2007 in review

[jmc_bks]

I sat down to do an initial sketch of my votes for AAR's Annual Poll and to do my year end wrap up, but I had a terrible time getting organized. Midway through the year, I switched from using Rosario's amazing spreadsheet to using LibraryThing. I like both of them, but for different reasons. And Ro's spreadsheet works much better for the year end summary, TBH. So I'll be going back to that.

I read or attempted to read ~250 books; about 50 of them were DNF and another ~30 were full or partial re-reads. Most of them were straight romance (as in, romance without being a paranormal, mystery, etc., but not necessarily m/f straight); they were predominantly contemporaries. Which seems weird to me, because I felt like I was constantly reading paranormals or urban fantasy. <shrug>

My AAR ballot is going to be incomplete, because I don't have anything to put in a lot of the fields. Yes, I read some frontier romances, but none that were better than average. Funny? Eh. Tears? Well, Iron Kissed made me almost cry when Ben was talking to Adam about how Mercy must feel, but that's an '08 book. And a lot of the books that I liked best weren't romances, strictly speaking. For example, Ilona Andrews' Magic Bites is one of the best books I read all year, but it's not a romance nor does it have even a romantic thread. Silent in the Grave is a mystery. Y: the last man (one volume pub'd in 2007) is an action/adventure graphic novel.

Best of 2007
The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella (originally pub'd in 2006 but the US publication is 2007)
Demon Angel and Demon Moon by Meljean Brooks (best debut)
Beau Crusoe by Carla Kelly
The Harlot's Daughter by Blythe Gifford
Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold
Force of Nature and All Through the Night by Suzanne Brockmann
No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong
Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong
A Bad Case of Loving You by Laney Cairo
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
Innocent in Death by J.D. Robb
High Noon by Nora Roberts
Moon Over Tokyo by Siri Mitchell
Driven by Eve Kenin
Y: the last man by Brian K. Vaughan
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Rayburn
"I Dream of Dragons" by Summer Devon (short story)
"Alpha and Omega" by Patrica Briggs (short story)

I still have a couple of books and short stories to read that may mean a revision to the list. [Including Carrie Lofty's "Sundial" and Lilith Saintcrow's Dante Valentine series.]

Best of non-2007 books
My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Natural Law by Joey Hill
Adios to My Old Life by Caridad Ferrer
The Cubicle Next Door by Siri Mitchell

Comments

Appreciate your list

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for doing one as you are one of my favorites to get rec's from and also, I can't do a list as I didn't read all that many books that were memorable and not very many romances either. I plan to do one for YA and Mystery later today, but no romance :-(

Keishon

Re: Appreciate your list

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

You're welcome :) I'm glad to spread the book-love. Sadly, though, the memorable books turn out to be just about 10% of all of my reading, which means I'm wading through a lot of ~meh~ books.

I'm looking forward to reading your YA and Mystery lists. Saw your Graphic Novel list, and need to print it out and take it to the bookstore.

[meljeanbrook.livejournal.com]

This is awesome, and thank you -- but I don't think I qualify for a debut? My novella came out in 2005, and I'm not sure if there's an exception for novellas. So a vote for mine might be wasted.

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Oh. Okay. Hmm. I don't remember what other "debuts" I've read.