2007 FINAL LIST

I finally finished putting together my list of books read in 2007. The final tally was 76. My favorite was "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro. The biggest disappointment was "Moby Dick." Well, maybe just the middle half. The first quarter was great. The last quarter was tolerable (or maybe my opinion had sunk too low to be recovered).

Booking Through Thursday-Huh?

Booking Through Thursday

I'm on a classic kick. The best one I could think of was "Rose's Garden" by Carrie Brown. It's about an old man who comes to a new life after his wife's death. There's a little more here.

From the Corner of His Eye

From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz

Bartholomew Lampion is born on the day his father dies. By the age of three he loses his eyesight. He has also developed into a mathematical prodigy.

On the day of his birth, another child is born. Angel White is artistic. She is a result of a rape. Her mother dies on childbirth and she is raised by her Aunt Celestine.

Enoch Cain Jr. is as crazy as they come. He's a fan of a self-help guru who has committed suicide. In the beginning of the book he kills the wife he deeply loves by pushing her off a fire tower. The authorities award him a huge settlement. But Detective Tom Vanadium doesn't believe his story. And Cain has decided someone named Bartholemew is his mortal enemy.

Cain's search for this enemy causes him to commit several murders. And it brings together the two young prodigies.

Daniel Defoe's Robinson Cursoe & Alexander Selkirk

Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Alexander Selkirk
by Stu and Stevey Bruce

I got this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers. It is subtitled "The Unique Dual Autobiography of The Famous Island Castaways." The authors have added notes to the margins to tell of the differences and the similiarities of the two mens lives. Both had a calming faith in God and a Panglos attitude that "everythng was for the best." Both daily read their bible and both learned to cultivate what they needed from the island.

Alexander Selkirk was marooned on an island by his ship's captain because he complained about the condition of the ship they were on. He spent 4 years there before he was rescued. He was proven right a month later when the ship, Cinque Ports, sank.

Unlike Crusoe, Selkirk didn't keep a journal. What is know of him is gathered from one interview he gave and from the logs of Woodes Rogers, the captain of the ship that rescued him. But, the public were facinated with the story and Daniel Defoe was inspired to write Robinson Crusoe.

I was amazed that my interest held out over chapter after chapter of how Crusoe survived. He was building fortressess, taming goats, growing crops and avoiding canibals. This was before he found Friday. It really is a great book. And I liked the notes on Selkirk's life.

Bleak House

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

"Bleak House" centers on a young girl, Esther Summerson, and the people she encounters during her life at Bleak House. Her guardian, John Jarndyce is involved in a long drawn out court case. And his ward, Richard, hopes to get his share of the fortune when the case is resolved.

"Bleak House" has a huge cast of characters. It's hard to keep up at times, but by the end they've all intertwined.

It was a great book.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

1928 Pulitzer Prize

Brother Juniper is a monk who witnesses the collapse of the rope bridge between Lima and Cuzco broke and plunged five people to death in the gorge below. He immediately wonders why the disaster happened to that particular five people. He sets out on an investigation into their lives to try to find out if they deserved their fate.

I enjoyed the book, but I didn't get what the big Pulitzer whoopty-do was about.

Mr. Ives' Christmas

Mr. Ives' Christmas
by Oscar Hijuelos

"Mr. Ives' Christmas" is about a father mourning the loss of his son. The boy was 17 and about to enter the priesthood when he is shot by a 14 year old boy as he is leaving choir practice.

The book follows Mr. Ives through decades from his adoption in the 1920's until he's in his 70's. The main focus of the book is his attempts to come to terms with the death of his son. Since he is a good-hearted man, he even has a brief correspondence with the killer. But as the years go by, he is becoming more withdrawn from the life he has. But he hods on to his spirituality. He knows it's the only thing that will get him through to the end.

I thought this was a very good book. It makes the point that compassion is desperately needed in our lives.