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JAMIE
STEWART
Musician, Xiu
Xiu
MY
TOP FIVE BOOKS I HAVE READ IN 2007
Books specifically—e-mails, directions, graffiti, excretions,
tarot cards, magazines, blogs exempted.
1.
Wonderful, Wonderful Times by Elfriede Jelinek
2.
Children at War by P.W. Singer
3. Roman Poems by Pier Paolo Pasolini
4. Magic Seeds by V.S. Naipaul
5. Berlin by David Clay Large
MARIE MUNDACA
HBC Writer
MY
FIVE FAVORITE CHARACTERS FROM BOOKS I READ IN 2007
1 & 2. Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano from Roberto Bolaño's
The Savage Detectives
3.
Mottyl from Timoth Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage
4. We/us from Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to The End
5. Falling Man from Don DeLillo's Falling Man 
JAY ASHER
Author, Thirteen
Reasons Why
MY
TOP FIVE REJECTED IDEAS FOR A TOP FIVE LIST
1. Top Five Most Irritating Book Reviewers
2. Top Five Children's Book Controversies That Don't Involve
Nuts
3. Top Five Skeletons in My Closet Which Could Ruin My Writing
Career
4. Top Five Books I Pretend to Like Because I Know the Authors
5. Top Five Books Which Deserve the Printz Award More Than
Thirteen Reasons Why
BRI LAFOND
HBC Writer
BEST
OF 2007
Favorite
YA Novel: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian by Sherman Alexie Sherman
Alexie's first novel for young adults marks a return to "the
rez" for the Native American author. The autobiographically-inspired
novel, narrated by teenaged Arthur Spirit, is accompanied
by illustrations from artist Ellen Forney. After the relatively
disappointing Flight, Alexie's latest is a fun read
for kids and adults alike.
 Favorite
Crossover: No One Belongs Here More Than You by
Miranda July
Indie director and all-around hipster sweetheart Miranda July
conquered yet another genre in 2007 with her debut collection
of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You.
With tales of swimming lessons taught in a living room using
bowls of water, as well as longer, more character-driven pieces,
July's collection doesn't show much breadth in tone, but is
still an enjoyable and uplifting collection.
Favorite
Collection of Essays: The Braindead Megaphone by
George Saunders
George Saunders returned with a vengeance in 2007 with his
entertaining collection of essays, The Braindead Megaphone.
From guiding readers through a pleasure palace in Dubai to
investigating the lives of those who live along the U.S.-Mexican
border, Saunders first collection of journalism is as much
fun as—and just as absurd as—his fiction.
Favorite
Nonfiction: Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers,
Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott
Karen Abbott's thoroughly-researched history of the infamous
Everleigh Club—a high-end brothel in Chicago's Levee
District—is a fun look at politics, morality, and sex
at the turn of the 20th century. Abbott takes some liberties
in the narrative by imagining conversations and attributing
significant detail to events, but, overall, the book is a
fun and informative read.
Favorite
Debut: God is Dead by Ron Currie, Jr.
Part novel and part short story collection, Ron Currie, Jr.'s
debut details what happens to the world after learning that
God—in the form of a young Sudanese refugee in Darfur—has
died. Currie looks at this post-God world from several different
perspectives and time periods: From the immediate aftermath
of clergymen committing mass suicide to the new political
landscape that emerges around newly-developed worldviews,
Currie fleshes out many distinct scenarios linked together
by the over-arching concept.
FRANCESCA LIA BLOCK
Author,
Psyche in a Dress
 BEST
PARTS OF 2007
1. Going to my brother Gregg's house with Jasmine, my daughter,
Sam, my son and my mom to watch movies and eat soy cheese,
mushroom, and caramelized onion pizza on Gregg's huge bed
that goes up and down.
2.
Writing almost a poem a day for 365 days, emailing them to
my friends, and receiving poems back.
3. Sweating
in yoga until drenched.
4. Buying
a house with roses and a lily pond with money from writing
books (thank you, Joanna and Lydia) and help from Mom (thank
you, Mom).
5. Internet
dating. (Seriously!)
KYLE OLSON
HBC Editor
TOP
FIVE BOOKS I READ THIS YEAR
1. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
This book was ridiculously well-written, and the story was
immaculately told. Plus, it appealed to both sides of my brain.
For the academic, science-loving adult the book dealt with
quantum physics, linguistics, and interstellar travel. For
the adventure-loving kid, it had aliens, plane crashes, exploring
other worlds, and lots of humor. This book was basically the
Frosted Mini-Wheats of literature.
 2.
Diary of Indignities by Patrick Hughes
As much as I put on airs of intellectualism and such, I will
forever be a sucker for "big, dumb fun." This book had people
vomiting everywhere, setting their crotches on fire, humping
a specially-modified watermelon, and fighting with skinheads.
It was Jackass performed by people who aren't "trained
professionals" and was essentially punk as fuck.
3. Borstal
Boy by Brendan Behan
A clever memoir of a young IRA member's time in the prison
system. It was emotional, funny, charming, and classic.
It did, however, have 100% less anal rape than I had expected
from a prison memoir. (Fun fact: I read this book because
the Mountain Goats mention the author in their song "Commandante.")
