So we've told you about our favorite books published this year, at least as of June 30th.

But I realize that most people don't pay attention to publication dates -- so forget when the book was published, and just tell us ...

What are your favorite books that you've read this year, so far??

It generally takes me a while longer to discover new books, so none of these are published in 2008. These are simply my favorite books of those I read so far this year. I have read markedly less year to date because my spring semester was so demanding. Several of these have been picks from two groups I belong to here on goodreads. Getting recommedations has proven to be a boon to enjoyable reading.

In no particular order:
Run by Ann Patchett
Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Away from Her by Alice Munro
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt
Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan
Woman : An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier
Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

I kind of like the list from the podcast, Ann...

Yeah, Jon, you know Michael "cheated" just for you :)

Nice list, Summer!
I read about 1/2 of Ella Minnow Pea, and put it down for some reason and never picked it back up. Now I wonder where I put that ....

One of these days I really must read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. So many people I trust have loved it. Maybe I should convince my book group to read it -- that seems to be the only way I get to read so many of the books I want to read.

Awww.

Having just finished A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS, I was surprised at my strong reaction to that novel...this was a book I didn't want to pick up b/c I've read soooo many tales of 'burqa abused' women that I thought it might be depressing.
The story was heart-wrenchingly beautiful, stunning and filled with hope and compassion.
I listened to this book on audio and enjoyed the slower pace and the Afghan voice speaking the names of places and people. I gave it 5 stars and highly recommend it!

Other books I've read OF late and really enjoyed include:

THIS SIDE OF BRIGHTNESS-Colum McCann
MIRACLE IN THE ANDES-Nando Parrado
SUTTREE-Cormac McCarthy
THE STOLEN CHILD-Keith Donohue
ATONEMENT-Ian McEwan
SILK-Alessandro Baricco
THE DEWBREAKER-Edwidge Danticat
MY NAME IS RED-Orham Pamuk
ON CHESIL BEACH-Ian McEwan
SHADOW OF THE CROSS-Carolyn Garriott
DIVISDERO-Michael Ondaatje
and
FINN-Jon Clinch (of course.. :-)

Susanne

It's always so difficult choosing what books were my best experiences of the year so I thought looking at the first 6 months might make it a slightly lest angst ridden experience.. Scratch that idea.

I also am surprised and yet not surprised to find that two of my best experiences came in re-reading old and long-standing personal favorites and talking of them with a new group of people here on Goodreads.

So top two:

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Wilde
Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury

New encounters:

On Chesil Beach - Mc Ewan
Bridge of Sighs - Russo
The Whistling Season - Doig
The Golden Notebook - Lessing
Surfacing - Atwood
The Oystercatchers - Fletcher
Tha Blood of Flowers - AmmirrezVANI
Ella Minnow Pea - Dunn
Water for Elephants - Gruen
Counselor Ayres Memorial - Machado de Asis
Esau and Jacob - Machado de Asis
Vida - Piercy

Eesh. We started our blog/podcast/group to help people decide what to read ... and now my own reading list is miles long. That wasn't the intention! :)

But thanks! These are great lists, and include books/authors I haven't heard of (Machado de Asis?)
Off to research ...

Susanne-

I loved THIS SIDE OF BRIGHTNESS and MIRACLE IN THE ANDES too!

thanks for all of the great recommendations everyone!

Jon, it's a little unnerving to think that the person I was raving about heard the podcast. Hope you liked my comments!

Hey, Michael -- don't give it a second thought. I unnerve people all the time. Plus, I surely appreciate your good words.

And for the record, although I haven't done a ton of reading in the last six months (shame on me; too busy writing), my favorites were...

A reread of Tony Earley's JIM THE BOY
Hampton Sides' BLOOD AND THUNDER
Ron Carlson's A KIND OF FLYING
James Ellroy's THE COLD SIX THOUSAND

Tell us more about MY NAME IS RED, Susanne. My daughter read it for a book group, and she wasn't crazy about it. Don't know why, though.

