Books Read in 2006

This is the list of books I read in 2006, in the order that I read them. For an explanation of my rating system, see here.

Jackson’s Dilemma by Iris Murdoch (3.5/5)

The Oath by John Lescroart (3.5/5)

Life of Pi by Yan Martel (winner of the Booker Prize; 4/5)

The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway (winner of the Pulitzer Prize; 3/5)

The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (3/5)

Without Fail by Lee Child (3.5/5)

Blood Tie by Mary Lee Settle (winner of the National Book Award; 3.5/5)

Ambrose Bierce and the One-Eyed Jacks by Oakley Hall (2/5)

Echo Burning by Lee Child (3/5)

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

The Good Apprentice by Iris Murdoch (3.5/5)

Peter the Great by Robert Massie (3.5/5)

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 5/5)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (5/5)

Theirs Was the Kingdom by R.H. Delderfield (reviewed here; 3/5)

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (4/5)

Oh, the Glory of it All! by Sean Wilsey (3.5/5)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4.5/5)

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer Fleming (3.5/5)

Do-Gooders by Mona Charen (3/5)

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

Cut and Run by Ridley Pearson (3/5)

First Things First by Stephen Covey (3.5/5)

The Real Jimmy Carter by Steven Hayward (3.5/5)

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer (3/5)

The Bridge of San Luis Ray by Thorton Wilder (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 3/5)

Tripwire by Lee Child (3.5/5)

The River at the Center of the World by Simon Winchester (3.5/5)

The Darkness Around Us is Deep by William Stafford (Winner of the National Book Award for poetry)

The Traveling Curmudgeon by John Winokur (Ed.) (3/5)

Armadillo by William Boyd (3.5/5)

San Francisco: The Unknown City by Josh Krist (3.5/5)

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (3/5)

No Lesser Plea by Robert Tannenbaum (3/5)

Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald (winner of the Booker Prize) (3.5/5)

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (winner of the Booker Prize) (3/5)

The Ambassadors by Henry James (on the Modern Library Top 100 list) (3/5)

Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo (2.5/5)

Bait and Switch by Larry Brooks (3/5)

The Wake Up by Robert Ferrigno (3/5)

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (3/5)

Middle Passage by Charles Johnson (reviewed here; winner of the National Book Award; 3/5)

Treason by Ann Coulter (3.5/5)

Young Lonigan by James Farrell (reviewed here; on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 3/5)

The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan by James Farrell (reviewed here; on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 3/5)

Judgment Day by James Farrell (reviewed here; on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

In a Free State by V.S. Naipaul (winner of the Booker Prize; 3/5)

Cowboy Boots by Tyler Beard (3/5)

Post Office by Charles Bukowski (3/5)

The Archivist by Martha Cooley (3.5/5)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (winner of the Pulitzer Prize) (3/5)

Persuader by Lee Child (3.5/5)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (3/5)

Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriella Garcia Marquez (4/5)

Sophie’s Choice by William Styron (reviewed here; on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 5/5)

The Life and Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetze (notes here; winner of the Booker Prize; 2/5)

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (3/5)

A Grave Talent by Laurie King (reviewed here; 3/5)

Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman (4.5/5)

Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley (4/5)

The Triumphant Cat by Marmaduke Skidmore (Ed.) (3/5)

Murder in the Sentier by Cara Black (3.5/5)

Notes from the Underground by Foder Dosteyeskey (3/5)

Martin Dressler by Stephen Millhausen (reviewed here; winner of the Pulitzer Prize; 2/5)

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (4/5)

Being Dead by Jim Crace (notes here; winner of the National Book Critics’ Circle Award; 2/5)

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (reviewed here; winner of the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction; on the Modern Library’s Top 100 nonfiction list; 3.5/5)

A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh (notes here; 3.5/5)

The First Law by John Lescroart (3.5/5)

The Death of Outrage by William Bennett (3.5/5)

Money by Martin Amis (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Enemy by Lee Child (3.5/5)

