In last year’s reading list post, I said I was going to try to read fewer books in 2007. That didn’t happen, but I did make a concentrated effort to pay more attention to what I read this year. I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped at writing down what I liked or didn’t like about the books I read, but I did at least note whether or not I liked them. It’s a start.

First, let’s take a look at the books I really, really liked. Here they are, my 10 favorite books of 2007:

Continue reading Nichole's 2007 reading round-up →

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Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief is a devastating novel. It’s categorized as a young adult book, but please don’t let that stop you from reading it.

Here’s a bit of the Washington Post review that made me want to pick it up:

Death, it turns out, is not proud.

The narrator of “The Book Thief” is many things — sardonic, wry, darkly humorous, compassionate — but not especially proud. As author Marcus Zusak channels him, Death — who doesn’t carry a scythe but gets a kick out of the idea — is as afraid of humans as humans are of him.

Knopf is blitz-marketing this 550-page book set in Nazi Germany as a young-adult novel, though it was published in the author’s native Australia for grown-ups. (Zusak, 30, has written several books for kids, including the award-winning I Am the Messenger.) The book’s length, subject matter and approach might give early teen readers pause, but those who can get beyond the rather confusing first pages will find an absorbing and searing narrative.

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After 14 books, Diane Mott Davidson‘s Aspen Meadows is starting to look like Colorado’s answer to Cabot Cove.

This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy “Sweet Revenge” or its 13 predecessors. Davidson’s culinary capers are the cotton candy of the mystery world — fluffy, fun and light on substance. Just the way I like my murder mysteries. The pun-tastic titles and the whimsically named dishes (complete with recipes!) are enough to keep me entertained.

But the shtick is starting to wear thin. How many dead bodies does caterer Goldy Schulz need to discover before she decides it might be safer to live in Detroit?