The Book List
(updated as of april 4, 2007)
** = decent but flawed
*** = well-written and enjoyable
**** = beloved and brilliant
2007
Clouds of Witness, by Dorothy L. Sayers **
A Murder of Quality, by John Le Carre **
Perfume, by Patrick Suskind **1/2
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, by Bill Bryson ****
Wish You Were Here: The authorized autobiography of Douglas Adams, by Nick Webb ***
Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic, by Terry Jones **
The Russian Debutante's Handbook, by Gary Schteyngart ***
Peeps, by Scott Westerfeld ***
Last Days, by Scott Westerfeld ***
Magic or Madness, by Justine Larbalestier ***
Magic Lessons, by Justine Larbalestier ***
The Promised Land, by Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice **
Our Man In Havana, by Graham Greene *
PopCo, by Scarlett Thomas ****
Fire Watch, by Connie Willis ***
The Green Glass Sea, by Ellen Klages ***
Melusine, by Sarah Monette **
Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn ****
Slow Man, by J.M. Coetzee **
Hammered, by Elizabeth Bear **
Mockingbird, by Sean Stewart ****
2006
The Honorable Schoolboy, by John Le Carre **
A Taxonomy of Barnacles, by Galt Neiderhoffer *
The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler ***
Lapham Rising, by Roger Rosenblatt **
Arthur and George, by Julian Barnes ***
The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett **
The Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett **
The Good Life, by Jay McInerney **
The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion ***
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, by Ayelet Waldman **
Love Walked In, by Marisa de los Santos ***
Forever, by Pete Hammill ***
Love Will Tear Us Apart, by Tara McCarthy *
Plainsong, by Kent Haruf ***
Rest Area, by Clay McLeod Chapman **
What I Did Wrong, by John Weir **
Before We Get Started: A Practical Memoir of the Writer's Life, by Bret Lott **
Apex Hides the Hurt, by Colson Whitehead ***
Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons ***
A Perfect Spy, by John Le Carre **
On Beauty, by Zadie Smith ***
The Gods Themselves, by Isaac Asimov **
Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell ****
Promise Me, by Harlan Coben **
Moonlight Hotel, by Scott Anderson ****
The Foreign Correspondent, by Alan Furst ***
Uglies (first book in the trilogy), by Scott Westerfeld ****
Pretties (second book in the trilogy), by Scott Westerfeld ***
Specials (third book in the trilogy), by Scott Westerfeld ***
England, England, by Julian Barnes **
The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paulo Coelho *
Londonstani, by Gautam Malkani ***
Freddy and Fredericka, by Mark Halperin **
Mistress, by Anita Nair **
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl ***
The Dissident, by Nell Freudenberger **
A Spot of Bother, by Mark Haddon **
Mission Song, by John Le Carre**
The Perfect Spy, by John Le Carre ***
The End, by Lemony Snicket **
Absolute Friends, by John Le Carre ***
Single & Single, by John Le Carre **
Sharpe's Havoc, by Bernard Cornwell **
Sharpe's Eagle, by Bernard Cornwell **
Sharpe's Rifle, by Bernard Cornwell ***
The Winter King, by Bernard Cornwell ***
Hello To All That, by John Falk ***
Ghostwritten, by David Mitchell ***
Maigret and the Burglar's Wife, by Georges Simenon **
Wally's Stories, by Vivian Paley***
Color of Magic, by Terry Pratchett **
Restless, by William Boyd ***
What Is the What, By Dave Eggers ***
Firebirds Rising - an anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Sharyn November ***
So Yesterday, by Scott Westerfeld ****
Son of a Witch, by Gregory Maguire **
The Looking Glass Wars, by John Le Carre **
Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L. Sayers ***
A Good Year, by Peter Mayle **
Berlin Game (book 1), by Len Deighton ***
Mexico Set (book 2), by Len Deighton ***
London Match (book 3), by Len Deighton ***
The Ipcress File, by Len Deighton *
Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett ***
Guards, Guards!, by Terry Pratchett **
The Ecco Books of Christmas Stories, edited by Alberto Manguel *