Leave a Comment »

Trackback | RSS 2.0

1. Paco - January 9, 2009

I’m disappointed…my book should have made the list. Muhammad Yunus is more deserving of this list than Stephanie Meyer…we’re a social enterprise! Who voted for the top 10?

2. Rudy Reyes Jr. - January 10, 2009

I forgot to submit my two… they are actually re-reads that I got around to this past year and are two of my favorite books of all time: Waugh’s _Brideshead Revisited_ and Rushdie’s _Haroun & the Sea of Stories_.

3. Nicole - January 12, 2009

I’m surprised Watchmen wasn’t on this list, seems like a lot of us at BWB were reading it! Maybe none of us responded to your e-mail (like me…)

Ah, High Fidelity and Slaughterhouse Five – modern classics as far as I’m concerned.

4. Jack - January 12, 2009

Paco I can’t release that information, sadly. I don’t want to see you attack any of your less-erudite coworkers

Rudy, did you watch the adaptation of BR? I heard mixed things but that the book was quite good.

Nicole, two people in this office loved watchmen too, but alas, apparently all the readers were too busy to send me their Top 10′s

5. Week in Review: January 5-9 | Better World Books Blog - January 12, 2009

[...] us some love -After months of suggesting it, Xavier finally broke and is on Twitter -We spilled our Top 10 Favorite Books of 2008 -I rolled my eyes at the term [...]

6. ThommieAnne - January 15, 2009

Twilight is by far the best of those books. yes, i know what your thinking. “She has to be a girl.” the only reason anybody would have to not like that book would be, one: they dont have a love, so they pick on the book because of how perfect Edward is. or two: they are a guy and just say its gay because they want girls to be like, “OMG SHUT UP”, and they will get attention.

P.S I LOVE TWILIGHT!!!

7. Val - January 16, 2009

I read Eat, Pray, Love, and liked it, but would definitely NOT nominate it as the best book of the year. I read The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers, by Harry Berstein, which was a fantastic memoir about growing up as a Jew on a religiously segregated street in England. I also loved and was inspired by Mountains Beyond Mountains: The
Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder. Turning to fiiction, I loved A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell, a novel about occupied Italy during WWII. Another terrific book set in WWII, a YA novel, is The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. All of these books are better than Eat, Pray, Love.

8. Marie Phillips - January 17, 2009

Someone just directed me to this and I feel very flattered. Thank you so much. But, readers: The Road is a *much* better book than Gods Behaving Badly. (Though slightly more depressing, I’ll grant you…)

9. Jack - January 17, 2009

Marie, thank you so much for coming and checking us out! I tallied the votes and Gods Behaving Badly was certainly well loved! I also thoroughly enjoyed The Road–what a hard-hitter.

10. Jill - January 19, 2009

I’ve got to add my recommendation for Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Definitely the most lovely use of language of any book I read last year. When I started reading it, I never thought I would use the word “lovely” to describe it, with its incredibly depressing subject matter, but there you go. That’s the power of an accomplished author, in a nutshell.

11. Nicole - January 19, 2009

I read and enjoyed Twilight, but it is definitely not on the same level as Atonement by Ian McEwan or World Without End by Ken Follett. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera is also thought-provoking and beautiful in it’s own right.

12. Roger - October 29, 2009

The most powerful book I ever read was McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian,” and I loved “All the Pretty Horses.” I also liked “No Country for Old Men.”

BUT! I think McCarthy, like some other great writers has gotten too dark, too gloomy about humanity, and too depressing. Why do you read a novel? A big part is for escape, and I like a satisfying ending, if not a happy ending. The ending of “No Country for Old Men” was too dark and gloomy. McCarthy should have let the good guy get away.