My notable books of 2007 — Part Two: fiction
Welcome to part 2 of 3 posts recapping the books I read this year (part one re-capped non-fiction, including memoirs). I’m saving my TOP 5 and BOTTOM 5 fiction reads for next week’s post because I am very suspenseful.
Here, then, are notable novels I read in 2007, in the order that I liked them. (Note that most of these books were not published this year.)
Breakfast of Champions
It felt appropriately commemorative to finally get around to reading BoC soon after hearing of Vonnegut’s death. I’d started & never finished the book so many times and always meant to pick it up again. I love the clever and intricate ways Vonnegut twists characters and storylines into something so ridiculously out-there and surprising, yet somehow believable.
The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus
I admittedly kind of exhausted myself of Margaret Atwood after a couple-year obsession during grad school, but this worthwhile quick read provides a really clever take on the Odyssey, and how it made Penelope look like an idiot when really she was the one tricking everybody. Very creatively tongue-in-cheek.
Case Histories: A Novel
Several people die in seperate decades and maybe it’s all connected or maybe it’s not (or is it?), and it’s up to the likeable London private detective Jackson Brodie to figure it out. I really liked this. It’s addicting and a bit gruesome in all the right ways. A suspenseful mystery for people who aren’t normally into suspenseful mysteries.
Paranoid Park
The premise of this young adult novel is that a high school skater kid accidentally kills a cop and struggles to cope with the aftermath without being able to tell a single soul what happened. It’s short, but awfully intense. The story was also recently adapted into a pretty decent Gus Van Sant movie.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Fifteen year-old autistic protagonist Christopher tells this pseudo-mystery story beginning with his discovery of a dead poodle, presumably stabbed with a fork in a neighbor’s yard. He chronicles his investigation as well as his daily life, and the result is sometimes funny, sometimes heart-wrenching, but overall done very well, I thought.
Black Swan Green: A Novel
This novel is actually made up of a series of 13 short stories about the sweetly endearing Worcestershire adolescent Jason Taylor. Supposedly derived from Lord of the Flies, the stories chronicle Jason’s struggle for acceptance at school and at home while also dealing with a pesky and embarrassing stutter.
Memoirs of a Geisha
So, I really liked this book until the cheesy super-romantic ending grossed me out and ruined everything that came before for me. Up until then, I very much enjoyed a vivid glimpse into the elaborately costumed, rigidly educated world of geishas. This novel was obviously incredibly well-researched and written very compellingly. I just hated the sick lovey-dovey ending! But that’s me.
OK, stay tuned for next week’s TOP FIVE and BOTTOM FIVE list! In the meantime, you may want to check out the Village Voice’s year-end book features: Great Books from 2007 You May Have Missed and Voice Writers Pick Their Favorite 20 Books of the Year.
