Best book you read all year?

[Joyce Valenza]

This may be the first summer in a long time I can read just for fun. I thought it would be cool to plan our summer reading lists here. But let's really be selective. Choose one, just one, book in each category and share it here. Feel free to attach links to reviews or include delicious covers!

Best children's
Best YA
Best graphic novel/memoir, etc.
Best adult fiction
Best adult nonfiction
Best guilty pleasure(!)

[Susan McConville]

Wow - cool stuff! Right off the top of my head -

YA - The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Adult Fiction - Memory Keeper's Daugher by Kim Edward
Non-Fiction - The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
Guilty Pleasure - Lean Mean 13 by Janet Evanovitch

[guybrarian]

Best children's - none
Best YA - Harry Potter 7
Best graphic novel - Beast of Chicago
Best adult fiction - Water for Elephants
Best adult nonfiction -Eagle blue : a team, a tribe, and a high school basketball season in Arctic Alaska
Best guilty pleasure(!) - ?? guess I could use more guilt! (or pleasure!) :)

[bookbird103]

Just finished Water for Elephants. Fantastic, well researched story about life in the circus during the depression era. Found myself laughing out loud and crying too. I don't read too much adult fiction, but I'm glad I took the time out to read this.

[Laura Baker]

Best children's - Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems
Best YA - Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows By J.K. Rowling
Best adult fiction - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See or The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Best adult nonfiction - Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan (we got a new dog this year)

[Barbara Jansen]

Best YA: The book thief by Marcus Zusak
Best adult fiction: A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini
Best memoir: Don't let's go to the dogs tonight by Alexandra Fuller
Best adult nonfiction (actually ONLY nonfiction): The audacity of hope by Barack Obama

[Joan Kapstein]

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. (best adult non fiction)

[zoe0114]

I am reading a book named Google Hacks,recommended by a friend at agematch.com . Internet is part of my life, and google the most important tool to looking for useful info on internet. This book just teld us how to use google efficiently...

[Deb Kitchener]

Best YA - The Golden Compass Trilogy - Philip Pullman
Best GN - King by Ho Che Anderson
Best Adult Fiction - Colony of Unrequited Dreams - Wayne Johnston
Best Adult Nonfiction - Sisters in the Wilderness by Charlotte Gray
Best Guilty Pleasure - The Josephine Bonaparte Trilogy by Sandra Gulland

[Pat Ropchan]

Best adult fiction read recently - The Space Between Us - Thritty Umrigar

[Julia Beck]

Best Children's: Philip Pullman's "Dark Materials" series
Best YA: "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer and "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak
Best graphic novel: "Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka and illus. Peter Kuper

Best Adult Fiction: "The Secret River "by Kate Grenville, "The Sultan's Seal" by Jennie White, "The Yacoubian Building" by Al Aswany

Best Adult Non-Fiction: "Pythagoras's Trousers" by Margaret Wertheir , "Heresies: Against Progress and Other Illusions" by John Gray and Richard Wright's "A short history of progress.

I cannot choose just one book in any category - words nourish my moods - I am seldom without a collection of many near armchairs and bedside.

[Elizabeth Koch]

I agree 100% with your "Best Children's" and "Best YA" posts...LOVED all of them!

[Jane L. Hyde]

Best adult fiction: At Swim, Two Boys, by Jamie O'Neill
Best YA Fiction: Lady,:My Life as a Bitch, by Melvin Burgess
Best guilty pleasure: Call Me By Your Name, Andre Aciman
Best memoir: Oleander, Jacaranda, Penelope Lively
Best children's book: Airborn, Kenneth Oppel
Afult non-fiction: How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, Arnold Bennett

For brief reviews of some of these, see my reading blog at http://lateatnightwhenthecat.blogspot.com.