bookshelves of doom

Lists, lists everywhere.

Chicken Spaghetti, bless her, has complied a list of Children's/YA Best of 2006 lists.

If that isn't enough for ya, there is a list of a bazillion other 2006 lists at Fimoculous.

Whew.

The Master List is Complete.

Top Picks for 2006 (so far)

Thanks MotherReader!  You rule.

My top picks (so far) of 2006.

Finally responding to MotherReader's call:

Middle Grade:

The King of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner -- Yes, it's the third in a trilogy.  Yes, you kind of have to read them all to really Get It.  But it's my favorite of the three, which is really, really, really saying something.  Fantastic.  (This really could be categorized as either Middle Grade or Young Adult -- the series starts firmly in Middle Grade, but like the HP books, gets more complex and mature.)

Firegirl, Tony Abbott -- I was so impressed -- nuanced, quiet, sensitive and special.

Kiki Strike, Kirsten Miller -- Um, yeah.  This book is just awesome.  Everything about it rules.

Fly by Night, Frances Hardinge -- People are raving for a reason.  Read it if you love words.

Larklight, Philip Reeve -- Just plain FUN.  (Well-written, witty and entertaining fun.)

Young Adult:

Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, M. T. Anderson -- Yeah.  M. T. Anderson = Genius.  As I said in my review, the book is outstanding in every way.  (And I do mean EVERY way -- the typeface, everything.)

An Abundance of Katherines, John Green -- I just LOVED this book.  It was funny and light (without being fluffy) and smart and wonderful.

Dairy Queen, Catherine Gilbert Murdock -- Slap a new cover on it and it'd be perfect.  Totally original voice.  Beats the pants off of all the other girls books I've read this year.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan -- Music and romance and HEAT and witty banter.  Yum.

King Dork, Frank Portman -- Future classic, right here. 

Darn you, MR, and your 5-book-per-age-group limit!  You just WAIT until my end-of-year list!  MU HAH Ha aa!

My favorites of the year.

What?  C'mon.  Everybody else is doing it...  (I'll leave all of the high-falutin' books to the NYT and the Guardian and the other grown-ups.  These are the books that I liked.)

In no particular order:

My favorite (new-to-me) authors:

Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go and When We Were Orphans made me want to read all of his books.  And I will.

William Gibson - Pattern Recognition and Neuromancer rocked.  Keanu Reeves will never be as cool as Case.  And Trinity looks just plain lame in comparison to Molly.

Short Stories:

Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners was awesome.  Lovely, strange, surreal short stories.  And ZOMBIES!

Steve Almond's The Evil B.B. Chow & Other Stories - Love Steve Almond.  Love his stories.  If nothing else, go to the bookstore, stand there and read the title story.  Not to be missed.

My favorite (new-to-me) series:

Reginald Hill's Dalziel & Pascoe mysteries - Police Procedural Perfection

Andrew Vachss' Burke books - Revenge is Right

Carol O'Connell's Kathy Mallory books - Sociopathic Police Officer by Day, Sociopathic Computer Genius by Night

Perfect YA Voice:

Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now - If you only read one book on this list, read this one.

Chris Lynch's Inexcusable - Okay, read this one, too.  Chris Lynch is a genius.

Christopher Krovatin's Heavy Metal and You - I'm now in love with Sam Markus.

Favorite Anti-Consumerism Prank/Best Outline of the Consumer Pyramid:

Scott Westerfeld's So Yesterday - His breakdown of the different types of consumers has weaseled its way into my daily vocabulary.  And the prank!  Genius.

The Holy-Crap-If-You-Loved-Douglas-Adams-and-Actually-Even-if-You-Didn't-Read-This-Book-Anyway-Because-it-Rules Award:

Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys.  For real.  Even if you don't usually like fantasy, you'll probably dig this book.  Because it's perfect and wonderful and I loved it.

Tearjerkers:

Ian McEwan's Atonement - I really thought I was going to die.  That's how much I cried.  But so, so good.

Deborah Wiles' Each Little Bird that Sings - Yeah.  This one made me cry even more.  Also so, so good.

Biography:

Jean Nathan's Secret Life of the Lonely Doll: The Search for Dare Wright - This is a must read for anyone interested in children's literature.  If you don't give a hoot about children's lit, it's also an amazing biography.

Mystery Stand-Alone:

Reginald Hill's The Stranger House - He just can't be beat.  Layers upon layers upon layers.  A town covering up a decades-old tragedy, two young people searching for their past.  Goosebumpy.

Favorite Classic:

Carson McCullers' Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Months later, I'm still shocked that a 22-year-old wrote this book.  She should probably also be in my Favorite (New-to-me) Authors category, but I'm trying not to double up.

Ernest Hemingway's In Our Time - Yes.  I still find it shocking that I loved a book by Mr. Bullfight Man.  But I did.  And now I might even read some of the bullfighting stuff.

Messed-up Memoirs:

Augusten Burrough's Running with Scissors - Everyone and their mom has already read this, but I'm still listing it.

Lisa Crystal Carver's Drugs are Nice: A Post-Punk Memoir - For those of us that were too young to experience the Suckdog shows in real life, this is a must.  For those of you that experienced the Suckdog shows in real life, it's also a must.  But you probably already knew that.

Fave Guilty Pleasures:

Stephanie Meyer's Twilight - I admit it.  Despite the sometimes not-so-hot prose, I read this book in one day.  I couldn't put it down. 

Libba Bray's Rebel Angels - I've become addicted to this series, regardless of my issues with the bizarro not-very-Victorian language that the girls use.

Fun Non-Fiction:

Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation - What could be better than a book about assassinations?  A FUNNY book about assassinations.

Favorite Books for Book-Lovers:

Kathryn Lasky's Memoirs of a Bookbat - Daughter of born-agains learns everything her parents won't teach her from Judy Blume. 

Tobias Wolff's Old School - The scene with Ayn Rand is priceless.

I admit that this list is excessive at best, but I still feel like I'm leaving some out.

(I want lists from you all, too.  Because we all know that what I really, really need is a longer list of books to read.)