1. What fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the best new book published in 2007? (Older books that you read for the first time in 2007 don’t count.)
2. What non-fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the best new book published in 2007? (Older books that you read for the first time in 2007 don’t count.)
3. And, do “best of” lists influence your reading?
I have no idea on the first two questions. I rarely read newly published books. Once in a great while I will grab something that I have read a review of, but not often. Since I usually haunt that den of temptation, Half Price Books, I am not exactly on the cutting edge.
I do, however, love the "best of" lists that are published this time each year. I read them, think about them, put them in my journal of "to reads" and then hunt for them years later. Surprising how many of those "wonderful, fantastic, must read" books just disappear in that length of time.
For non-fiction
The Pope's Jesus of Nazareth.
Come be my light - the book on Mother Teresa.
"Catholic Priesthood and Women: A Guide To The Teaching Of The Church"
For Fiction.
John C. Wright's "Titans of Chaos", but the list of 2007 fiction I have read is pretty small.