3M's List

Last year I participated in the NYT Most Notable Challenge and discovered some really great books. Notably (hee hee), The Road, Suite Française, and Half of a Yellow Sun, which all ended up in my top twenty of 2007. My worst book of the year, Everyman, also came from last year's NYT list.

Yay for more notable choices in 2008! I chose to read 10 books last year, but this year I'm going to commit to 6 and hope to read 8.

I'll choose at least 6 titles; these are the leading contenders:

1. The Cloud of Unknowing ***1/2 by Thomas H. Cook
2. After Dark ***1/2 by Murakami
3. On Chesil Beach *** by Ian McEwan
4. The Gathering **** by Anne Enright
5. The Invention of Hugo Cabret ****1/2 by Brian Selznick
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ***1/2 by J.K. Rowling

• Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
• The Maytrees by Annie Dillard

If I have time:

• The Whistling Season by Doig
• Matrimony by Joshua Henkin
• Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
• The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
• The Secret River by Kate Grenville
• The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño