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DEL.ICIO.USWhat’s your favorite book of 2007?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a simple question that may be rather hard: What was the one book you read in 2007 that you would like to recommend to everyone here?
I was inspired to frame the year-end question this way by (read: I ripped off the idea from) Paste magazine, the excellent Decatur-based culture mag that covers music, film, books and whatnot. Instead of having book critics come up with snooze-inducing Top 10 lists, where everyone puts Philip Roth at the top, they asked various smart readers to name one book they read in 2007 that rocked them the hardest.
Dave Eggers chose “Life Laid Bare: Survivors in Rwanda Speak,” which I had never heard of. Charles McNair, Paste’s book review editor, chose “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” a brave choice when you’re being judged by other litcrits. Rosanne Cash named “The Kite Runner,” which is actually a couple years old, but she just got around to it this year.
I’m going to go with “Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches From America’s Class War,” by Joe Bangeant, a book I have mentioned previously, as the one book I read in 2007 that I would like all of you to read.
According to his blog, Bangeant is a Vietnam veteran who became a hippie, then a journalist. He moved back to his hometown of Winchester, Va., a blue-collar, economically struggling small town he loves but sees differently from the people who have always lived there and never left.
Bangeant writes about the real people in his town, whom he knows inside out, and not like a reporter who has just parachuted in for a month. They are people with serious health problems but inadequate health insurance (or none at all), who work and shop at Wal-Mart and listen to country music and love their country and don’t go in for a lot of irony or using air quotes when they talk.
These are the people that every politician tells us are the real Americans, and yet as Bangeant shows, they are getting shafted in so many ways by the government, society, the media, the Machine, whatever you want to call it. He does not spare either political party, and both liberals and conservatives, if they approach with open minds, should be squirming over how Bangeant frames the issues facing these people.
It is hilariously funny, very angry and somewhat depressing.
So here are my two calls to action: Go buy “Deer Hunting with Jesus.”
Then tell us what one book you read in 2007 (published whenever) you would recommend, and why.
Permalink | Comments (29) | Categories: holiday
Comments
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By Jeff
December 7, 2007 10:25 AM | Link to this
Phil,
The comment link over on Book Page isn’t working. You may want to put a post over there directing people here.
As far as book I read in 2007 that EVERYONE should read:
Hands down, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer by Capt. Nathaniel Fick.
This guy was one of the first boots on the ground in both Afghanistan and Iraq - he was in Australia on shore leave at 9am (EDT) on Sept 11, 2001 - and the book describes a bit of his upbringing, his decision to join the Corps, his experience in OCS, and his experiences in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
By FCM
December 7, 2007 10:27 AM | Link to this
After waiting a decade for it….getting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has to be both best anticipated and best book of 2007—-yes I know other books were well written this year but come on we really are talking end of an era here.
By Jann K
December 7, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this
I enjoyed this book so much I accidentally read it twice. The title is Plain Truth. It’s about an Amish girl caught up in a murder trial. Now I am going to watch the movie The Witness again. I feel like I am using my time more wisely when I read books with interesting factual information woven within the plot. Recently learned a lot about sheep shearing, autographing of rare books and archeology that way!
By Anne
December 7, 2007 12:26 PM | Link to this
I know this book has been out a while, but a friend recommended it to me and I found it hilarious! It is Christopher Moore’s - Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Jesus’ Childhood Friend. I could not put it down and laughed out loud during most of it. I also loved the last Harry Potter.
By Me
December 7, 2007 12:33 PM | Link to this
World Without End by Ken Follett. Although not really a sequel to his other novel Pillars of the Earth per se, this book takes place in the same region of Europe some two hundred years later and is an excellent read. It’s lengthy, over one thousand pages and I enjoyed each and every word. The time period is 12th and 13th century England.
By iluvmccann
December 7, 2007 12:33 PM | Link to this
For people that are into history, I really enjoyed “The Other Boleyn Girl”, which is the story of Mary Boleyn who was with Henry VIII before Anne. That was seriously one messed up family.
By ahhh
December 7, 2007 12:37 PM | Link to this
Harry Potter, of course. The Clapton Autobiography was pretty good too.
By bookworm
December 7, 2007 12:37 PM | Link to this
Has to be Harry Potter!!!
By Truth
December 7, 2007 1:44 PM | Link to this
Epicentre or Epicenter. By Joel Rosenberg. It is an eye opening book about the book of Ezekiel. I am not much of a reader (or speller) at all and I could not put this book down. It talks about how what is going on in the world is just God’s prophecy. Amazing!
By Sagegirl
December 7, 2007 2:00 PM | Link to this
“Whatever makes you happy” by Lisa Grunwald was the best novel I’ve read in quite a while. I picked it up at the book store for a couple of bucks thinking it wouldn’t be much… turns out, it was simply fabulous. Best of the year.
