Books I Read in 2007

(symptom: being excessively engaged in tasks that require exquisite attention to detail, such as list-making)

Summary 

84 books by 61 different authors (having read 10 by Kage Baker, 7 by Stephen King, 5 by Graham Joyce, 3 by Catherine Asaro, and 2 each by Charles Stross and Ha Jin) from 14 different countries (including Chile, Sudan, Russia, Japan, and Nigeria).

Genres

Horror, <1%

Alternate history, <1%

Humor, <1%

Fantasy, <1%

Thriller/suspense, <1%
Action & adventure, <1%

Short stories, 1%
Mystery & detective, 15%
Romance, 19%
Historical, 20%
General & literary fiction, 20%

SciFi, 31%

(total greater than 100 due to some books fitting multiple categories)

52 of the 84 (62%) won a major award or were named to a Best Of list in their year of publication

My Ratings (out of 10)

9 or 10, 8%

7 or 8, 40%

5 or 6, 40%

4 or less, 12%

Top 10 Reads of 2007

1. Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2006 - historical fiction)
2. Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood (2003 - scifi)
3. The Dream Life of Suhkanov, by Olga Grushin (2005 - contemporary / historical fiction)
4. Middle Passage, by Charles Johnson (1990 - historical fiction)
5. True Crime, by Andrew Klavan (1995 - mystery & detective)
6. The Dead Fish Museum, by Charles D'Ambrosio (2006 - short stories)
7. Hearts in Atlantis, by Stephen King (1999 - short stories)
8. The Graveyard Game, by Kage Baker (2005 - scifi)
9. Primary Inversion, by Catherine Asaro (1995 - romantic action / adventure scifi)
10. Fledgling, by Octavia E. Butler (2005 - horror fantasy scifi)

Least Favorite Books of 2007

1. Appleseed, by John Clute (2003 - scifi)
2. COSM, by Gregory Benford (1998 - scifi)
3. Accelerondo, by Charles Stross (2005 - scifi)
4. Finity, by John Barnes (1999 - scifi alternate history)
5. In the Garden of Iden, by Kage Baker (1997 - historical scifi)
6. Only Revolutions, by Mark Z. Danielewski (2006 - experimental contemporary fiction)
7. Manifold: Time, by Stephen Baxter (1999 - scifi)
8. Flykiller, by J. Robert Jaynes (2002 - historical mystery & detective)
9. Indigo, by Graham Joyce (2000 - horror mystery & detective)
10. Psychohistorical Crisis, by Donald Kingsbury (2002 - scifi)

The Chronological List

January

The Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst

Arthur and George, by Julian Barnes

Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro

February

Dead Fish Museum, by Charles D'Ambrosio

COSM, by Gregory Benford

March

The Keep, by Jennifer Egan

Finity, by John Barnes

Brookland, by Emily Barton

Into the Garden of Iden, by Kage Baker

Only Revolutions, by Mark Z. Danielewski

One Good Turn, by Kate Atkinson

April

Old Filth, by Jane Gardam

The Graveyard Game, by Kage Baker

Mendoza in Hollywood, by Kage Baker

The Translator, by Leila Aboulela

Skinner’s Drift, by Lisa Fugard

Sky Coyote, by Kage Baker

Twilight of the Superheroes, by Deborah Eisenberg

Time, by Stephen Baxter

Waiting, by Ha Jin

The Boat of a Million Years, by Poul Anderson

May

The Tooth Fairy, by Graham Joyce

The Stories of Mary Gordon, by Mary Gordon

Requiem, by Graham Joyce

Gods and Pawns, by Kage Baker

The Possibility of an Island, by Michel Houellebecq

The Life of the World to Come, by Kage Baker

Intuition, by Allegra Goodman                  

The Machine’s Child, by Kage Baker

Golden Country, by Jennifer Gilmore

The Children of the Company, by Kage Baker

The Lay of the Land, by Richard Ford

June

Half-broken Things, by Morag Joss

Flykiller, by J. Robert Janes

Beasts of No Nation, by Uzodinma Iweala

Psychohistorical Crisis, by Donald Kingsbury

The Limits of Enchantment, by Graham Joyce

War Trash, by Ha Jin

Facts of Life, by Graham Joyce

Dream Live of Sukhanov, by Olga Grushin

July

Collected Stories of Amy Hempel, by Amy Hempel

Last Evenings on Earth, by Roberto Bolano

Indigo, by Graham Joyce

Dante's Equation, by Jane Jensen

It, by Stephen King

The Dissident, by Nell Freudenberger

The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai

Fledgling, by Octavia E. Butler

The Known World, by Edward P. Jones

August

Accelerando, by Charles Stross

Insomnia, by Stephen King

Middle Passage, by Charles Johnson

The Uses of Enchantment, by Heidi Julavits

Forgetfulness, by Ward Just

Needful Things, by Stephen King

Pu-239 and other Russian Fantasies, by Ken Kalfus

September

Hearts in Atlantis, by Stephen King

Alibi:  A Novel, by Joseph Kanon

Bag of Bones, by Stephen King

October

The Final Key, by Catherine Asaro

Appleseed, by John Clute

Schism, by Catherine Asaro

The Dark Tower:  The Gunslinger, by Stephen King

British Summertime, by Paul Cornell

The Madman’s Tale, by John Katzenbach

Primary Inversion, by Catherine Asaro

November

The Fourth Bear, by Jasper Fforde

Glasshouse, by Charles Stross

Merde Happens, by Stephen Clarke

Behold the Man, by Michael Moorcock

The Extra Large Medium, by Helen Slavin

The Drawing of the Three, by Stephen King

Christ the Lord:  Out of Egypt, by Anne Rice

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood

The Sons of Heaven, by Kage Baker

Black Projects, White Knights, by Kage Baker

December

Transmission, by Hari Kunzru

True Crime, by Andrew Klavan

Roscoe, by William Kennedy

Blue Edge of Midnight, by Jonathon King

How Late It Was, How Late, by James Kelman

Bettany’s Book, by Thomas Keneally

Dexter in the Dark, by Jeff Lindsay