Here’s a reverse-chronological list of all the books I’ve read in 2008. My rating system is out of five stars, but it’s not a comparison system, so all of the five stars aren’t of the same value, all of the four stars aren’t the same, etc. It’s more about my experience as I was reading the book-were there flaws? Did I absolutely love it and wish it wouldn’t end? Did I fear that it never would end? That being said, here’s my rough guideline; in practice, the line between 5s and 4s gets blurred a lot. (5=Extraordinary. I will immediately try to acquire other books by this author, 4=Very strong book, good writing style, really enjoyed, 3=A good read, possibly had one or two really strong areas, but the rest was average OR parts of the book were great and other parts were just miserable, 2=There were some major flaws in the book, but it had some good points as well, 1=I regret ever having even considered reading this book). All titles are linked to Amazon (I’m not an associate or anything, I just always look up books on Amazon). If I’ve discussed it on the blog, that’s noted and linked in parantheses following the author.
-December-

Le Divorce by Diane Johnson*** (240) (thoughts)

The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne**** (thoughts)

Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates** (thoughts)

To the North by Elizabeth Bowen***** (thoughts)

Flapper by Joshua Zeitz*** (thoughts)

The Giver by Lois Lowry***** (thoughts)

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo*****

Wind by Jan DeBlieu***** (thoughts)

Song for the Blue Ocean by Carl Safina**** (thoughts)

American Chica by Marie Arana***** (thoughts)

The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima***** (230) (thoughts)

My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin**** (thoughts)

Austenland by Shannon Hale** (on CD) (thoughts)

America’s Women by Gail Collins***** (on CD) (thoughts)

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson**** (on CD) (thoughts)

West With the Night by Beryl Markham**** (thoughts)

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid*** (thoughts)

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier** (thoughts)

The Complete Stories by Dorothy Sayers**** (thoughts)

The Wisdom of the Bones by Alan Walker**** (thoughts)

Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie***** (220) (thoughts)

The Patriotic Murders by Agatha Christie***

Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie****

The Art of the Personal Letter by Margaret Shephard*** (thoughts)

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie***** (thoughts)

Booknotes: Stories From American History by Brian Lamb***** (thoughts)

The Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie** (thoughts)

20 Something, 20 Everything by Christine Hassler**** (thoughts)

-November-

Little, Big by John Crowley*****

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy*****

Night Soldiers by Alan Furst***** (210) (thoughts)

Dreams of My Russian Summer by Andrei Makine****

Emma by Jane Austen*****

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs*****

Faro’s Daughter by Georgette Heyer***

The Trouble With Boys by Peg Tyre**** (thoughts)

-October-

The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin*****

Wake by Lisa McMann*

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman*****

Possession by A.S. Byatt***** (on CD)

A Fine and Private Place by Peter Beagle***** (200)

-September-

The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer**** (thoughts)

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier**** (thoughts)

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri***

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie***** (on CD)

Behind Embassy Walls by Brandon Grove***** (thoughts)

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett**** (thoughts)

“Oroonoko” by Aphra Behn*** (thoughts)

The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner****

City of Masks by Daniel Hecht*** (on CD)

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson**** (190) (thoughts)

Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky**** (thoughts)

Bomb Scare by Joseph Circione****

-August-

Pirates! by Celia Rees**** (on CD) (thoughts)

The Skull Beneath the Skin by P.D. James*****

The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse***** (on CD)

Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer**** (on CD)

Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman**** (on CD)

T. Rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez***

The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie*****

“Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad**** (180)

Banker to the Poor by Muhammed Yunus*****

The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender***

Whom the Gods Love by Kate Ross***** (thoughts)

The Dream Country by Neil Gaiman****

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Earnest Gaines***** (thoughts)

Dressed for Death by Donna Leon**** (thoughts)

Zel by Donna Jo Napoli**** (thoughts)

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher***** (thoughts)

“The Dreaming Place” by Charles de Lint****

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr**** (170)

-July-

The Habit of Being by Flannery O’Connor**** (thoughts)

Apartment Therapy by Maxwell GIllingham-Ryan***

Ghost Wars by Steve Coll****

The X in Sex by David Bainbridge***** (thoughts

The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf*****

The Questory of Root Karbunkulus by Kamilla Reid**

When We Were Romans by Matthew Kneale***** (thoughts)

Legerdemain by James Heaphey*** (thoughts)

Special Assignments by Boris Akunin****

Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway***** (160) (thoughts)

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter*** (thoughts)

Tamsin by Peter Beagle***** (thoughts)

-June-

Aunt Dimity’s Death by Nancy Atherton***

The Arrival by Shaun Tan***** (thoughts)

Not Buying It by Judith Levine** (thoughts)

Pyongyang by Guy deLisle**** (thoughts)

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing*** (thoughts)

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray****

Girl, 13 by Starla Griffin****

Beauty by Robin McKinley***** (150) (thoughts)

Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby*****

Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood****

Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson***** (thoughts)

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie**** (thoughts)

Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout***

How I Live Now by Meg Roff**** (thoughts)

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery*****

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys*** (thoughts)

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman***** (thoughts)

Ending Slavery by Kevin Bale**** (140)

God Lives in St. Petersburg by Tom Bissell* (thoughts)

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie***** (thoughts)

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco**** (thoughts)

Book Lust by Nancy Pearl*** (thoughts)

The Red Queen by Matt Ridley**** (thoughts)

The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry**** (thoughts)

Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint***** (thoughts)

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz*** (thoughts)

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee***** (thoughts)

The War for Muslim Minds by Gilles Kepel** (130)

Pu-239 by Ken Kalfus** (thoughts)

“Gigi” by Colette**** (thoughts)