Well, I recently read GODS BEHAVING BADLY and very much enjoyed it.
I am in the midst of reading NAKED and have found myself reading it aloud to my boyfriend every night because I want to share the fabulous, witty, marvelous descriptions with him. We end up having to stop reading because we are laughing so hard I can't see the words on the page! I can't believe I didn't find this one sooner.
I have quite the list of 'to read' for the summer, so I will keep you posted if any others rock my reading socks off.

Jon,
I read this book with my on-line Yahoo Cafe group and that really helped me to understand it better. It's not the "popcorn"...but the "fudge" kinda read. Lots of cerebral work, but with help ferreting out the historical perspective of the culture and art in the time of the Ottoman empire, I came away with a bigger appreciation of this novel. It's a dense tapestry and needs to be read slowly.
See my review here on GoodReads. I also reviewed it on Amazon.com.
Susanne

Well, just to say, Jon, Michael was preaching to the choir in my case as reading Finn with Constant Reader and Kent Rasmussen (the CR resident Twain expert) and your contributing to our discussion was one of the best reading experiences ever. I couldn't actually put it on my list for this year, however, as it was April 2007. The words of praise in the podcast for Finn are completely deserved. I am a harsh critic of books written with any tie to a classic such as Twaisn's Huck Finn and rarely approve of them once I read them -- Finn was an entirely different case -- wonderful book.

I've had a pretty satisfying reading year so far (although these weren't actually published in 2008)

Saturday by Ian McEwan
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
(I finally got around to this one and couldn't believe it took me so
long)
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Audition by Barbara Walters (well, there's a 2008 title)
The United States of Arugula by David Kamp

I seem to have resistance to reading Michael Chabon, though I don't know why. I absolutely *loved* The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (his first book, I believe), which I read when it was published in 1988.

But since then? I don't know why, but I have not even thought about reading them. I know he's a wonderful writer.

JT-

You're the third person this year who's read Kavalier and Clay and said they couldn't believe they hadn't gotten to it sooner! I loved that book...

Yeah, I don't know why it took me so long. For some reason, I always have Chabon in the back of my mind to read and it takes me forever to get to it. I still haven't read Wonder Boys, and I keep putting off The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Maybe I just enjoy his writing so much that the thought of actually starting a book of his makes me think of seeing it sadly come to end. Does that even make sense?? ....or maybe I just have too many books on my nightstand. No, that's not it..You can never have too many books on the nightstand!

If you have too many books on your nightstand, it just means that you need a bigger nightstand!

I'm always amazed at just how high my stacks can get before they start to topple.

I finally gave in, and put a bookshelf RIGHT NEXT TO MY BED!

Unfortunately, I don't have any books to add to a faves of 2008 list. I've read Atonement, Gentlemen of the Road, World Without End, Divisadero, Echo Maker, and am currently on Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which is probably the most interesting of the list.

I see some chatter about and Kav & Klay, which is on my all-time fave list, and is the reason I picked up GotR. Though it is wonderfully written, I couldn't quite figure out the world the book inhabited - is it alternative history? fantasy? myth/fable? Not bad, just not. . .a fave. Same with Divisadero. Beautiful writing, but I probably won't read it again, I didn't even remember it until I read someone else's list. I actively disliked Atonement and had to slog through Echo Maker. World earned a meh.

The wife is convinced I'll love Oscar Wao. Here's hoping she's right.

A bookshelf next to the bed?? Now THAT is the way to go!

I definitely need to add Oscar Wao to my to-read pile.

" If you have too many books on your nightstand, it just means that you need a bigger nightstand!"

We should add that to the GoodReads quotes list!

Would a bookshelf next to the bed be a "nightshelf"?

Stephen, let us know about Oscar Wao. Of course, it breaks my heart that you didn't like Atonement. Have you read anything else by McEwan? I'd suggest SATURDAY. Very different from Atonement, I think.

I'd need a "nightcase".
Or a "nightbrary".

But Stephen, I think you may have a career in product naming.

I think "nightbrary" is quite clever, Ann. I mean, the library is closed at night, so where else would you turn?

reminds me of the NightBus in Harry Potter (or was that KnightBus?)

Suziq - Thanks for the idea of the quote -- Feel free to add it (how do you do that, anyway?)

I should be collecting these things somewhere, and once we get enough it could be a fun first segment of the podcast: The Books on the Nightstand Lexicon.