By Tom
December 7, 2007 2:35 PM | Link to this
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. There have only been two novels I’ve read that I would describe as emotionally stunning: Sophie’s Choice and The Road. It may be because I have a young son, but everything about McCarthy’s work gripped me powerfully and has stayed with me for a very long time. As the very last sentence in the novel says, it “hum[s] of mystery.”
By Jeff
December 7, 2007 2:45 PM | Link to this
Tom:
You must not have read the same The Road that I did. To me, it was the single WORST book I’ve EVER read, and the only reason I finished it was because we were talking about it here on the book blog back in October.
I’ve made some book buys in my life that I later regretted somewhat. This was the ONLY book I have EVER bought that I felt I wouldn’t have taken if someone had PAID ME to.
By Cassie
December 7, 2007 2:47 PM | Link to this
“Reading Lolita in Tehran” has to have been the best book I’ve read in 2007.
And “Other People’s Love Letters” for a nice snapshot into other people’s affairs of the heart.
I like the Phillipa Gregory books as well, have them all downstairs in my “library”.
By Yolanda Rabun
December 7, 2007 2:54 PM | Link to this
I’d like to recommend for children and adults the book:
*this text will be bolded My Grandma’s Backyard.
It was written by the precocious grandsons of an Atlantan grandmother whose love for nature and fun inspired the 7 and 9 year old brothers to pen and publish their first book.
It is a delightful tale and professionally illustrated. Check it out at
Link: text to be linked
By Matt
December 7, 2007 2:59 PM | Link to this
Having read “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” for the first time earlier this year, I will say that it is an excellent book that had me laughing at almost every other sentence.
For you science fiction lovers out there (I really hope I’m not the only one) Steven Erikson is an excellent writer. his latest “Bonehunters” is a worthy addition to an already complex series that starts with “Gardens of the Moon”
By Maria
December 7, 2007 3:27 PM | Link to this
I read The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, back in March of this year, and have yet to be equally moved by another novel. It’s definitely made my all-time top 10 books. Thinking about some parts of that book still make me a little weepy.
Plus, I was fortunate enough to meet the author when he was in town (from Australia) last month.
Second place for the year goes to Cures For Heartbreak, by Margo Rabb. It was published in early ‘07 and is a lovely series of interconnected short stories about a teenage girl who has recently lost her mother.
By Gwinnett Dad
December 7, 2007 3:33 PM | Link to this
‘Einstein’ by Walter Isaacson. Fascinating. A brilliant physicist that was treated as a bigger than life celbrity. He, along with others of his time, such as Winston Churchill or George Marshall, seem to be bigger men than men are allowed to become today. Author Isaacson, himself a layman, does a brilliant job of describing some of the most difficult concepts of theoretical physics, though some of it, I must admit, went right over my head.
By lovelyliz
December 7, 2007 3:39 PM | Link to this
Anything but The Secret
By Beverly
December 7, 2007 3:41 PM | Link to this
The Holy Bible, of course.
By Peri, Lithonia
December 7, 2007 3:45 PM | Link to this
This year, read and loved two books by Wally Lamb: I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE and SHE’S COME UNDONE.** Both most excellent reads.
I also enjoyed DREAMS FROM MY FATHER” by Barack Obama
By lovelyliz
December 7, 2007 3:45 PM | Link to this
The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin I love the whole John Rebus series.
By lovelyliz
December 7, 2007 3:51 PM | Link to this
And I’ve gotten into “The Assault on Reason” which was given to me as a gift. It’s much better than I expected.
By Laura
December 7, 2007 4:57 PM | Link to this
Not Rhett Butler’s People, that’s for sure.
By Murray Silver
December 7, 2007 4:59 PM | Link to this
“WHEN ELVIS MEETS THE DALAI LAMA,” by Murray Silver, Savannah’s favorite author for 3 years in a row!
By Librarian
December 7, 2007 5:00 PM | Link to this
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini will rock your world. Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen is a great book for when you are on-the-road and wish you weren’t.
By Jason
December 7, 2007 6:01 PM | Link to this
MERGING WITH MONSTERS by Joseph Eugene Green - you’ve got to check this one out! You can read the first chapter @ www.monsterspot.com - - WARNING: Not for the Faint-of-Heart.
By Marci
December 7, 2007 6:30 PM | Link to this
My all-time favorite for the year was 149 Palmer Street, Akron, Ohio…”The Way We Were” by Maxine A. Browne. It’s a nostalgic look at growing up in Akron, Ohio in the 40’s and 50’s. It really has touched the hearts and minds of folks of all ages, cultures and races from what I have heard and read in the reviews on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble. It is a quick read and a very personal little book for adults.
It would make a nice gift for someone who has read everything, or would like to sit back…and remember their “good ol’ days.”
By Lil
December 10, 2007 7:35 AM | Link to this
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini is such a compeling well written story I could not put the book down until I finnished.
By Ken Smith
December 10, 2007 7:52 PM | Link to this
I agree with you on “Deer Hunting with Jesus” being well worth reading — but you don’t have the author’s name spelled correctly.
It’s “Bageant”, not “Bangeant”.