Daily Diary discussion

So what are your top ten books that you read in 2008 and why?

Mine are, in no particular order:
1. The Book thief
2. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
3. Pillars of the Earth
4. World Without End
5. Heretic's Daughter
6. A Thousand Splendid Suns
7. The Knitting Circle
8. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
9. Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao
10. The Life of Edgar Sawtelle

Great thread! These aren't really in order except for Archeron.

1. Archeron
2. Heaven1 (Heaven & Purgatory)
3. A Hunger Like no Other
4. Blood Noir
5. Dead Until Dark
6. City of Bones
7. The Turning (Blood Ties, Book 1)
8. Dark Lover
9. Interstellar Service & Discipline 1: Victorious Star
10. Dead Witch Walking

What is Archeron about? I've heard a lot about the Book Thief....I need to check both out.

I liked Edgar Sawtelle...and Mort..will think of more as I slowly wake up. :)

Archeron is the 25th book (incl. short stories) in the Dark Hunter series. I LOVED this entire series but Archeron was my favorite book. You have to read them in order to do them justice. They are PNR so not everyone's cuppa but I found them very addicting. Let me know if you want the correct reading order.

What was the first?

Here's the correct reading order:
1. Fantasy Lover
2. "The Beginning", also in the back of Sins of the Night
3. Dragonswan
4. Night Pleasures
5. Night Embrace
6. "Phantom Lover",Midnight Pleasures anthology
7. Dance with the Devil
8. "A Dark-Hunter Christmas", also in the back of Dance with the Devil
9. Kiss of the Night
10. Night Play
11. "Winter Born", in the anthology Stroke of Midnight
12. Seize the Night
13. Sins of the Night
14. "Second Chances" (included in the upcoming Dark-Hunter Companion )
15. Unleash the Night
16. Dark Side of the Moon
17. "A Hard Day's Night-Searcher",My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
18. "Until Death We Do Part", in the anthology Love At First Bite
19. Fear the Darkness
20. The Dream-Hunter
21. Devil May Cry
22. Upon the Midnight Clear
23. Dark-Hunter Companion
24. Dream Chaser
25. Archeron
26. One Silent Night

Meg wrote: "So what are your top ten books that you read in 2008 and why?

10. Jane Hirshfield, Given Sugar, Given Salt
9. Aimee Nezhukumatathil, At the Drive-in Volcano
8. Trevor Paglen and A. C. Thompson, Troture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights
7. Gosho Aoyama, Case Closed, vol. 3
6. Catherynne M. Valente, The Labyrinth
5. Shaun Tan, The Arrival
4. Martin McDonagh, The Pillowman
3. Grant Morrison, We3
2. Catherynne M. Valente, A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects
1. Donald Hall, Without

Reviews for all of them (to cover the "why") can be found at xterminal.livejournal.com, along with the other fifteen making up my 2008 top 25.

Not necessarily in order:

1) The Automatic Detective by A.Lee Martinez (lots of action, laughs, and robots - who could ask for more?)

2) Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow (werewolves working at the dog pound? who'd a thought? written in prose)

3) Bad Move by Linwood Barclay (also Bad Guys, Lone Wolf, Stone Rain - I read this whole series about a sci fi writer/freelance reporter that keeps stumbling into the thick of things - mystery/suspense)

4) The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason (part of her Gardella Vampire Chronicles - think Buffy the Vampire Slayer in London and Paris in the 1800's)

5) Solomon vs. Lord by Paul Levine (great characters, great plot, lots and lots of laughs)

6) The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarity (young adult book written in diary, letters and e-mail form, about a group of students in Australia that are forced to become pen pals with their rival school - I have never laughed so hard)

7) Stop in the Name of Pants by Louise Rennison (young adult, the ninth in her Georgia Nicolson series, written in diary form, tons of laughs)

8) Madhouse by Rob Thurman (third in the Cal Leandros series - this is a fantastic urban fantasy series starring to kick butt half brothers and all the things that go bump in the night set in NYC - great characters and plot)

9) The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers (sequel to The Electric Church - futuristic tale of a hitman and his enemies - this is the coolest world I've read about in a long time - must read in order!)

10) Wraith by Phaedra Weldon (book 2 is Spectre, which I read almost immediately after because the first was so good - the books are about a woman who can go astral and she uses this ability to spy for a living and while on a job, things get weird and she finds she is changing and growing in power - cool plots/mystery in each book while continuing the bigger picture)

Sound like a nice variety of titles!

1. Twilight
2. New Moon
3. Eclipse
4. Breaking Dawn
5. A little Princess
6. he secret garden
7. walk two moons
8. Sisterhood of the traveling pants
9: Under a war torn sky
10: war horse

im still trying to remember the rest

In no order:
1. Terrier(Beka Cooper, book 1) by Tamora Pierce(I love it. Every part of it. Especially Rosto...)
2. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer( This was the only really-great one in the series.)
3. Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser(Wow. This one actually sort of scared me. But it also put this feeling in me. It made me a lot of people. Which sounds bad. But I used to think they were okay people and I actually thought about some of the stuff they did and how its similar to what these kids do the other kids. It had a message. And anyone who's read it, has received it.)
4. Revelations by Melissa De La Cruz( Ah-mazing. really. Its perfect.)
5. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher(Mad me think about a lot of things...)
6. Impulse by Ellen Hopkins(Amazing.)
7. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Lousie Rennison( Great books. Hilarious. This book made me read all the others in the series and I love it for that)
8. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin(Brought a new look into death and the afterlife for me)
9. I Am The Messenger By Markus Zusak(GREAT book. Shows how we can help people, even if we think we can't)
10. Storm Thief by Chris Wooding( I'm not sure why I picked this book. It was just really, great)

I would put the Book Theif and You don't know me on here. But, I read them both in '07.

