Recent Book Activity

1/16/06
I’ve just submitted my Top 20 lists for 2005 and overall and decided to post them here, too. 2005 was a banner year for me because I read 52 books, and most of them were pretty good. My goal for 2006 is to read at least 6 nonfiction books. I’ve started the year with a list of books compiled from some end-of-the-year lists compiled by reviewers in The Washington Post Book World.

Top 20 for 2005
1. Well of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
2. Great Expectations, Charle Dickens
3. Passionate Spectator, Eric Kraft
4. Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde
5. Strange But True, John Searles
6. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
7. The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
8. Good Faith, Jane Smiley
9. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
10. Disordered Minds, Minette Walters
11. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
12. A Princess of Roumania, Paul Park
13. A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Stories, Charles Dickens
14. The Magician's Assistant, Ann Patchett
15. Our Lady of the Forest, David Guterson
16. Feet on the Street, Roy Blount, Jr.
17. Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks
18. Where Are the Children? Mary Higgins Clark
19. Boy Still Missing, John Searles
20. All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy

Overall Top 20
1. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
2. Thursday Next series, Jasper Fforde
3. Smilla's Sense of Snow, Peter Hoeg
4. Herb 'n Lorna, Eric Kraft
5. Little Follies, Eric Kraft
6. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
7. Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
8. The Mitford (Father Tim) series, Jan Karon
9. All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton, Jane Smiley
10. His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman
11. Where Do You Stop? Eric Kraft
12. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
13. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
14. The Ice House, Minette Walters
15. Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes
16. The Sweet Hereafter, Russell Banks
17. The Rebel Angels, Robertson Davies
18. Strange But True, John Searles
19. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling
20. The Pleasure of My Company, Steve Martin