Amazon's best books of 2007

[SFG75]

Amazon has quite an list. I'm not shocked that Khalid Hosseni's book leads the pack. I have wanted to pick up Joshua Ferris's book, not to mention Greenspan's. The latter I will read as soon as it hits the library shelf. So what do you guys think? Anyone read any/all of these?

 

[angerball]

Glad to see The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox up there! That's the only one on their list that I've read (aside from Spook Country, which I gave up on).

 

[lenny nero]

I'm currently reading number 90. It's the only one on there I've read.

 

[bluecaffeine]

Wow, I'm behind. I've only read one, the Ian McEwan, and was not impressed.

 

[Landslide]

I've read number 3: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling and I really want to read number 4, The World Without Us by Alan Weisman.

 

[libris]

I've read The World Without Us and I highly recommend it. At the very least, it's great fun to read the part about how quickly buildings decay after they're no longer maintained.

Edited to Add: I wish I'd seen this list before I went to the library sale, then I would have had a better idea of what to look for in the new fiction. Oh well, there's always February

 

[beer good]

I've read only 4 of those.
DeLillo: OK, but not as great as he can be.
Hamid: So-so.
McEwan: Brilliant, and gets more brilliant the more I think about it.
Gibson: Very good, if not quite as brilliant as its predecessor.

So based on that, even though there's quite a few books on that list that look interesting, I'm not sure I'd buy anything off it simply because it's on the list. I certainly read a lot of great books this year that aren't on it. But de gustibus etc.

 

[unKeMPt]

No love for Exit Ghost?

 

[Fantasy Moon]

The only book on that list that I've read was Harry Potter. But there are a few that I have been wanting to get my hands on like Finn and Greenspan's book.

 

[PsychZero]

Has anyone had the chance to read the Einstein biography? I've been meaning to pick it up, but the price tag is a little steep for a poor college student at Christmas time.

 

[silverseason]

The Einstein biography is excellent. I unselfishly gave it to my husband for his birthday and we both read it. It is long, but it is not a slow read. The author moves chronologically in telling the story, but organizes the chapters around various incidents and topics.

I particularly enjoyed the many quotes from Einstein's letters, as well as from people who knew him. The explanations of scientific matters and controversy were not overly technical, but not avoided either. He also wrote about Einstein's beliefs, political, social and religious.

Maybe you should wait for the paperback which ought to be out soon.

 

[PsychZero]

Great! Thanks for the review, silverseason. Maybe I'll get lucky and receive a Borders gift card under the tree this year.

 

[Scout11]

I've only read two. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and Harry Potter. Kind of a dissapointment since I have read over 20 books this year and many of them were worth a place on this list.