Best of 2007 (So Far)

Amazon.com has listed its best books of the first half of 2007 in fiction, nonfiction, and kids books. The lists are mostly populated by the big names you'd expect--Chabon, DeLillo, Kingsolver--but there is also a list of hidden gems as well. My 2007 book year started out great but I hit a couple of dry spells and haven't done a great job of keeping track of my recent reads. I would have to say that my (new) book of 2007 so far is one that is also on Amazon's list--Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. If we count books published before this year, it would probably have to be The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham. What books make your best of 2007 list?

Spook Country

I did enjoy this book, but not quite as much as much as the only other William Gibson novel I've read, Pattern Recognition. Spook Country follows three different threads that you just know will all come together at the end. Hollis Henry, former lead singer of The Curfew, takes a job for a new magazine created by the mysterious Hubertus Bigend. She thinks she is writing an article on locative art but finds herself caught up in much more. Tito delivers ipods loaded with who-knows-what to a mysterious old man. Milgrim has been kidnapped by a seemingly rogue government agent in order to help him translate messages. The threads do converge but I was still somewhat confused as to how some of the characters were related. On the whole, it was a quick read with some interesting political commentary thrown in as well.

The Year of Magical Thinking

You either love this book or you hate it. Even though bad books week has passed, Anstrat's comments in her earlier Joan Didion pick made me want to take a swing at this one. The Year of Magical Thinking is a memoir of what has to be the most horrible year on record for Joan Didion or for anyone. First, her only daughter Qunitana becomes ill and is hospitalized. Then her husband dies of a massive coronary. Then Quintana has a series of recoveries and relapses and ultimate dies as well (in her thirties) although the memoir was completed before that occurred. Joan Didion is a perfectly capable writer and does express some germane thoughts on grief. She is also an obsessive name dropper and cannot stop describing the luxuries they enjoyed in the utmost detail. (We dined at Morton's almost every night, the Beverly Hills Hilton felt like home-- I knew the manicurists). I found it incredibly off-putting and unnecessary - you can say you went to the same restaurant every night with out name dropping a famous and exclusive restaurant. You can mention your husband's navy windbreaker without mentioning it was the staff jacket for the movie Up Close and Personal, which, oh, by the way you and your husband just happened to write. These details do not help me understand your grief-- they distance me from you and make us both seem shallow, you for writing them and me for being bothered by them. I read her White Album in college and had the same reaction to her meeting with Jim Morrison and her pretentious title. Not recommended.

The Center of Everything

Evelyn Bucknow is a Kansas girl who thinks she lives with her single mother, Tina. The book traces Evelyn from around age 10 to 18. Evelyn has many influences in her Kansas existence--her mother, Tina, who makes a series of disastrous mistakes, mostly involving men; her religious grandmother; her next-door neighbor and best friend, Travis; and teachers who recognize her potential. The author, Laura Moriarty, also has a new book out, The Rest of Her Life.

Amy's Answering Machine

One of my favorite moments on the TV show Friends was when Monica complained that Rachel lost her messages. "What messages don't you get?" jeered Rachel "Chandler or your mom? Your mom or Chandler?". Moms love to call their kids but not many moms do so with the flair of Amy Borkowsky's mother. This book, a small volume of transcripts of the messages the author's mother left on her machine is a fun quick read. Amy's mother warns her of the danger of wearing an underwire bra through airport security, informs her that she saw on TV that a rich bachelor from Alaska was going to be in New York, and gives the vital information that her foam headphone covers could be a germ breeding ground.

A Book of Common Prayer

I still haven't made up my mind whether I like Joan Didion's writing. I've loved a couple of essays she wrote. I read The Year of Magical Thinking and it suffered in comparison to Calvin Trillin's About Alice which I read in close proximity to it and was a much more personal, affecting book. I just read A Book of Common Prayer, the story of two women in the fictitious South American country of Boca Grande. Grace, the narrator, is a widow in one of the controlling families of the country. Charlotte travels there after her daughter commits a terrorist act in the United States. Grace tries to piece together Charlotte's story. I admired a lot of the writing and Didion has a very distinctive voice. However, I feel some of the power of the writing was undermined by the excessive use of some of the techniques I first admired. It's all a little too much for me. I found the story to be interesting and found myself wanting to figure Charlotte out along with Grace.

The Westing Game

I loved this book as a kid. A millionaire has died and a group of specially chosen individuals move into Sunset Towers. They include 12 year older Turtle Wexler, her parents and older sister Angela, the Hoo family, the Theodorakis family, and several others. One of the people in the towers took the millionaire's life but before the book reveals the answers the reader must puzzle through tons of clues and each character's back story. This is a highly sophisticated children's book and richly deserved the Newberry Medal.