New York Times 100 notable books of 2008: how many have you read?

November 28, 10:35 AMSeattle Books ExaminerDanielle Dreger-Babbitt

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One.  That's how many notable books (as declared by the New York Times) that I managed to plow through this year.  Not that great considering how I'm the Seattle Book Examiner and all.  I think I probably should have read a few more, at least nine more so I could have said I read 10% of the list.  This is not to say I haven't spent the year reading, I totally have.  I've read at least 150 titles (according to my Goodreads.com log), but the NYT doesn't have a list of "Notable Chick Lit Novels" or "Notable Vampire Fiction" or even "Notable Young Adult Books."  If they do, I sure as hell don't know about it.

The only title from the NYT that I read  was American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.  I totally loved it and I immediately sent my copy to my politico friend in Indiana.  There are several on the list that are on my reading list like Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles, Sleeping it Off in Rapid City:  Poems, New and Selected  by August Kleinzahler, and The Drunkard's Walk:  How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow. 

I do think the Times overlooked a few.  What about The Year We Disappeared:  A Father-Daughter Memoir by Cylin Busby, I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley, The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinksy, and Gossip of the Starlings by Nina de Gramont?  Not to mention Dennis Lehane's Any Given Day.  I think all of those were pretty notable.

There were also a lot of non notable books that were published this year that I read like A Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult.  Normally everything she write is magic.  This book?  Not so much.  Breaking Dawn the last book in the Twilight saga was pure crap.  I couldn't even finish it.  And Chasing Harry Winston was not nearly as engaging as The Devil Wears Prada.  

But this list of notable books could serve as a cheat sheet for your holiday gifts.  With 100 titles to chose from, you just might be able to cross everyone off of your list. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to catch up on.