A Defense of Ardor by Adam Zagajewski***

Killing Mr. Lebanon by Nicholas Blanford*

-May-

Jane Austen: Her Life and Letters by William and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh**** (thoughts)

Song of the Crow by Layne Mahue*****

Voyage of the Turtle by Carl Safina*****

Orsinian Tales by Ursula Le Guin***

Remembering Babylon by David Malouf***** (thoughts)

The Djinn in Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt***** (120) (thoughts)

The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler****

Flower Net by Lisa See** (thoughts)

“The Ballad of the Sad Cafe” by Carson McCullers****(thoughts)

Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers****

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman****

Almost French by Sarah Turnbull**** (thoughts)

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson***** (thoughts)

A Broken Vessel by Kate Ross***** (thoughts)

The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue**** (thoughts)

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean*** (110) (thoughts)

Evelina by Frances Burney*** (thoughts)

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver*** (thoughts)

Deep South by Nevada Barr****

Hearts and Minds by Rosy Thorton**** (thoughts)

“Summer Crossing” by Truman Capote*** (thoughts)

Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp*****

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen***** (thoughts)

Flying Colours by C.S. Forester***** (thoughts)

Ship of the Line by C.S. Forester**** (thoughts)

Not a Happy Camper by Mindy Schneider**** (100)

In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif*** (thoughts)

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale*** (thoughts)

Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson**** (thoughts)

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger***** (thoughts)

-April-

The Canon by Natalie Angier** (thoughts)

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith***** (thoughts)

The Warden by Anthony Trollope****

Basin and Range by John McPhee** (thoughts)

The Bone Woman by Clea Koff**** (thoughts)

Class 11 by T.J. Waters** (90) (thoughts)

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastion Japrisot*** (thoughts)

Chasing the Flame by Samantha Powers***** (thoughts)

Healthy Child, Healthy World by Christopher Gavigan****

The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva*** (thoughts)

Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery****

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett***** (thoughts)

“The Uncommon Reader” by Alan Bennett***** (thoughts)

Enchantment by Orson Scott Card**** (thoughts)

How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster*** (thoughts)

Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson*** (80) (thoughts)

-March-

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis***** (on CD)

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis***** (on CD)

Digging to America by Anne Tyler*** (thoughts)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen***** (thoughts)

My Ox is Broken! by Adam-Troy Castro**

The Grand Tour by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer****

The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer*** (thoughts)

The Watermelon King by Daniel Wallace***** (thoughts)

Carry On, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse***** (on CD) (thoughts)

The Supreme Court by Jeffrey Rosen*** (70) (thoughts)

Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon****

News of a Kidnapping by Gabriel Garcia Marquez***** (thoughts)

Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks**** (thoughts)

Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit***

Train to Pakistan by Kushwant Singh***** (thoughts)

Free for All by Don Borchert***** (thoughts)

Snowball Earth by Gabrielle Walker***** (thoughts)

Will Storr vs. the Supernatural by Will Storr***** (thoughts)

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood***** (thoughts)

King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild**** (60) (thoughts)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis**** (on CD)

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis***** (on CD)

House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport***

The Assassin’s Gate by George Packer*****

Peony in Love by Lisa See**** (thoughts)

A Billion Bootstraps by Philip Smith and Eric Thurman**** (thoughts)

Wild Swans by Jung Chang***** (target)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett***** (thoughts)

If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino**** (thoughts)

-February-

Cut to the Quick by Kate Ross***** (50) (thoughts)

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs**(thoughts)

The Translator by Daoud Hari**** (thoughts)

The Other Book by Philip Womack***

Memo to the President Elect by Madeleine Albright* (thoughts)

Khufu’s Wisdom by Naguib Mahfouz*****(thoughts)

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt****(thoughts)

Persian Lions, Persian Lambs by Curtis Harnack***

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster****(thoughts)

The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin****(thoughts)

Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott*** (40)(thoughts)

Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors***** (thoughts)

Dressing Up for the Carnival by Carol Shields*** (thoughts)

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison*** (thoughts)

Crawling: A Father’s First Year by Elisha Cooper****

The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright***** (thoughts)

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett***** (thoughts)

Summits by David Reynolds*****

Kiss Me, I’m Single by Amanda Ford**** (thoughts)

God’s Spy by Juan Gomez Jurado*** (thoughts)

Ruined by Reading by Lynne Sharon Schwartz**** (30) (thoughts)

Persuasion by Jane Austen***** (thoughts)

The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther*** (on CD)

-January-

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke**** (thoughts)

Inside a US Embassy ed. Shawn Dorman***

The Red Passport by Katherine Shonk**** (thoughts)

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon***** (thoughts)

The Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card*** (thoughts)

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman*****

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell**** (thoughts)

Looking for Alaska by John Green**** (20) (thoughts)

Unhooked by Laura Sessions Stepp***** (thoughts)

The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters*** (thoughts)

That Night by Alice McDermott***** (thoughts)

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton*** (thoughts)

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly***** (thoughts)

Tested by Linda Perlstein*****(thoughts)

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman**** (thoughts)

Beat to Quarters by C.S. Forester***** (thoughts)

Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca****(thoughts)

A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You by Amy Bloom***** (10)(thoughts)

Booked to Die by John Dunning***(thoughts)

Sandman, Vol. 2: The Doll’s House**** by Neil Gaiman(thoughts)

The Bookshop** by Penelope Fitzgerald(thoughts)

Never Let Me Go***** by Kazuo Ishiguro(thoughts)

War and Peace***** by Leo Tolstoy (my thoughts)

Nickel and Dimed*** by Barbara Ehrenreich(thoughts)

The Spy Wore Red** by Aline, Countess of Romanones(thoughts)

Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer***(thoughts)

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne*** (thoughts)