Amazon's Top 10 Lists

Amazon came out with their top picks of books for 2008. They have several different lists and categories, but I focused on the Editor’s Top 10 and the Customer’s Favorite Top 10 books of the year. (You can check all of it out at their web site:

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=pe_33670_10663580_fe_txt_1/?node=1239030011).

Anyway, here are the Top 10 Editor Picks:

The Northern Clemency

Hurry Down Sunshine

Nixonland

The Forever War

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The Likeness

Serena

So Brave, Young, and Handsome

The Lazarus Project

The Ten-Cent Plague

My comments: The only one that I have read is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which I liked enough to agree with it being in this top 10 list. I haven’t read any of these others, but there are a couple of them that I plan to read, specifically, The Likeness by Tanya French, who wrote In the Woods, which I thoroughly enjoyed! I also really liked Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, so I am inclined to try reading his new book on this list, So Brave, Young, and Handsome.

I have no interest in reading anything about Richard Nixon, so unless someone convinces me that I would really like Nixonland, no thanks! The Forever War is about the war in Iraq and Afganistan and with having a son who served in the US Marines and went over with the first wave when the war in Iraq began, that war is still just too close to me to be able to read about it and enjoy the book.

I am also interested in reading The Lazarus Project after reading what Amazon reviewers wrote:

“In The Lazarus Project, his most ambitious and imaginative work yet, Hemon brings to life an epic narrative born from a historical event: the 1908 killing of Lazarus Averbuch, a 19-year-old Jewish immigrant who was shot dead by George Shippy, the chief of Chicago police, after being admitted into his home to deliver an important letter. The mystery of what really happened that day remains unsolved (Shippy claimed Averbuch was an anarchist with ill intent) and from this opening set piece Hemon springs a century ahead to tell the story of Vladimir Brik, a Bosnian-American writer living in Chicago who gets funding to travel to Eastern Europe and unearth what really happened. The Lazarus Project deftly weaves the two stories together, cross-cutting the aftermath of Lazarus's death with Brik's journey and the tales from his traveling partner, Rora, a Bosnian war photographer.”

Now compare the Editor Picks with the Top 10 Customer Favorites:

Breaking Dawn

The Last Lecture

Brisingr

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Appeal

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

In Defense of Food

The Revolution

The Host

From this list, I have also read In Defense of Food, which I recommended that readers borrow from their local library, not buy! (See past review on this blog).

My comments on this list: I would like to read The Last Lecture, but other than that, none of the other books appeal to me. However, if anyone has read any of them and can convince me to try them, I am game! I would guess that The Appeal by John Grisham is good, as always.

I would enjoy any comments on these lists. If you are interested, go to the Amazon site. They have the top 100 available, so you don’t have to be limited to just the Top 10!