TSR Listmania! Favourite Books of 2007, Part 1

Posted 10 December, 2007 in Favourite Books of 2007 |

It’s the end of the year, which means it’s the season of lists. Best-of lists, must-have-for-the-holidays lists, etc. The arguments against such lists are well known: they are arbitrary, they aren’t truly representative of the “best” in a given area, but merely what’s hot, or au courant, or what the list-maker perceives will make him/her appear smarter, more well-read, sexier, hipper. However, I admit that I’m addicted to them, as much for the joy of picking them apart and discovering unconscionable MIAs as anything else. Conversely, I’ve discovered a lot of really great books that I otherwise would not have picked up save for their appearances on certain year-end best-of lists. Indeed, even people who profess to hate year-end best-of lists admit to a covert attraction to them.

Here at TSR, your humble correspondent felt that if everyone else in the schoolyard is playing this particular game, why should he stand on the sidelines shuffling his feet?

However, I remain wary of a kind of artificially limited selection of “best” books from the past year, proscribed by my own limited reading and individual sensibility. I wanted a wider range of opinion and, perhaps selfishly, wanted some different perspectives that might point me in the direction of books I’d overlooked for whatever reason in the past year.

Accordingly, I recently contacted a selection of people — bloggers, writers, editors — and asked them to provide me with a list of their favourite books from 2007. The rubric was very broad: this was not meant to be a survey of the “best” new books published in the past twelve months, but rather a subjective assessment of people’s favourites. They could be new books, classics, or books that the respondent rereads every year. What were the books that moved people in the past year, that made them think, or made them angry, or made them laugh? What are the books that have stuck with people? (Perhaps unsurprisingly, from the responses I’ve received thus far, not many of these are the ones that appeared on the big prize shortlists this year.)

The response I’ve received has been encouraging, and comprehensive. I’d originally planned on doing a roundup at the end of this week, but the generosity of the people I’ve approached has been such that I’ve now got enough material to fill a series of posts. So, starting today, and continuing throughout the week, I’ll be highlighting a different writer’s favourite reads from the year past. Some of the titles are familiar, some are more obscure, at least one list is composed exclusively of titles published in years other than the current one, and a number of respondents have chosen genre books as their favourites.

The books in these lists provide a wide cross-section of what people read, and enjoyed, in the year past. I’ve already found a number of books to pique my interest; my hope is that TSR readers might have the same experience.

Feel free to throw in your two cents’ worth in the comments, if you’d like.

***

To kick this off, here is the list of favourites from Brenda Schmidt, a Saskatchewan poet, author of the collections More than Three Feet of Ice, A Haunting Sun, and the forthcoming Cantos from Wolverine Creek. Brenda is also the author of the blog Alone on a Boreal Stage.

Brenda Schmidt:

Thanks for this opportunity. I’ve read a lot of books this year, many of which I really enjoyed, but I’ll limit this list to my top five. Here are the books that stuck with me, haunted me, made me think.

1. The Crooked Good, by Louise Bernice Halfe.

This is the hands-down winner. By far the best. Published in the fall of 2007, it’s an outstanding book of poetry that will certainly be recognized as one of the most important books ever published in this country. An overstatement, no.

(Note: This book is by a nationally recognized SK author who I don’t know personally and published by a SK press with whom I have no affiliation. Halfe was nominated for the GG for her last book.)

2. A Worldy Country, by John Ashbery.

What’s there to say? Ashbery is a great poet.

3. Disobedience, by Alice Notley.

The winner of the International Griffin Poetry Prize in 2002.

I’ve read it several times and it always feels new.

4. Shut Up He Explained, by John Metcalf.

I wish more writers of his generation would put forward their memoirs. Risky business perhaps, but the value is immeasurable. Writers need an awareness of their literary history. A context. I learned a great deal from this book.

5. The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins.

So much has been said of this book. I have nothing to add. It’s a book that should be read and talked about, not just talked about.

***

Keep checking back throughout the week for more faves from 2007. The complete collection can be found by clicking on the category link Favourite Books of 2007.

1 comment to “TSR Listmania! Favourite Books of 2007, Part 1”

Kerry, December 10th, 2007 at 12:36 pm:

• Fun. I look forward to the rest.

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