Books I read in 2007
I just read this list, which states the most literate cities in America. It’s an interesting list because, with the exception of Pittsburgh (#9) and possibly St. Louis (#6), these are all cities I like and would look forward to visiting (including my own San Francisco, of course.) Nothing against Pittsburgh or St. Louis, of course, just not cities atop my favorites list.
I’ve long suspected that SF (#7) would be on this list; just take public transportation and note the huge percentage of people reading. It’s, as one might say, a good thing.
It’s a bit weak that – even though they are the Twin Cities – to count Minneapolis and St. Paul separately. (If they were consolidated, Cincinnati would slide into the 10th slot). Regardless, what happened in St. Louis this year? Going from 15th to 12th to 6th is interesting, assuming the same metrics are being consistently applied year to year.
But it also reminded me that I hadn’t put together a list of all the books I read in 2007, though I referred to it in an earlier post. Therefore, here are the books I read during 2007 with, mostly, a review for the ones I really liked. In case you have never visited the Books By Greebs page (shame!), here is the details of how to read this chart:
Books marked with blue are ones I really enjoyed.
Those marked in orange are titles I didn't even finish, for one reason or another.
Got it? OK, read on…
| Book Title | Author | Rating (out of 10.0) | Thoughts |
| Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life | John Sellers | 8.0 | A funny memoir detailing the author’s fascination with my own favorite genre of music. |
| Citizen Vince | Jess Walter | 8.5 | A very compelling account of a former gangster, set amidst the 1980 election. |
| The Echo Maker | Richard Powers | 7.5 | Review |
| Committed | Mark St. Amant | 6.5 | Silly but fun read of an obsessed fantasy football fan. Ahem. |
| A Spot of Bother | Mark Haddon | 6.0 | Disappointing follow-up to 'Curious Incident' but a decent story in and of itself. |
| Dork Whore | Iris Bahr | N/A | Did Not Finish |
| Hard Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World | Haruki Murakami | 8.5 | Really good. Full review here. |
| Killing Pablo | Mark Bowden | 7.0 | Good, tight story of the hunt for Pablo Escobar. |
| The Yiddish Policemen's Union | Michael Chabon | 5.5 | A disappointment. Full Review |
| The Overlook | Michael Connelly | 5.5 | My least favorite Harry Bosch novel; unsurprised to read in the afterword that it originally was a serial of stories fo a magazine. Just felt that way in novel form. |
| Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning | Jonathan Mahler | 8.0 | Wholly entertaining account of New York in the late 1970s. |
| Hard Revolution | George Pelecanos | 6.0 | A bit of a letdown, more of a look back and generally not as interesting as his other novels. |
| Soul Circus | George Pelecanos | 7.0 | Another good Pelecanos story. |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | J.K. Rowling | 9.0 | Suprisingly amazing. Didn't realize how attached I'd become to the series until the end of this totally satisfying, moving conclusion. |
| Hell To Pay | George Pelecanos | 7.0 | Solid, insightful crime novel by one of the writers of The Wire. |
| Suite Francaise | Irene Nemirovsky | 8.5 | Review |
| The Man of My Dreams | Curtis Sittenfeld | 6.0 | Review |
| The Draft: A Year Inside The NFL's Search for Talent | Pete Williams | 6.5 | It claims to be the NFL version of Moneyball It ain't, but it's not terrible. |
| The Road | Cormac McCarthy | 9.5 | Review |
| The Man Who Ate Everything | Jeffrey Steingarten | N/A | Did Not Finish |
| Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth | Christopher Ware | 8.5 | Review |
| The Ghost Map | Steven Johnson | 7.5 | Review |
| Then We Came To The End | Joshua Ferris | 9.0 | Excellent! |
| after the quake | Haruki Murakami | 7.0 | Review |
| Random Acts of Badness | Danny Bonaduce | 5.5 | Yeah, I read it. So what? |
| The Wishbones | Tom Perotta | 7.5 | Good, but clearly an early effort. |
| Y: The Last Man - Unmanned | Brian K. Vaughan | 7.0 | |
| Chuck Klosterman IV | Chuck Klosterman | 8.0 | |
| American Gods | Neil Gaiman | 7.5 | |
| Company | Max Barry | 8.0 | |
| The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History in Four Meals | Michael Pollan | 9.0 | Review |
| Talking Right | Geoffrey Nunberg | 7.0 | |
| The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil | George Saunders | 7.5 | |
| The Story of My Baldness | Marek Van Der Jagt | N/A | Did Not Finish |
| Two For The Road | Jane & Michael Stern | 7.0 | |
| Wait Till Next Year | William Goldman & Mike Lupica | 9.0 | Review |
| Blood and Thunder (audio) | Hampton Sides | N/A | Did Not Finish |
| The Mind of Bill James | Scott Gray | 6.5 | |
| Love Is a Mix Tape (audio) | Rob Sheffield | 6.5 | Review |
| The Nasty Bits | Anthony Bourdain | 8.5 | Review |
| The Ruins | Scott Smith | 4.5 | Review |
| Shanks for Nothing (audio) | Rick Reilly | 7.0 | Review |
| The Reach of a Chef | Michael Ruhlman | 7.0 | |
| Special Topics in Calamity Physics | Marisha Pessl | 8.5 | |
| The Keep | Jennifer Egan | 8.5 | Review |
| Candyfreak | Steve Almond | 6.5 | |
| Hour Game (audio CD) | David Baldacci | 6.0 | |
| The Collectors | David Baldacci | N/A | Did Not Finish |
| Housekeeping vs. The Dirt | Nick Hornby | 7.5 | |
| Heat | Bill Buford | 8.0 | |
| Wild Fire | Nelson DeMille | 7.0 | |
| Echo Park | Michael Connelly | 7.5 | |
| Julie and Julia | Julie Powell | 7.0 | |
| Consider The Lobster: And Other Essays | David Foster Wallace | 8.0 | |
| The Night Gardener | George Pelecanos | 8.5 |