Death by the Glass by Nadine Gordon (3.5/5)

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (2.5/5)

A Cook’s Tour by Anthony Bourdain (3.5/5)

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Latham (winner of the National Book Critics’ Circle Award; 4/5)

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (reviewed here; winner of the Pulitzer Prize; 3.5/5)

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding (3/5)

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor (winner of the National Book Critics’ Circle Award; 3/5)

Blink by Malcom Gladwell (3/5)

How to Cook A Wolf by M.F.K. Fisher (3.5/5)

Murder on the Potomac by Margaret Truman (3/5)

Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook by Alice Waters (reviewed here; 3/5)

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (3/5)

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenedis (winner of the Pulitzer Prize; 4/5)

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain (notes here; on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

Double Indemnity by James Cain (4/5)

Mildred Pierce by James Cain (3.5/5)

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (3.5/5)

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 3.5/5)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (4/5)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (3/5)

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (4/5)

New Year’s Eve Murder by Lee Harris (2.5/5)

The Orientalist by Tim Riess (3.5/5)

Fanny Hill by John Cleland (3/5)

A View of the Bay by Richard Scowcroft (out of print; 3/5)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (3/5)

Crusader’s Cross by James Lee Burke (3/5)

French Lessons by Peter Mayles (3.5/5)

Postmark Paris by Leslie Jonath (3/5)

Bel Canto by Ann Patchet (3/5)

A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor (winner of the Pulitzer Prize; 4/5)

One Shot by Lee Child (3/5)

Booker Prize: Redux

My original Booker Prize post has been completely redone. Now all the links work. See here for complete list of Booker Prize winners through 2008.

Books Read in 2007

This is the list of books I read in 2007, in the order that I read them. For an explanation of my rating system, see here.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (3.5/5)

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

Animal Farm by George Orwell (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4.5/5)

Judgment Calls by Alafair Burke (3/5)

The 12th Card by Jeffrey Deaver (3/5)

The Fourth Hand by John Irving (2.5/5)

A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

Fear of Flying by Erika Jong (4/5)

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Earnest Hemingway (4/5)

Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman (3/5)

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg (3/5)

The Broker by John Grisham (2/5)

Humbolt’s Gift by Saul Bellow (winner of the Pulitzer Prize; 4/5)

Rasputin’s Daughter by Robert Alexander (2.5/5)

The Assistant by Bernard Malamud (reviewed here) (4/5)

The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket (3/5)

The Closers by Michael Connolly (3/5)

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 2/5)

New England 2007 by Karen Brown (3.5/5)

Living the 7 Habits by Stephen Covey (3.5/5)

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Fear of the Dark by Walter Mosely (2/5)

Finnegans Wake by James Joyce (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; un-ratable)

Love Among the Chickens by P.G. Wodehouse (4/5)

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

The Second Chair by John Lescroart (3.5/5)

Light in August by William Faulkner (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley (reviewed here; 3/5)

The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington (reviewed here; on the Modern Library Top 100 list; winner of the Pulitzer Prize; 3/5)

The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow (reviewed here; 3/5)

Sailing the Wine Dark Sea by Thomas Cahill (3.5/5)

Therese Raquin by Emil Zola (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais (3/5)

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (reviewed here; on the Modern Library Top 100 list; winner of the Booker Prize; 4/5)

Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert (4/5) Restless by William Boyd (reviewed here) (4/5)

The Roald Dahl Omnibus by Roald Dahl (4/5)

Empire Falls by Richard Russo (reviewed here; winner of the Pulitzer Prize; 4/5)

A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 3/5)

Havoc, in Its Third Year by Ronan Bennett (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (3.5/5)

The Fox by D.H. Lawrence (3/5)

What Paul Meant by Gary Wills (3/5)

The Sea by John Banville (winner of the Booker Prize; 3.5/5)

The Golden Bowl by Henry James (reviewed here; on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 3/5)

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (on the Modern Library Top 100 list; 4/5)