Or T-shirts! We can have a "Mental Popcorn" version, and a "Mental Fudge" edition. Then when we have our big Books on the Nightstand convention, everyone can wear them and find kindred spirits.

Yeah, it's early and I haven't had my coffee ... this may be last night's wine talking ...

Ann

I love "nightbrary!"

Ann, Given the number of McEwan fans in this group, I can't help but think I missed something, so I'll definitely give him another shot.

And put me down for a large Mental Popcorn tee. No butter.

I like nightrary and I so need one, my TBR pile is growing and growing.

Anyway best reads this year so far:

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrel
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E.Lockhart
Looking for Alaska - John Green
Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones

I seem to be reading loads of YA fiction at the moment. My husband keeps telling me to read Chabon and I've been resisting for some reason.

Mister Pip seems fairly well recommended. I may have to bump it up in my TBR queue.

re: bumping Mister Pip to the top of your pile, Summer... please do! It was definitely one of my top 2 or 3 books of 2007... let me know what you think of it!

Driving Sideways by Jess Riley. It was fun, quirky, and taught me new things about the disease PRK.

Also Sweet Love by Sarah Strohmeyer. This one was just simple and sweet.

I've reviewed them both (plus many, many, many more) at my blog, http://skrishnasbooks.blogspot.com if you're interested!

And speaking of piles of books, I'm doing a giveaway on my blog right now because my fiance tripped over one of the many piles of books I have in my living room and gently suggested that I give away some books!

Ah, that cupcake on the cover of Sweet Love is just irresistable!

Thanks for letting us know about the giveaway, S.

I second the motion for Summer to read Mister Pip. I would definitely put it on the top of my First Half of 2008 list. This is a book that had me in tears on an airplane. (Why do they always come by with soda at these crucial moments?) And I have to give credit to Michael and Ann for turning me on to it. Thanks guys!

Other favorite books on my list so far this year would be:
We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver,
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (which finally made it to the top of the pile), and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Building off of Stephen's comments above what about disappointments for the year? Mine would be The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta. I expected a much better ending to a great story set up.

Just picked up Edgar Sawtelle today and can't wait to start it!

ok, I have to add a new book to my 2008 list. I finished Brideshead Revisited this past weekend and absolutely loved it. I think it may be one of those that I definitely return to. I'm currently making my way through the classic miniseries adaptation from the early '80's and it is so well done!

Thanks, JT. I have a copy of Brideshead on my shelf. Have never seen the miniseries, and need to read it before I see the new movie.

Just saw the trailer for the new Bridehead film -- lush, lush, lush and it looks very interesting indeed -- the book may have to go camping with me. I need a stop at the used bookstore for paperbacks to lighten the book bag though!

Yeah, that was my main motivation for initially reading the book (to get it done before the film came out). It has so many layers of depth and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The miniseries is absolutely spectacular. So far, it's one of the best literary adaptations I've ever seen. I hope the movie lives up to its source material.

Though some of these books were not published in 2008, these are my favorite books that I have read this year (so far)...

- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
- A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All by Luke Dempsey (absolutely hilarious!)
- And Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
- An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action for the 21st Century by James Orbinski
- The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
- Guernica by Dave Boling

Oh how I love lists!!

Here we go:
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
What is the What by Dave Eggers
The Commoner by John Burnham Scwartz
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Run by Ann Patchett
Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek
So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle

I've had a good run this year, I think my discernment is improving, or it's the goodreads effect. ;)

Ooh, mellymel, nice list!
I don't know Tomato Girl, but all of the other books are either books that I've read, or they are on my TBR list.

Tomato Girl came out this past week and was a surprise favorite. I love it when that happens, I'm not usually ahead of the curve...

mellymel-

Isn't it great to discover a book before anyone else does?

thanks for sharing your list with us!

Greetings! I am new here, and I love lists. So far this year, in no particular order:
Black Swan Green, David Mitchell
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch
Away, Amy Bloom
The Thin Place, Kathryn Davis
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer

Hi Robin,
Nice list!! I still haven't read Black Swan Green, though it on the never-ending TBR list.

Welcome to the group, and thanks for posting!

Ann