Thursday, December 21, 2006

2006: The Book Year in Review

Well, I'm off to Egypt on December 29th, and after that, it's straight to audit busy season, so I don't know when I'll have time to post this afterwards. Taking into account that the rest of the books I read this year may impact this list (though I think it doubtful), I'm going to post now and edit later, if I feel so inclined. So here it is, my 2006 year in review!!

Top Ten Books Read in 2006:

1. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak











2. A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary Mantel
3. The Sunne in Splendour, by Sharon Kay Penman
4. Goblin Moon, by Teresa Edgerton
5. Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
6. The Mercy of Thin Air, by Ronlyn Domingue
7. The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold
8. Arthur and George, by Julian Barnes
9. Beneath a Marble Sky, by John Shors
10. Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin

Best Series Finished During 2006
:

The House of Niccolo, by Dorothy Dunnett

Best Non-Fiction Read of 2006:

Beau Brummell, by Ian Kelly














Funniest Narrator
:

Maybell Brumby from Gone With the Windsors, by Laurie Graham













Most Fascinating Fictional Couple of 2006
:

Nicholas de Fleury and Gelis van Borselen, The House of Niccolo Series by Dorothy Dunnett

Favorite Fictional Couple of 2006:

Sera & Skelbrooke, Goblin Moon by Teresa Edgerton
Howl & Sophie, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Women I'd Like to Hang Out With:

Sera, from Goblin Moon by Teresa Edgerton
Helena, from the Falco Series by Lindsey Davis
Sophie Hatter, from Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
Katelijne Sersanders, from The House of Niccolo Series by Dorothy Dunnett

Men That I Find Extremely Attractive:

Howl, from Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Francis Skelbrooke, from Goblin Moon by Teresa Edgerton
Andrew O'Connell, from The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue
Marcus Didius Falco, from the Falco Series by Lindsey Davis

Most Complicated World in a Fantasy Novel or Series:

The Malazan Empire and its neighbors in Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series

Promising New-To-Me in 2006 Authors (that are not listed elsewhere in this post):

Naomi Novik
Neil Gaiman
Anne Bishop
Elizabeth Chadwick
Scott Lynch

2006 Reading Trends:

In a word: Fantasy. More than in recent years, and more than any other genre for this year. An excellent year's worth of epic fantasy, historical fantasy, dark fantasy, romantic fantasy, urban fantasy, funny fantasy, and everything in between.

2007 Reading Predictions
:

With the British Classics group underway and very successful over at Yahoo, I think I will be reading more classics in 2007 than ever before- at least, classics that hail from England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. I also think that non-fiction is becoming more and more to my tastes (at least, I have more non-fiction on my shelf than previously), so more of that will be read as well. And, as ever, complete and total immersion in the Georgian and Regency periods of English history will be helped by all the books I have on my shelf relating to those few decades of history. I think 2007 might also mark a foray into science fiction for me, as I really like Lois McMaster Bujold. We'll see :-)

5 comments:

  1. I haven't read many of the books above though I read my first Gaimen this year and loved it! I look forward to Garden of Moons for I have had a trillion Jordan fans tell me this is better. though I find it unlikely the only way I can relaiate these comments is if I read it myself.

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  2. There are some good books on your list that I have already read, and some I want to read!! Good choices!

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  3. Oh, and did I mention how jealous I am of you!! Enjoy Egypt!!

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  4. Marg, I'll be sure to review every book, so we can compare thoughts :-)

    And Nessie, I've never tried Jordan- I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about him, but my goal is to only have a few epic authors writing long series going at one time! So far, it's George R. R. Martin and now, possibly, Erikson!

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  5. I love your year in review format, Aarti! I did my Top Ten list (not posted yet) and it looks so plain. Hmmm. You're categories make me want to put some more thought into it.

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