by librarian bookette Patti O’Brien

Hello All,

As we are still getting to know each other, I thought a list like this might interest you. Let’s face it, readers like lists!!! As a reader and a librarian, I love compiling them.

What I gathered here has been weeded from longer lists for each year, which was a challenge. I wanted to share books that really affected me, lead me to a new author, taught me something amazing, or just thrilled the reader in me.

Something else I need to point out: I have no particular criteria for choosing a book to be a favorite—it is usually one that I want to talk with others about, or tell others to read right now, or that I just love and want to cherish the reading experience the book gave to me.

Favorite Books by the Year I Read Them (date listed is not the publication date!)
Plainsong by Kent Haruf (2001)
Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson (2002)
Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis (2002)
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand (2003)
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane (2003)
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2003)
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (2004)
Tonight I Said Goodbye by Michael Koryta (2005)
The Narrows by Alexander Irvine (2005)
Still Life by Louise Penny (2006)
Madame Secretary: A Memoir by Madeleine Albright (2006)
Truck: A Love Story by Michael Perry (2007)
Earthly Delights by Kerry Greenwood (2007)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (2008)
These Is My Words by Nancy E Turner (2008)
Graceling by Kristin Cashore (2009)
Paper Towns by John Green (2009)
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson(2009)
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (2010)
Saving Ceecee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman (2010)
The Help by Kathleen Stockett (2010)

To follow up; Plainsong by Kent Haruf (2001) was a wonderful story of small town Colorado where lives intertwine in interesting ways. Terrific fiction, and I felt as if I’d never read anything like it before.

Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson (2002) is a book I don’t recall why I picked it up, but I haven’t regretted it. It’s humorous science fiction, which is one of the best kinds. Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (2002) is one of the perfect Christmas books; I loved it so much I gave it out to family and friends the following year at Thanksgiving time so that they could all read it during the holiday season.

2003 brought three books to me that I consider favorites of the decade. Seabiscuit by Lauren Hillenbrand was wonderful narrative history, one of those books I was surprised I enjoyed as much as I did. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane is just brilliant. I was one of those who loved The Time Traveler’s Wife, a terrific story that lead me to read more books that include time travel.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (2004) is flat out one of the most stunning books I have ever read. It is science fiction at its finest, while asking questions about discovery and exploration.

Tonight I Said Goodbye by Michael Koryta (2005) is one of the best debut mysteries I’ve read; it’s a classic private investigator novel, with terrific lead characters. The Narrows by Alexander Irvine (2005) I discovered by reading a review in Locus Magazine. The review was good, the book better, and it took place in Detroit in the 1940s (my hometown). It brought together the racial tensions of the city, the stress of World War II, and elements of fantasy that was hoped would help bring the war to an end.

Still Life by Louise Penny (2006) is the other debut mystery I consider to be the best. It takes place in Three Pines, Quebec, where a murder takes place and detectives from Montreal are sent to investigate. Madame Secretary by Madeleine Albright (2006) is a book that brought reading to halt for me (for a very short time). What an amazing life Secretary Albright has lived, and this book tells it well.

Truck: a Love Story by Michael Perry (2007) was another unexpected good one. It’s the true story of two brothers rebuilding an old truck, and the love is not only for the truck, but brotherly love, and Michael himself finds true love with a terrific woman. Earthly Delights is the beginning of a mystery series by Kerry Greenwood (2007) where the voluptuous main character has quit the corporate life to open a bakery; between the personalities that inhabit the building she lives in and those who come in the bakery’s front and back doors, she has a lot on her hands. And then, of course, there’s a body…

In 2008, I was searching for a new job in a new state, and read a lot of children’s and teen award winners and nominees to “catch up” in those areas of fiction. One of the best was The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. It is a 500+ page book that looks intimidating, but includes many, many pages of beautiful illustrations to tell Hugo’s story. These is My Words by Nancy E Turner was Arizona’s One Book, One Arizona in 2008, and as a new resident, I thought I should read some historical fiction set in my new state. Excellent book, and a great choice for One Book, One Arizona.

At the end of 2008, I was hired as a young adult librarian, which took my reading in a different direction for 2009. While many readers loved The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Graceling by Kristin Cashore was the one that I fell harder for. I liked its fantastical elements, mainly the one where many are given a gift of an ability, and how those gifts are used. The main character was another strong young woman, who met the world on her own terms. Paper Towns by John Green is a good mystery where a young man’s best (female) friend disappears, and he follows clues he believes were left for him to find her. This book also includes a hilarious road trip. We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson is a stunningly beautifully illustrated book on the Negro Baseball League. I think when I first looked at it, my jaw was dropped for several minutes as I paged through it.

Finally, 2010 was my year of many challenges, chief among them being my divorce. Reading was my solace, and books by and for women (not being sexist, just how I felt at the time) were just what I needed. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Eat Pray Love; I needed this kind of book about a woman in transition. Saving Ceecee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman (2010) is a heartbreaking yet humorous book that brings an aunt into a young girl’s life devastated by loss, and sweeps her into the South of the 1960s. Ceecee learns a lot, mostly about the strength of women supporting one another through thick and thin. Finally, The Help by Kathleen Stockett—what a wonderful book told in several voices. I enjoyed this book immensely, and learned from each character.

That’s my decade of books, even though it’s not a short summary. I hope you find books you might like here, and I’d love to hear suggestions of more to read.

Happy Reading!
Patti