Wednesday, December 26, 2007

ricklibrarian's Books That Matter 2007 and Other Awards

It's that time again, Many newspapers, magazines, journals, and other media are publishing their best books lists. One that I found particularly useful was "Books That Shine," a list of cookbooks from 2007 in the Good Eating section of the Chicago Tribune, December 12, 2007, page 1. I ordered six or eight books for the library from this list. I enjoy and benefit much from the end-of-the-year lists.

For the second year, I am now presenting my own best of the year list. Some, but not all, do tend toward the serious side. I am also adding some music, film, and library awards, all chosen through personal deliberation. I hope that you find something of interest to you in the list.

Not every item chosen is actually from 2007. My encounter with each was in 2007.

Recent Nonfiction

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver. HarperCollins, 2007. ISBN 0060852550

Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference by Joanne Oppenheim. Scholastic Nonfiction, 2006. ISBN 0439569923

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007. ISBN 9780743264730

Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2007. ISBN 1565124383

Johnny Cash: The Biography by Michael Streissguth. Da Capo Press, 2006. ISBN 0306813688

Killed Cartoons: Casualties from the War on Free Expression. Norton, 2007. ISBN 9780393329247

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN 0374105235

Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route by Saidiya Hartman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN 0374270821

The New York Botanical Garden. Abrams, 2006. ISBN 0810957442

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin. Doubleday, 2007. ISBN 0385516401

Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq. Penguin Books, 2006. ISBN 9780143038719

A Stronger Kinship: One Town's Extraordinary Story of Hope and Faith by Anna-Lisa Cox. Little, Brown and Company, 2006. ISBN 0316110183


Best Old Book Newly Discovered

Adventures of a Biographer by Catherine Drinker Bowen. Little, Brown, 1959


Poetry

Domestic Violence: Poems by Eavan Boland. Norton, 2007. ISBN 0393062414


Library Science

Technology Competencies and Training for Libraries by Sarah Houghton-Jan. ALA Techsource, March/April 2007. ISSN 0024-2586.


Movies

Away from Her

The Lives of Others (I never wrote the review)


Nuovomondo


The U.S. vs. John Lennon


Television

Simon Schama's The Power of Art


Music

Love by the Beatles


Living with War by Neil Young


Book Review Blogs


Librarian's Blog

Pop Goes Fiction


Library's Blog

Newton Reads


Best Presentation at a Library Conference

He Reads ... She Reads ... with David Wright of Seattle Public Library and Katie Mediatore of Kansas City Public Library, Missouri.


I now look forward to another year of reading good books. Have any suggestions?

2 comments:

Sarah Houghton-Jan said...

Wow, I am awed and humbled that you chose my book. And now I'm also excited about reading Dear Miss Breed. Thanks for this "2007 Best of Rick" list :)

Anonymous said...

Great list--you almost lost me at the Kingsolver (but I just dislike Kingsolver on principle, the principle being that I have a weird allergic reaction to women's fiction writers like her and Picoult) but you definitely won me back with "Killed Cartoons." A great book that didn't get nearly enough press. Thanks for giving it the shout-out here!!