Thomas Paine by Craig Nelson (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

A Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse (3/5)

The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald (2.5/5)

Criminal Intent by Sheldon Siegel (3/5) Alibi by Joseph Kanon (3.5/5)

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (3/5)

Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (reviewed here; on the Modern Library Top 100 list; winner of the National Book Award; 4/5)

Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher (3/5) Turning Angel by Greg Iles (3.5/5)

Leap of Faith by Queen Noor (2.5/5)

Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (4/5)

China, Inc. by Thomas Fishmann (3/5)

The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (reviewed here) (3/5)

Queen’s Ransom by Fionna Buckley (2.5/5)

Blanding’s Castle by P.G. Wodehouse (3.5/5)

Housekeeping by Marilyn Robinson (3.5/5)

Portland Confidential by Phil Stanford (3/5)

Gifted by Nikita Lalwani (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Mormon America by Richard and Joan Ostling (3.5/5)

A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester (3/5)

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (4/5)

A Tidewater Morning by William Styron (3.5/5)

Digging to America by Anne Taylor (3/5)

Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov (5/5)

Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis (3/5)

The Party by Sally Quinn (3/5)

Prelude to Terror by Helen MacInnes (3/5)

The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester (3.5/5) Decorating with Books by Marie Proeller Hueston (3.5/5)

Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam (2/5)

Feast of Love by Charles Baxter (2.5/5)

The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain (3.5/5)

The Centaur by John Updike (reviewed here; winner of the National Book Award; 3/5)

The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford (3.5/5)

Peace Kills by P.J. O’Rourke (3/5)

Scout’s Honor by Patrick Boyle (3/5)

Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith (3.5/5)

Real Cooking, by George! by George Jacobs (reviewed here) (3/5)

Old School by Tobias Wolf (3/5)

The Paperboy by Peter Dexter (3.5/5)

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (3/5)

The Hard Way by Lee Child (3.5/5)

Barrel Fever by David Sedaris (3/5)

The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket (3/5)

The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Jungle Law by Victoria Vinton (3/5)

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (4/5)

Miracle Cure by Sally Pipes (3/5)

Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham (3.5/5)

Suspicion of Rage by Barbara Parker (3/5)

The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caldwell (3/5)

The Hunt Club by John Lescroart (3/5)

Dinner at Antoine’s by Frances Parkinson Keyes (3.5/5)

Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (winner of the Booker Prize; 3/5)

Stuff on My Cat by Mario Garza (3/5)

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Housseni (3.5/5)

My Book Ratings

Ratings should be taken with a grain of salt, because they are a little loosey goosey. This is a subjective rating system, based on my likes and dislikes, although my subjective judgment usually correlates to objective criteria. That is, if a book is poorly written, has clunky dialog, flat characters, or plot flaws, I am probably not going to like it and will give it a low rating. On the other hand, if a book is technically good and I enjoy it, I will give it a high rating. These subjective and objective notions meet in a muddled middle in my 3/5 rating. I give a lot of books 3/5 because I was entertained and glad to have read them, but did not think they were all that well-written. But a 3/5 rating can also mean I thought the book was excellent from an objective standpoint, but I did not care for it personally (most Henry James novels come to mind). With those general ideas in mind: 5/5 means it is an all-time favorite; 4/5 means I liked it and either would recommend it generally, or at least think it worthy of general recommendation, even if no one takes me up on it; 3/5 means either that I enjoyed it for what it was or think it is a "good" book, but would probably not recommend it; 2/5 means I did not like it; and 1/5 means I really, really disliked it. Half a point added means my judgment is on the borderline, with one exception: 3.5/5 means that I liked a book and would recommend it to certain people who I think would enjoy it, either because they like that type of book or some other particular reason, but I would not make a general recommendation. No rating does not mean 0/5. It just means that I read the book too long ago to remember it enough to rate it, I am not qualified to rate it (poetry, for instance)or I simply forgot to rate it.

Merry Christmas!