I would post this in either of the 'Books' forums, however - I'm not.

[Bullwinkle925]

What is the ultimate. best. book you've read this year?

I think for me it will have to be "Middlesex". Fiction by Jeffrey Eugenides. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[graywarrior]

1. Tried reading it, couldn't get pat the first chapter.

It's me, not the book.

[Bullwinkle925]

4. Perhaps you will pick it up again and give it another go?

I admit the first chapter is a bit of a drag getting through, but the book really picks up and takes off after that. I will probably think about these characters for a long, long time. It is reminiscient for me in the same sort of style as "Accordion Crimes" which I also thoroughly enjoyed years ago.

So, do you have any book in mind that you've read this year that you would give a :thumbsup: to?

[graywarrior]

6. Yes, I could tell that it would be a great book eventually.

Can't read stuff like that when you're stuck in a 12 year old's emotional IQ.

[EFerrari]

23. That happens. Try again next week. I've stalled and then

at a later date, tried again with good success. :hi:

[Broken_Hero]

2. hmmm, tough one...

I would say the best single book I read was Needful Things...the best series I read this year was the HP series...only one more book to go, and that one is finished...:)

[thefool_wa]

3. Stranger in a Strange Land

Robert Heinlein changed my life.

Thou art God. All that groks is God.

If you have never read it, read it. If you have, read it again and again.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

25. Top of my all time list eom

[Arkham House]

5. Can't choose just one...but Ian McEwan's "Saturday"--

--is a fine book..."The Historian", a new take on the Dracula legend, is fascinating...(I'd give the author's name, but I've forgotten)...:blush: and Michael Kurtz's "The JFK Assassination Debates" does the impossible--talks about the JFK case in a calm voice and with a rational use of the evidence...and oh God--don't forget the best book of all, Ron Rosenbaum's "The Shakespeare Wars"...

[hopein08]

13. Elizabeth Kostova

The author of "The Historian."

Very good book but the rest of my family thought it was horribly boring. Too bad for them.

[Merrick]

7. A few

I'd have to say Dickens' David Copperfield since I just read it this year, but I'd also have to mention James Ellroy's "The Cold Six Thousand" which kicks ass as a fiction extrapolated from this country's sordid factual history during the 60s.

[Mojambo]

8. People's History by Zinn

A life changing book.

[YankeyMCC]

9. This year?

I just finished Bertrand Russell's "The History of Western Philosophy" and I think I have to say that is the ultimate book because it is going to affect me greatly. I say "going too" because it's getting me to do another deep examination of my own world view and I haven't parsed that all out yet by far.

"Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick is a close second.

And "Learning the World" by Ken MacLeod was probably my favorite Fiction

Though "River of Gods" by Ian MacLeod was also a very enjoyable read, surprisingly so.

"Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England" by William Cronon and "Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth" by Williams E. Rees, Mathis Wackernagel, and Phil Testemale

Don't you hate it when people can't answer a 'name one' question. :)

on edit: Oh Nutz, I forgot I read "People's History" by Zinn this year too. Gotta list that one.

[Bullwinkle925]

12. No, actually - I enjoy learning what other people are reading and would

recommend. Plus, an individual's book list speaks volumes (no pun intended) about that person.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

10. Can't Stop Won't Stop by Jeff Chang.

It's about the history of hip-hop, from 60s Jamaica, 70s Bronx and damn near everything after. Highly recommended if you're into that genre at all.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

11. Still in progress, but "A People's History of the Supreme Court"

Fascinating stuff.

[Bullwinkle925]

16. What is next on your reading list?

Are you methodically going through your stacks or going out for more to add to them?
By-the-way - Half-Price Books in Fremont is moving into a new location in March. Waaahhhh. I enjoyed stopping by there after walking the lake. Darn it.

[hopein08]

14. "Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece"

by Hugo Vickers. The second time I've read it, but it is amazing. Did you realize that Prince Philip's (Queen Elizabeth's husband) mother (Alice) was a diagnosed schizophrenic who hid a family of Jews in Greece during World War II (and is included at Yad Vashem) and formed a religious order to take care of the poorest children in Greece? And there is so much more to the story.

Running a close second is "The Prince of Tides" by Pat Conroy.

[GenDem]

18. That sounds really good.

Going to put that on my list.

[crim son]

20. I read a biographical account of her life but I don't know if

it was the book you're talking about. It was fascinating, but I love to read about exceptional women. Makes me humble. :)

[RetroLounge]

15. Just one? Can't say which one...

Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger was pretty darn amazing

Just finished The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve. Very good...

Population 485 by Michael Perry was quite good. I'm reading his new one now, Truck: A Love Story.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon was very good too.

RL

[GenDem]

17. I loved "Middlesex"

Also read - "Messiah of Morris Avenue" - very good novel about Jesus coming back as a poor hispanic kid in the ghetto in the not so distant future. It was kind of like "A Handmaids Tale" because the christian fascists have taken over. Guess who the new Jesus doesn't want to hang out with?

Other books that I liked this past year - "Time Travelers Wife", "Curiosity of the Dog in the Nighttime", "Kite Runner", "Peace Like a River", all of the David Sedaris books are hilarious if you need a good laugh.

[crim son]

19. "Vanity Fair" by WM Thackeray.

I never get tired of reading it.

[InternalDialogue]

21. "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts.

It was around a month or so of evenings' reading for me, but an epic well worth the time.

[EFerrari]

22. Palimpsest. Gore Vidal's first memoir.

I never wanted to read again after I put it down.

He has a new one out which is also to die for.

But the first one is to die for first.

:hi:

[chknltl]

24. "Messeges From Michael" Chelsea Quinn Yabro

(Spiritualist stuff...makes plenty of sense in my life though)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

26. "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

A book like Catch 22 that will leave you with perma-smile lines on your face.

[haf216]

27. I have two that I can't pick between,

The Great Deluge by Douglas or The Dogs who Found Me by Ken Foster

[hfojvt]

28. ooof. I wonder if I have even read a book this year.

I'm not sure I have. Perhaps "The Overworked American" but that may have been last year. I got halfway through "Wait! Don't move to Canada!" but it seems moot after the recent election. After New Year's Day, then we start working on 2008. I got "What Liberal Media?" from the Library, but only got 1/3 way through before it was over-due.

And to think I was once a member of the DU book discussion book. Heck, maybe that was this year even that I read "Affluenza" for that. Seems like a long, long time ago.

[Dirty Hippie]

29. It's between Pro ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Basic 2005 - They ROCKED!

I need a life.

[Bullwinkle925]

32. Yes, indeed. You do need a life. Poor thing.

blecchhhhh :puke:

[MissHoneychurch]

30. Read that too

fantastic read!!!

Another book I enjoyed this year tremendously: Russell Shorto "The Island at the Center of the World"

and Matt Ruff "Set this house in order"

[jane_pippin]

31. The Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian

"A hospital is preserved, afloat, after the Earth is flooded beneath seven miles of water. Inside, assailed by mysterious forces, doctors and patients are left to remember the world they’ve lost and to imagine one to come. At the center, a young medical student finds herself gifted with strange powers and a frightening destiny. "

http://store.mcsweeneys.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/catalog.detail/object_id/A9BEDCDE-47AF-41CA-B146-4B4BBEA9F44B/TheChildrensHospital.cfm