awakeKristen Tracy also snuck in to list her favorite 2007 reads. Now I'll let her have the floor:
Rather than a comprehensive list, I picked the five most fabulous books that I read last year. Also, I'm going to explain why I found them so fabulous.I LOVED Margot Rabb's CURES FOR HEARTBREAK. I thought it was basically a perfect book: charming, poignant, honest, funny, and the language had real integrity. Loved it!
I really liked Erin Vincent's GRIEF GIRL too. It was a sincere book, and I admired the way it confronted sudden loss. It didn't flinch. I thought it was raw and bold.
I read Jennifer Egan for the first time and I was glad that I found her. Her book THE INVISIBLE CIRCUS was incredibly interesting, and I was 100% hooked on it right until the end. The language was fabulous.
In 2005, one of my former students insisted that I read Beth Lisick's book EVERYBODY INTO THE POOL. It took me a year, but I finally got to it. It was the best! It was hilarious and enlightening and her storytelling seemed anchored by a certain wacky soberness that I found utterly compelling. At some point in my life, I hope, hope, hope to be seated next to her at a dinner party.
Okay. I said only five, and now I feel like a big liar-face, because I'm going to close with two authors, and taken together they exceed one book. Last year, I read every book Sherman Alexie ever wrote (poems and prose). He is an amazing writer and I have complete admiration for his stuff. Also, I read Libba Bray's A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY and REBEL ANGELS and I thought they were both smashing and fearless. Lots of texture. Lovely writing. And I admire the work's historical scope.
There are a slew of other authors out there that I read and loved last year: Scott Westerfeld, John Green, M.T. Anderson (I actually met him and John at a book event in Kalamazoo and taught them both a thing or two about bear safety -- I hope), E. Lockhart, Justine Larbalestier, Elizabeth Scott, Deb Caletti, Cecil Castellucci, Rachel Cohn, David Levithan (whom I always pronounce Leviathan for some reason), Maureen Johnson, and on and on. Very fertile fields out there.
