As I said in an earlier post, I had 23 books graded A+ to whittle down until they fit comfortably in two lists of ten each. I love mysteries, so I always make one list just for that genre. The second list of ten is for all genres combined. In the past, making these lists has been rather easy. The stand-outs really stood out. Whittling this year's bumper crop of excellent books was painful, and for the first time I have two authors with two books each.
Without further ado, here are my lists of Top Ten Reads for 2008 (in no particular order):
Cathy's 2008 Top Ten Mysteries:
Cathy's 2008 Top Ten Books (All Genres):
If you'd like to see other folks' Top Ten Reads in Crime Fiction, head on over to Kerrie's blog, Mysteries in Paradise.
What are some of the best books you've read in the past year? This inquiring mind is always looking for recommendations!
I've started going through my book journal, where I've written info on each book that I've read this year, in order to begin compiling my Best of 2008 reading lists. I usually make two lists of ten books each: one for mysteries, and one that combines all genres. The first thing I do is make a list of all the books I've given A+ ratings to...all the books that made me say, "WOW!" when I finished the last page. I have my work cut out for me in whittling down the list, which now stands at twenty-three. I won't be finishing this or posting the results until the first of the year. (The last book I read in 2007 at 11:30 PM on December 31 turned out to be one of my top reads, so I take no chances!)
Here's the list I have to work from right now (in reading order only):
--Burning Road by Ann Benson (SciFi)
--Mark of the Lion by Suzanne Arruda (Mystery)
--The Dead Hour by Denise Mina (Mystery)
--Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina (Mystery)
--A Vision of Light by Judith Merkle Riley (Historical Fiction)
--You Can Prevent Global Warming by Langholz & Turner (Non-Fiction)
--Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Young Adult)
--Broken Skin by Stuart MacBride (Mystery)
--All Shall Be Well by Deborah Crombie (Mystery)
--The Stick Game by Peter Bowen (Mystery)
--The Bones of Plenty by Lois Phillips Hudson-- the very first review on my brand-new blog (Historical Fiction)
--The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Fiction)
--Into the Forest by Jean Hegland (SciFi)
--Dreaming of the Bones by Deborah Crombie (Mystery)
--Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (Young Adult)
--Cruzatte and Maria by Peter Bowen (Mystery)
--Kindred by Octavia Butler (SciFi)
--Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley (Historical Fiction)
--The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Mystery)
--Echoes From the Dead by Johan Theorin (Mystery)
--Confessions of a Pagan Nun by Kate Horsley (Historical Fiction)
--Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien (Non-Fiction)
--No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (Mystery)
In typing this list, I've already mentally pruned two titles from it. Although they both had the WOW! response, they just don't stack up against the rest. Which two are they? Twilight and Mark of the Lion. That's all you'll get before January 1!
How about you? Do you compile a list of your Best Reads of the year? Do you enjoy the process, or find it painful?
