best of 2007

I did this last year too. When I say "of 2007," I mean books I read in 2007, not just ones that were published this year. And I read a loooot of great books this year, so this list is by no means exhaustive. I hope I did these books justice in my descriptions, because they were all amazing. Enjoy!

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
This book was so beautiful. Michael Cunningham and Hollinghurst have both convinced me that gay relationships are just so, so much more interesting to read about than straight relationships. Especially stories about gay relationships that take place in class-conscious 1980s Britain! No, but seriously, this book was sometimes hilarious, often sad, and always lovely.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Seriously, can you believe I didn't read this until after I graduated from high school? Oh well. I read it. It was amazing. I loved it.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfield
I wrote a pretty long post about this in my book blog, but I'll do a shorter summary here. I usually avoid coming-of-age fiction, beacuse that particular period in my life was awkward and horrible enough the first time around and I can't imagine why anyone would be particularly interested in reliving it. Also, they always have warm and fuzzy endings and everyone escapes from their teenage years relatively unscathed, which I feel is not typically the way of things. Fortunately, Sittenfield is totally with me on this one. Don't be put off by the cover or the title - Sittenfield's editors market her books as chick lit for some inexplicable reason. They're anything but.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Quirky. More poignant and thoughtful than her debut novel White Teeth. I still have somewhat mixed feelings about Smith, though I think she's very talented and funny. Someone once described her to me as being a little too aware of how insightful she is (actually, it might have been someone tagged in this note. Who knows!), which really does detract a bit from how much I enjoy her novels. I think it's something she will outgrow, though, as it seems less pronounced in On Beauty. The last few pages of this book were especially beautifully written.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
So scary! I have to admit right off the bat that I am a huge sucker for really well written and well researched literary thrillers. And vampires. And books set in Eastern Europe (for some reason). This was a huge book but it was a fast read, if only because I was racing through it to find out what happened next. It was also TERRIFYING.

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
At first I wasn't really crazy about this book. Roth's prose is sort of spare and almost journalistic at times and usually I hate books with child narrators because almost every adult writer apparently has no idea how children actually behave. But it turned out to be reaaally good. It's an alternate history which assumes Charles Lindbergh (the airplane guy) defeats FDR in the presidential election and embarks on a campaign of "folksy anti-Semitism." Very interesting, though I felt a little cheated by the ending, which is perhaps a bit too convenient.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Do I even need to say anything? Apart from the last chapter, it was perfect. LOVE.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
This is an epic, sweeping novel about a single Midwestern family and their attempt to come together for one last Christmas. The plot sounds a bit trite but the book itself is not at all so, I swear. The characters are beautifully drawn and the dialogue is wonderful and hilarious.

The King Must Die by Mary Renault
Okay. I was obsessed with ancient Greece as a kid. Like really, really obsessed. But I had no idea that people were actually writing insanely beautiful and meticulously researched fiction about it! Actually, I'm not sure that anyone besides Renault is, but still. This is the way historical fiction should be done. Elizabeth gave me this for Christmas and I read it straight through. And then went out and bought two other books by her. SO GOOD.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Creepy as fuck and strangely beautiful. It will haunt your dreams, no joke. I'm not crazy about gratuitous violence in general, particularly in the other McCarthy books I've read (No Country for Old Men and a little bit of Blood Meridian), but in this book it seems more appropriate, though still not exactly tasteful. I cried a lot in the dining hall after I finished it.

Hamlet by Shakespeare
Okay, so I've read this before, but I never realized how UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING it was before, largely because I read it in Dr. Ream's class, which was a joke. I love it, okay. I love it. I also love Kenneth Branagh, but that is a topic to discuss later.

Okay. AND NOW for my favorite book of the year...

Atonement by Ian McEwan
This book is hands down one of my favorites of all time. Mackenzie had been recommending it to me for ages but I kept putting it off because I thought the first few pages were boring. MY MISTAKE. It is absolutely amazing. And I cried a ton. And also oh my GOD. Ian McEwan is one of the best writers alive. His prose is just achingly beautiful. Ahh ahhh ahhh. And if the ending doesn't totally destroy you, you don't deserve to read ever again.