4. Will
Storr vs the Supernatural by Will Storr
I am ridiculously fascinated with ghosts, and this book was
a really funny (but occasionally terrifying) travelogue of
one British journalist’s quest to discover if ghosts were
real. He talks to people so full of shit that most toilets
are jealous, as well as the Vatican's Cheif Exorcist (scary
as hell....literally, I guess). It's a lovely mix of intellectual
research and entertaining, NPR-ish storytelling.
5. No
One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
Putting this on my list enters me into a contest to have a
really awkward date with the author. Or, at the very least,
it gets me a really awkward date with some cute female reader
who now recognizes my gentle, whimsical nature.
YENNIE
CHEUNG
HBC Editor
TOP
FIVE BOOKS I AM ALLEGEDLY TOO OLD TO LOVE BUT DID ANYWAY
1. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
2. Slam by Nick Hornby
3. Harry Potter an the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
4. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
5. Before I Die by Jenny Downham
 OWEN
PALLETT
Musician,
Final
Fantasy
FAVORITE
BOOKS I READ THIS YEAR
1. My Life in CIA by Harry Mathews
Recommended to me by Ben Stimpson, most famously a member
of the Barcelona Pavilion and purveyor of "the audience's
own medicine" and "the oppositional gaze."
2. The
Best of Miles by Miles Na Gopaleen
( a.k.a.Flann O'Brien, a.k.a. Brian O'Nolan)
A collection of humorous editorials translated from their
original Irish.
3. Planet
of Slums by Mike Davis
…which it seemed everybody in the world read this year, not
because they're interested in urbanization, but so they could
all be on the same page. Recommended to me first by Steven
Kado, also of the Barcelona Pavilion and also of the Blankket,
and confirmed by Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors.
4. Rockstar
Superstar by Blake Nelson
5. The
Convictions of Leonard McKinley by Brendan McLeod
This book won the Three Day Novel competition and was a gift
from a girl who came to a Final Fantasy show. Probably the
best book I read this year.
JACQUELYN GILL
HBC Writer
FIVE
BEST FILMS OF 2007 ADAPTED FROM BOOKS
1. No Country for Old Men
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Atonement
4. Into the Wild
5. Persepolis
FIVE
WORST FILMS OF 2007 ADAPTED FROM BOOKS
1. Beowulf
2. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
3. 300
4. Love in the Time of Cholera
5. The Golden Compass
 LIAM
CALLANAN
Author,
All Saints
TOP
FIVE LITERARY SAINTS OF 2007
I know, I know. You're thinking this list is just shameless
self-promotion for a guy who wrote a 2007 book titled All
Saints. But it's not. Shameless self-promotion would be
just naming this
reviewer a literary saint and getting it over with. Not
what I'm about, though. Here are my saints:
1. Susan
Richards Shreve, author of Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood
at FDR'S Polio Haven.
This is a beautiful, beautiful memoir of an extraordinary
time in a remarkable life. It's funny, moving and—I know
this will make it sound like a thriller, but it kind of is—death-defying.
Buy two copies—one to give, one to keep—and pick
up a copy of her novel, A Student of Living Things,
as well.
2. Nancy
Weber, author, chef, savior.
Nancy is a wonderful writer and amazing chef, and was the
heart and soul of this writing
residency I did in Maine last summer. Not only did she
have the answer to any question I ever had about any book
ever written, but she was always able to come up with the
perfect word, the perfect flavor, for any occasion. If I were
in New York, I'd hire her to cater breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Since I'm not, I just buy her books, and so should you.
3. Dahlia
Lithwick, legal eagle, Slate.com.
You already know about Dahlia—of course you do, if you're
alert, intelligent, and worried about the fate of the world.
Officially, she's Slate's legal correspondent, but unofficially,
I view her as a leader of the growing effort to save the world.
4. Lizzie
Skurnick, theoldhag.com.
Another woman out to save the world, or at least its ever-eroding
literary territories, is Lizzie Skurnick, proprietor of one
of my favorite book blogs, theoldhag.com. She'd have earned
her sainthood nod from me just for her spot-on, funny-but-not-silly
criticism, but then she went and sealed the deal by introducing
herself to my pregnant wife at an over-packed KGB
Reading, getting said wife a chair, and then—probably
the most amazing thing that's happened in Manhattan this year—talked
the bartender out of his own dinner (a bagel and apple) so
that my bride, fading fast and wondering if she were going
to wind up going into labor in a bar in lower Manhattan, could
get a bite to eat and find equilibrium. (Props to the kind
bartender, too.)
5. Nancy
Pearl, national librarian.
Everyone should have a wonderful librarian—and in Nancy
Pearl, everyone does. I've heard her in person, heard her
on the radio, and read her books, and here's the thing, folks:
She just plain loves books. Paper, ink, the act of reading.
She's not the only such person in the world—and that's
partly thanks to her. May a thousand such sainted librarians
bloom in 2008.
Bonus
saint: Saint Lucy. Lucy is the patron saint of writers and
the blind (in the midst of her martyrdom, she had her eyes
put out). If you're a writer, she's your saint, too.
And if
you're a saint—well, thank you. To my own half-blind
eyes, it seems like the world needs ever more of them.
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(January,
2008)
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