Best Book of 2006 (Bookclub category): In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
Best Book of 2006 (Non-bookclub category): The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
Most Discussed Book of 2006: Viper's Tangle by Francois Mauriac. Because we all need to learn that however bad we are, God is seeking us.
Best Find of 2006: Georgette Heyer. Good enough that she actually made me walk into the romance section of our library. And that takes some doing.
Funniest Book of 2006: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Because sometimes you just need to laugh, you know?
Worst Book of 2006: The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. Just rent the DVD and forget the book.
Best Nonfiction of 2006: Salt of the Earth by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Made me love our new pope even more.
Wish I Could Do That Award, 2006: The Last Good Woman by William Luse
Looking back over the list (which I have put, in full, in the extended entry), it doesn't seem like as meaty a list as some previous years. But then I remember the amount of time I spent in hospital rooms, rehab rooms and chemo infusion rooms this year and I think, "Good enough. Yep. Good enough." On to 2007!
1. Goodbye Mr. Chips by James Hilton
2. Random Harvest by James Hilton
3. Rose by Martin Cruz Smith
4. The Devil's Advocate by Morris L. West
5. Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
6. Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
7. Death by Hollywood by Stephen Bochco
8. A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
9. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
10. The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
11. True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
12. Welcome to the World, Baby Girl by Fannie Flagg
13. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
14. The Staggerford Murders by Jon Hassler
15. Literary Giants, Literary Catholics by Joseph Pearce
16. Salt of the Earth by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
17. Stories for a Woman's Heart compiled by Alice Gray
18. Spin Sisters by Myrna Blyth
19. A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols
20. The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers
21. Viper's Tangle by Francois Mauriac
22. Thinks by Davi Lodge
23. Making Sense of Movies by Robert Henry Stanley
24. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
25. The Last Good Woman by William Luse
26. The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain
27. Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
28. The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
29. Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
30. An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden
31. A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
32. Plainsong by Kent Haruf
33. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
34. Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene
35. The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
36. Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg
37. The Laughing Sutra by Mark Salzman
38. Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell
39. Lord Peter by Dorothy Sayers
40. Three Philosophies of Life by Peter Kreeft
41. The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
42. Book by Book by Michael Dirda
43. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke
44. Things As They Are by Paul Horgan
45. Something Fresh by P. G. Wodehouse
46. The Defiant Child: A Parent's Guide to ODD by Dr. Douglas A Riley
47. North of Hope by Jon Hassler
48. Catholics by Brian Moore
49. Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer
50. The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer
51. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
52. The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit
53. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
54. The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
55. Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
56. Mr. Ives' Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos
57. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
