I always cheat a little here because I include books from whatever year that I happened to read in the past year. Most of them aren't from 2008. But this time I could almost fill the list with books published this year. Just not quite. In no particular order:
1. The Book of Stanley, Todd Babiak (2007)- gotta start the list off with a local writer. Funny, takes place in Banff, has sasquatches.
2. Schuyler's Monster, Robert Rummel-Hudson (2008)- really just follow the link to meet Schuyler and her monster, and her dad.
3. The As It Happens Files- Radio That May Contain Nuts, Mary Lou Finlay (2008)-perfect for the CBC freaks like me!
4. An Imperfect Offering, Dr. James Orbinski (2008)- this is one of Michelle's books that she bought after hearing Stephen Lewis speak at teacher's conference. Orbinski was the president of Medecins Sans Frontiers when they won the Nobel Peace Prize. Before that he was in Rwanda and pretty much everywhere else in the world where people were suffering. Made me cry.
5. Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali (2007)- do you remember when Theo Van Gogh was murdered for a film he made? Ayaan was the subject of that film. This is her life story and it is amazing.
6. Wicked, Gregory Maguire (1996). Okay back to fiction. I can;t remember the last time I liked a book and its writing as much as the story of Elphaba.
7. Nurk, Ursula Vernon (2008)- Ursula is one of my favorite artists, and her first book is a fun little adventure for kids.
8. The Scar, China Mieville (2002)- by a slight margin this is my favorite of Mieville's books, though they are all great.
9. The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson (2002-04)- cheating a bit here, since this is three books and I have only started the third today. But the first two came to 1600 pages so I get some slack! PLus I could have cheated even more by putting his brand new book Anathem (which I got for Christmas) but it will be a while before I get to it.
10. Evolution- the Triumph of an Idea, Carl Zimmer (2001)- I knew of Carl though his blog where he often featured science tattoos. I didn't know he was such a clear, lucid and interesting writer too. Who knew a book about evolution would be hard to put down?