These aren't in order, and many were published prior to 08, but I read them last year and loved them!

1. Desperate Characters - Paula Fox
2. Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
3. Mudbound - Hilary Jordan
4. Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee
5. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
6. Angels in America - Tony Kusher
7. Middle Stories - Sheila Heti
8. Story of Edgar Sawtelle - David Wroblewski
9. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
10. The Palace Thief - Ethan Canin

Wow Tara, we share some same thoughts on some of your books. I love Coetzee, I haven't read anything of his in a while, so thanx for reminding me. I am glad you like Jonathan Strange because that is sitting in my TBR pile. I found Chesil Beach to be very sensuous, try it on audio oh boy!

I really enjoyed your list also. Brief Wondrous Life is on my TBR list. LOVED the Book Thief! Anything great you are reading now?

I just finished The Heretic's Daughter which I loved, and am in the middle of The Gargoyle which is very good so far. I am also reading War and Peace, just a little light reading.

10 good reads from 2008... in no particular order:
Careless in Red-- Elizabeth George
Outlander - Diana Gabaldon (this was a surprise one for me)
The Falls - Joyce Carol Oates
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
The Historian
The 13th Tale - Diane Setterfield
The Memoirs of Cleopatra (Margaret George-- great historical fiction author)
The Name of the Wind
Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
Pillars of the Earth

The Gargoyle was fun! I'm trying to read a 'classic' myself -- Oliver Twist. So far so good :)

A random selection from my best of 2008 list. It's kind of an odd mix.

How Fiction Works - James Wood
The Library at Night - Alberto Manguel
Julius Winsome - Gerard Donovan
Tender Morsels - Margo Lanagan
Map of Dreams - M.Rickert
The Seventh Well - Fred Wander
The Dark Side - Jane Mayer
The Animal Dialogues - Craig Childs
Home of the Brave (YA) - Katherine Applegate
Pictures of Hollis Woods (YA) - Patricia Reilly Giff

I also discovered the Chief Inspector Adamsberg mysteries by Fred Vargas which I really enjoy!

1 - THE WORLD WITHOUT US -WEISMAN
2- THE LOOMING TOWER -WRIGHT
3 - THE WOMAN IN WHITE - COLLINS
4- THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE -CAIN
5-TREE OF SMOKE -DENIS JOHNSON
6 - ADAMS v JEFFERSON; THE ELECTION OF 1800- FERLING
7 CONTEMPT - MORAVIA
8 - THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD -BROCKMEIER
9 - FREEDOM AT MIDNIGHT - LAPIERRE
10 - THEY MARCHED INTO SUNLIGHT - MARANISS
11 - CANDIDE -VOLTAIRE
12 - THE ROAD - MC CORMAC

Ooo! The Brief History of the Dead - I forgot about that one, I've wanted to read it. Thanks for reminding me. Loved The Road also. Almost scary and brilliantly written.

top ten in no particular order.

The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Girl With no Shadow by Joann Harris
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Chosen by A Horse by Susan Richards
Twilight by Stepahnie Meyer
The Host by Stephanie Meyer
Multiple Blessings by Jon and Kate Gosselin
Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald
Turning Angel by Greg Iles

There's some great lists here and here's mine for 2008.

1. The Space Between Us - Thrity Umrigar (LOVE this authors writing. Exquisite! Loved the story and the characters)

2. If Today Be Sweet - Thrity Umrigar (For the same reasons as above)

3. A Dangerous Dress - Julia Holden (Very clever and fresh plot, with great characters. Also humorous)

4. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society (Just superb writing and characters)

5. Sepulchere - Kate Mosse (Loved this one because I was visiting that region of France and the story was captivating, going back and forth in time)

6. Love Walked In - Marisa de Los Santos (Good plot and again, great characters)

7. The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls (Amazing true story that had me shaking my head about how the children were raised and actually survived)

8. The Prince of Frogtown - Rick Bragg (Another true story. I love Rick's down-to-earth writing about his family and the people from the hills of Alabama)

9. The Liars Diary - Patry Francis (Very well crafted novel with QUITE a twist at the end, which I loved and realistic characters)

10. The Sugar Queen - Sarah Addison Allen (I'd read her first novel, Garden Spells, and loved it. This one was just as good. Quirky characters, cute plot and very entertaining novel)

Gavin wrote: "A random selection from my best of 2008 list. It's kind of an odd mix.

How Fiction Works - James Wood
The Library at Night - Alberto Manguel
Julius Winsome - Gerard Donovan
Tender Morsels - Margo..."

I love Pictures of Hollis Woods. I've read it at least 20x since like..3rd grade.

Terri,

Labrynith by Kate Mosse was really good too-I haven't gotten to Spelchere yet.