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(!)

[Carolyn Foote]

Best nonfiction: Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

Best memoir: Reading Lolita in Tehran

Best fiction: Slaughterhouse Five

Best guilty pleasure: Melissa De La Cruz Masquerade

[Mary Schwander]

Great post! Thanks, Joyce.
Best YA - Black Swan Green by Daivd Mitchell (great writing; wonderful coming-of-age novel)
Best Memoir - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson (Great read for glimpse of the 50"s, but it doesn't matter if you grew up in the 50's. 60', or 70's...you will be laughing out loud. )
Best Adult Fiction - Tough category. Have to go with A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon (author of Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night TIme). Not many novels can make you both laugh and cry as this one does.
Best Adult Nonfiction- Can this be a prof. read?: Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts by Will Richardson (my Web 2.0 bible for this year)
Best guilty pleasure - I'll tell you after this summer!

[Bob Hassett]

Best children's: Kirikou et la Sorciere by Michel Ocelot. The text is in French, but there is a video version with adequate dubbed English (my French is fairly minimal, but our kids actually seem to enjoy hearing the French and then listening to my wife and me stumble through half-understood translation). But it's a lavishly and lushly illustrated, wonderful, compelling, delightful, fable-like story from West African folklore. The book seems to be out of print in the U.S. (my wife's Parisian brother gave it to our children as a gift), though it is available used, but the DVD is not hard to find. It is worth tracking down and paying for, I promise you.

Best adult nonfiction: Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire by Cliff Atkinson (how's that for geeky?) -- This book will fundamentally challenge the way you look at presentations, public speaking, instructional design, and much more. Seriously.

Best Graphic Novel: Kino No Tabi: Book One of the Beautiful World by Keiichi Shigusawa. It's actually a lightly illustrated short novel done in a manga-like form and published by TokyoPop. Dreamlike, somewhat unsettling at times, it's the story of a young girl and an anthropomorphic motorcycle who run away from a murderous dystopian community into picaresque adventures. Great book to leverage manga addicts into something longer and more involved.

[Yvonne Mattix]

Bob
Interesting you mentioned Beyond Bullet Points....I litetrally just ordered it from Amazon about 15 minutes ago...figured it could be part of my summer personal professional growth.

[Yvonne Mattix]

Best YA - Twilight series...although my junior high isn't allowed to have the others.
Best memoir - Glass Castle Amazing story of determination and the will to overcome adversities, and neurotic parents.
Best guilty - Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult. I heard her speak when she was in KC. Vary captivating and interesting how she chose the topic 'bullying'.

[Mae-Lynn Smith]

I have only one book to add to this- Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani. It is my example when I tell kids that they may not like everything I read. But, I LOVED it. I wanted her to cheat, but I wanted her marriage to be okay, and I was happy (if only a little) when she decided to be more loyal and less passionate. I really was. I swear.

I read the others in the (what's one more than trifecta?) set, and this one spoke to me the loudest.

[Leigh Rountree]

I know this was really popular a few years ago, so most people have read it, but I just finished The Lovely Bones, and I thought it was wonderful. I told my mom that, and she said,"THAT is the best book you've read this year?!" So I'd like to hear what some librarians think. In YA, I also just read After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up and Flew Away by Joyce Carol Oates, and I enjoyed it too.

[amspann]

Oh, I'm going to get some great summer reading ideas here. I can't wait. Actually, I have a subscription to Audible.com to download audiobooks to my iPod. It is a contest between my husband and I as to who can listen to a book first. But I do actually get some reading in. Here's my list:

Best Children's: Skippyjohn Jones in Mummy Trouble by Judy Schachner (my 4 year old loves this and quite frankly so do I!)

Best YA: Anything in the Tales of Otori series by Lian Hearn. I just listened to Grass for His Pillow, (book 2 in the series) excellent especially if you like Japanese culture, history, and folktale.

Best graphic novel/memoir: I'm a little behind in this category, but I really liked Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I've just ordered the second one. In fact, I have a World Geography teacher who is going to be incorporating this into his class. In our WG class, we teach a little bit of World History. (Joyce, I liked American Born Chinese One of our AP teachers is going to use this in conjunction with reading The Woman Warrior)

Best adult fiction:Messanger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspeare. If you are a fan of historical fiction (World War I) and like mysteries, this is a wonder series which starts out with Maisie Dobbs (which is also the name of the detective.)

Best adult non-fiction: As I've said, I'm a little behind on my reading...Elizabeth and Mary by Jane Dunn. Gotta like those monarchs...or maybe not.

Best guilty pleasure: Locked Rooms Laurie R. King...gotta love this Mary Russell Sherlock Holmes series.
Happy Reading Everyone!!!

[Diane Cordell]

I'm not ready to commit to "best" of anything for this year, but Maisie Dobbs and Mary Russell are two of my favorite historical/mystery heroines. I tend to wax nostalgic over the summer and reread old favorites like "The Golden Compass", "Emma", "Gaudy Night", "The Beekeeper's Apprentice", even "Five Little Peppers and How They Grew"!

[Debra Gniewek]

Best children's: I really did love the two that stirred up controversy: The Higher Power of Lucky. And Tango Makes Three.

Best YA: My Heartbeat.

Best memoir: Infidel

Best adult fiction: March by Geraldne Brooks

Best adult nonfiction: Lies My Teacher Told Me

Best guilty pleasure: Marjorie Morningstar

[Wendy Stephens]

I LOVE Marjorie Morningstar, and was thinking about it just this morning. Thanks for promoting this wonderful story!

[Mary Woodard]

Best children's - Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles - have the tissues handy!
Best YA - Twilight is greatness, but I also liked Uglies by Scott Westerfield.
Best memoir - The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Best adult fiction - My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Best adult non-fiction - The Innocent Man by John Grisham
Best guilty pleasure - the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich