The Weekly Book Question

Many newspapers, including  recent editions  of The New York Times  and  The Globe and Mail have selected and published lists of what they consider the best or most notable books of the past year.

Do these best of lists ever influence your what to read choices?  Do you read the book reviews in your  local paper? Do you have a favourite online book site that you turn to for reviews?

Finally, and most importantly, what one or two books would  you include on your list of Favourite Books Read during the the past year?

Comments

[Sara]

Rarely read book reviews - and don't much care for the Best Seller lists.

On-line I get lots of suggestions from Gautami Tripathy at the blog My Own Little Reading Room...

The Handmaid's Tale - by Atwood

[Rosemary]

I do read best seller lists and get the NY Times Book Review. Sometimes I use their lists but mostly I look for new books from favorite authors.

I Feel Bad About My Neck
The Kite Runner

[Susan Helene Gottfried]

Depends on the list. Some, I trust. Most, I don't because they are too full of literary fiction, which I have tried to get into ad infinitum and have failed almost every single time.

[Hannah]

I don't read the reviews or best seller lists. I will look for new work by old authors, or for new-to-me books. I take recommendations from friends, but with a grain of salt.

My favourite books this year were non-fiction. I enjoyed "Words and Rules" about linguistics (the author's name escapes me) and I read a nice book about the history of beverages called "A history of the world in six glasses". No, I can't remember the author's name on that one either.

[aka_monty]

I glance over the lists to see if any of my favorite authors appear.
I love reading fiction--I love it more if there are mysteries or detectives or suspense or all of the above.
I have far too many favorites to narrow it down.

[Shephard]

1. No
2. No.
3. No.
4. Loving What Is, by Byron Katie. Made me think about things differently, outside the box.

~S

[Jackie]

I live on a little island so the NYT book review is very handy for ideas for ordering books.

Divisadero - Michael Ondaatje
Suite Francaise- Irene Nemirovsky

[Mamacita]

Bestseller lists mean nothing to me; I rely on the advice of trusted friends.

The best NEW book I've read this past year was "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us. -W.H. Auden,
poet (1907-1973)

[Bev]

1. No
2. No
3. No
4. Harvest by Tess Gerritsen;
From Baghdad with Love by Jay Kopelman

[leslie]

No, I don't read book reviews. And I doubt very much if the books I read would ever make it to any such lists. B
ut my personal favorite is HP and the Deathly Hallows, of course!
And Knitting In Plain English by Maggie Holmes

[Michele]

Some of my favourite posts are the ones in which my blog-friends offer the title of a book they adore. I have discovered many new authors this way and have added a few to my favourites. Thank-you!

Jackie: I would also include "Divisadero" and "Suite Francaise" among my favourite books this year.

A friend once told me that Michael Ondaatje could write a shopping list and I would wish to read it. He was, of course, correct. I imagine it would be a wonderfully engaging list. Sigh.

[Deputy's Wife]

My sister is an avid reader. My mother has said she picked up her first book at the age of seven months, and has not been without one since. (My sister is 53-ish.) She reads such a wide range of books. While I don't really care for most of the books she reads, she is always able to point me in the direction of an author to read. She is always right too. For 15 years, she worked in a book store (her dream job). She would be able to talk to a person for 10 minutes and then pair them up with the perfect book for them. An uncanny knack she has.

I mainly like quirky fiction. Julie Kenner is a new one I have read this year that was memorable. Right now, I am reading some of Mary Kay Andrews' books. They are pretty good!

[Thumper]

I don't read many reviews and the Best Seller's List is not on my radar. I prefer hearing about books from real people who enjoyed them or didn't...but mostly I buy books that simply catch my attention while I'm browsing.

This year I particularly enjoyed "Lamb" by Christopher Moore, and am learning more than I thought I would from "A Year Of Living Biblically," which sounds dry but is actually freaking funny.

[Becky68]

I'm not influenced by newspaper reviews anymore (though when I read the Boston Globe daily I would clip reviews of books I thought sounded interesting) now if I hear about books from peoples blogs I'll try to get the book if it sounds good.
My favorite books this year have been
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Small Town by Richard Block
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield- so far, I just started it Saturday
& Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy- which I read for the first time this year.

[MissMeliss]

I read the NY Times Book Review online, for ideas, but not really for opinions.

I prefer quirky, below-the-radar work so bestseller lists don't mean much to me.

Other than the NYT, my favorite book review site is the one I write. Bibliotica.com :)

My favorites from 2007? The Devil's Teeth (it's about pelagic sharks off) by Susan Casey and Blink, by Malcom Gladwell.

[Diane]

I like the lists to see what books I may have missed!

I really enjoyed Can't Wait to Get to Heaven and the John Ceepak mysteries by Chris Grabenstein - Mad Mouse, Tilt A Whirl and Whack a Mole