Bird.

I see several listed The Stolen Child, and I agree that it's up near the top for me too. But my 2 favorites, hands-down, were Octavia Butler's Fledgling and Megan Whalen Turner's The King of Attolia. In non-fiction, my top books were Kurt Vonnegut's A Man Without a Country and Joseph Campbell's The Masks of God, Vol 1 (Primitive Mythology), which came from Mt.TBR.

Cheryl

I just finished another one I really enjoyed--Island Ghosts by Gillian Bradshaw.

Some of my faves this year--

Kafka On the Shore~Haruki Murakami
You Remind Me of Me~Dan Chaon
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint~Brady Udall
The Memory Keeper's Daughter~Kim Edwards
The Highest Tide~Jim Lynch

Looking forward to a new year filled with great reads! Happy new year everyone :)

Wharton's The House of Mirth

Nothing else read this year blew me away. I get a great deal of pleasure from remembering some of the books you have all listed. River, Kafka On the Shore is one of my favorite books ever. And the many that I haven't read have been moved up on my TBR list.

I didn't have any real standout this year (unlike last year when I was blown away by Cloud Atlas and could rave about Small Island) but here are my favourites from 2006:

In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant
A Catch of Convenience and
Taking Liberties by Diana Norman
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Music & Silence by Rose Tremain
Life Mask by Emma Donoghue
Buried by Mark Billingham
The American Boy by Andrew Taylor
The Messenger by Daniel Silva
The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth
What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

I think I sense a trend here - mystery/thriller or historical fiction only?

I am going to have to add a few more, having just finished Lisa See's wonderful "Snowflower and the Secret Fan." I reccommend this for anyone with an interest in Chinese culture, and it's beautifully written.

For nonfiction, my favorites were "Mayflower" and "Moscow Stories."

Thanks for all of the replies, and keep them coming! I've added several books now to my TBR list. Music and Silence, for instance, sounds fantastic and I can't wait to get my hands on it. I also broke down and finally added Small Island to my list. If so many people love it, I'm going to have to try it. Corelli's Mandolin also appeared more than once and sounds like a good read.

Carolyn, The Various Haunts of Men is not showing out yet in the U.S., but it sounds good. I put her Woman in Black on my list instead (thanks, colormeconfused). Charles Todd also sounds like a promising mystery author, so IÂve added the first book in the series to my list.

in no particular order I really enjoyed-
Marley and Me-Josh Groban
The Whole World-Julia Glass
The Power of Three-Laura Lippman
We Are All Welcome Here-Elizabeth Berg
Another Life-Sara MacDonald
Morland series-I am now up to book 23
How I Live Now-Meg Rosoff
American Cookery-Laura Kalpakian
Homestead-Jane Kirkpatrick
I know there are many more.

2006 was an unusually rich book year for me. Most years I am lucky to find one or two outstanding reading experiences, and perhaps half a dozen more that come close. It is amazing how many books I read to get those few peak experiences. Must be an addict, I suppose.

Here were the highlights of 2006, the books I could not put down, and hated to have end.

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Suceed by Jared M. Diamond
The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gournet Nation by David Kamp
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Inversions by Iain Banks
Bear Daughter by Judith Berman
King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

Here's hoping that 2007 will be equally abundant!

Rosefolly

Dorieann, I did buy The Various Haunts of Men in London, but I found one listing in the U.S. for it on abe.com and it is available on Amazon as a new hardback. I also read the second in the series from my public library. Hope you are successful in finding it. If you like mysteries, it's really good.

I realize I'm late to this but Xmas and the end of the year are too hectic for me to keep up with all of you!

Thanks for your lists. I would second the nominations of Peace like A River and
The Road
And I'd add Middlesex

I haven't done much reading over the last year.. But I did enjoy these two

Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory Howard Williams...

and

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka