Books read in 2008 that stand out:
Q & A - Vikus Swarup
A long, long way - Sebastian Barry
The uncommon reader - Alan Bennett
The Road - cormac McCarthy

Nothing standing out yet in 2009

I am reading 1000 Splendid Suns right now. I am only on chapter 9, but I am already in love with it!!!

The Thirteenth Tale!--Diane Setterfield
The Other Boleyn Girl--Phillipa Gregory
The Book of Lost Things--John Connely
Nineteen Minutes--Jodi Picoult

Teri - I agree with you...I just loved The Glass Castle. It's in my hall of fame list of favorite memoirs along with ....
"The Tender Bar" by J.R. Moehringer
"Memories of a Lost Egypt: A Memoir with Recipes" by Collette Rossant'
"The Kiss" by Kathryn Harris
"Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt

Just wanted to agree with Teri...I love East of Eden too! I would like to reread it again someday, even though I just read it a few years ago. Awesome book! I haven't read Grapes of Wrath yet, but it is on my TBR list.

Allison I actually liked Snow Flower better than Peony but both good. I have another one you might like after that which is not very well known but good: The Secrets of Jin-shei by Alma Alexander. Oh and I hope you have read Memoirs of a Geisha already too that is a must read. (the movie didn't do it justice)

Ashley is A northern light the Donnelly book? If so have you read her first two of the Rose trilogy?? Both really good if you like family saga type books.

Oh and i am moving Cranford up on my list. I picked it up a library sale and want to get to it.

In the order in which I read them:

Eat, Pray, Love
The Glass Castle
The Shack

Tera - East of Eden is one of my three all-time favorite classic novels. For me, it is Steinbeck's best; better written even than Grapes of Wrath. His use of literary devices and descriptive language really came together in this novel. I fell in love with it when I was in high school, and have again the 3 more times I've read it since then. (And I always find new things to love.)

My favorite from this year would be A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Although I am proud of myself for reading & finishing Crime & Punishment and The Pillars of the Earth.

Maureen, I'm definitely moving Snow Flower up to the top of my to-read list because I finished Peony in Love recently, and I thought it was incredible! Have you read that one by Lisa See?

Such great, great choices from everyone!! My to-read list has grown immensely from reading all of these posts. It blows my personal challenge of not adding any books to my current pile, but I'm so excited to have so many great reads to look forward to! Thank you and thank you Kat, for starting this thread!

I have a few that got top honors this year but many that rate a close second.
Top Dogs:
1)Jane Eyre - audio this time, still as good as the other 2 times I read it. :)
2)Giants of the Earth - Rolvaag
3)The Wednesday wars - Schmidt (YA)
4)Change of Heart - Picoult -made for great discussion
5)The Green MIle - King
6)Swimming to Antartica - Cox (NF)
7)The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society - duh!:)

Second places (I have 30 on this list but will only name a few)
1)A thousand splendid suns
2) The Gargoyle - Davidson
3)These is my Words -Turner
4)An inconvient Wife - Chance
5)There's no place like here - Ahern
6)The Winter Rose - Donnelly
7)The little house - Gregory
8)The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte- Rowland
9)The Grass is Singing - Lessing
10)Tales of a female nomad - Gilman

enough said I think!

oh Ashley I read Cranford too! I was awesome! It has definitely made me want to read more by her.

Man this is a difficult thing to narrow down... In no particular order...some are just fun some have wit & make you think!

The Wednesday Sisters: A Novel
The Portrait of a Lady
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Girl Most Likely To
Barchester Towers
The Second Assistant: A Tale from the Bottom of the Hollywood Ladder
Hand-Me-Down
Highland Fling
Master and Commander
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues
The Jane Austen Book Club: A Novel

Without a doubt
1> Snowflower and the Secret Fan. best book of the year and one of my all time favorites in my life.

2> Water for Elephants. different type of book but lovely

3> The Lords of Discipline. Again a different type, older book but I enjoyed it a lot.

4> The Black Dahlia. I am reading it now and loving it.

5.>Lisey's Story. Probably Stephen King's best.

6.> A Thousand Splendid Suns. Should be up higher on the list. A great book, better than Kite Runner.

Oops forgot some..lol
Redeeming Love
The History of Love: A Novel

I had alot of great books this yearTen Thousand Sorrows : The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan
The Gargoyle
The Book Thief
The Pillars of the Earth

A Thousand Splended Suns, Water for Elephants, The Given Day

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
& Twilight

History of Love
13th Tale
A Thousand Splendid Sun
Water for Elephants
Guernsey
A Tree Grows in Broklyn

I loved the Mitford Sisters.. also Ashley!
I didn't read it this year!
I want to read some of Nancy Mitford's book. I have Love in a Cold Climate on my to read list!

Guernsey was my number 1 this year - what a great, great book! I also loved, Loving Frank, Water for Elephants, North River: A Novel and Eva Moves the Furniture

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Housewrites by Art Corriveau
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Housseini
We're Just Like You Only Prettier by Celia Rivenbark
Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews

My favorites for the year:

History of Love
Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain (finally got around to reading this)
Mistress of the Art of Death
The Thirteenth Tale
The Knitting Circle
The Coroner's Lunch, Thirty Three Teeth, Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill (first three of mystery series set in 1970's Laos.)
The Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison

And I just picked up Making Money by Terry Pratchett, so that's likely to make the list by the end of the year...

Water for Elephants was incredible.

On the fluff side, I really enjoyed the Percy Jackson series as well as Fablehaven series.

I agree with most of you about The Time Traveler's Wife - I would also add Peony in Love (Lisa See), The Book Thief (Markus Zusak), and Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)!

The Time Traveler's Wife
Twilight
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Last Chance Saloon
Anybody Out There

I'm currently reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and hoping that it ends up on this list!

So, I've been following this thread for the last 16 hours and I'm having the hardest time coming up with an answer! Mostly because I liked almost everything I read, and "really liked" or "loved" a big number of those.

I think as I look back at 2008, I have to say that the best thing of my year is that I branched outside the fantasy realm.

Up until this year, I pretty much read Charles de LInt de Lint; Charles with a few miscellaneous books thrown in the mix. But this year, I read a ton of new authors, and not many were fantasy!

There were a few that were good for me.
The Shack
The Knitting Circle
The Middle Place

I only started keeping a record of books I've read since October and I can't remember anything before that lol ....

Stand out books for me since October, then, are

Gentlemen and Players: A Novel by Joanne Harris

and

Twilight (yes, really!)


Time Traveler's Wife is one of my all-time faves! LOVE that book!!

I am loving this book Laura....its fantastic!

13th Tale made the list for you Holli? Great!

Oh I LOVE "The Time Traveler's Wife"!

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
2. Mistress of the Art of Death, The Serpent's Tale, and City of Shadows--all three by Ariana Franklin, my new favorite author
3. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer
5. The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penny
6. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
7. The Pact and Nineteen Minutes--both by Jodi Picoult
8. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
9. All of the Southern Vampire series with Sookie Stackhouse (Dead Until Dark, etc.) by Charlaine Harris
10. The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid
11. Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
12. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
13. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
14. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
15. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

It's been a very good year for reading. I will probably be adding A Company of Liars, my current read, to this list.

The Glass Castle
The Shack
The Thirteenth Tale
Eat Pray Love

East of Eden
Guernsey
Thousand Splendid Suns
Book Thief

Mine's Guernsey, I think. I loved it.

Mine would be
The Time Traveller's Wife and
The Knitting Circle

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for sure!

Fav's of this year:
Eat Pray Love/Elizabeth Gilbert
Loving Frank/Nancy Horan
The Knitting Circle/Ann Hood

One that stands out from this year, not nec a fav:
Trail of Crumbs/Kim Sunee.

So far this year my favorite books have been:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Blindness by Jose Saramago.

What has been the best book(s) or the one(s) that has/have stood out the most to you that you have read this year??

I have two:

Long Way Gone; Memoirs of a Soldier Boy... Ishamel Beah

The Kite Runner.... Khaled Hosseini