books: 2007

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say, so I hope Liz and Emilie won't mind if I borrow their idea and post a list of the books I read this past year! As I typed this up, I kept thinking about how much my book choices for 2007 revealed about my life at the time, my interests, my hopes-- books about grief and loss, spirituality and church history, medieval histories and biographies, novels and essays. I'm already looking forward to compiling my 2008 list next January, and hoping it will include a few happier choices!

1. Thin Places: Where Faith is Affirmed and Hope Dwells, Mary Treacy O'Keefe
2. Seven Ages of Paris, Alistair Horne
3. The Year of Pleasures, Elizabeth Berg
4. In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction, Judith Kitchen & Mary Paumier Jones, eds.
5. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, David I. Kertzer
6. Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, Kathleen Norris
7. Rasputin's Daughter, Robert Alexander
8. Basilica, the Splendor and the Scandal: Building St. Peter's, R.A. Scott
9. Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, Jonathan Kozol
10. The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler
11. Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria, Julia P. Gelardi
12. 1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeaux Tapestry, Andrew Bridegeford
13. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, Jon Krakauer
14. Pope John XXIII, Thomas Cahill
15. After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England, Leanda deLisle
    
16. French Women for all Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, & Pleasure, MirelleGuilano
17. Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors, James Reston, Jr.
18. The Last Apocalypse: Europe at the Year 1000, A.D., James Reston, Jr
19. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitious 14th Century, Barbara Tuchman
20. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time, John Kelly
21. The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca, Tahir Shah
22. The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914, Barbara Tuchman
23. Holy Fools, Joanne Harris
24. Alexandra: The Last Tsarina, Carolly Erickson
25. A Thread of Grace, Mary Dora Russell
26. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
27. The Hundred Secret Senses, Amy Tan
28. The Bonesetter's Daughter, Amy Tan
29. Saving Fish From Drowning, Amy Tan
30. Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying, Maggie Callahan and Patricia Kelley
31. The Innocent Man, John Grisham
32. The Alpine Scandal, Mary Daheim
33. The Ungrateful Daughters: The Stuart Princesses Who Stole Their Father's Crown, Maureen Waller
34. The Orphaned Adult, Alexander Levy
35. The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church, John Allen
36. All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks, John Allen
37. Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church, John Allen
38. A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America, Peter Steinfels
39. Le Divorce, Diane Johnson*
40. Le Mariage, Diane Johnson*
41. L'Affaire, Diane Johnson*
42. Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of an European Eccentric, Veronica Buckley
43. Making Loss Matter: Creating Meaning in Difficult Times, Rabbi David Wolpe
44. When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Harold Kushner*
45. Battery Commander: Five Battle Stars (A World War II Memoir--October 1941 to December 1945), Captain James McLeod*
46. The Pope's Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice Della Rovere, Caroline P. Murphy
47. Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England, Alison Weir*
48. Eleanor of Aquitaine, Alison Weir*
49. Welcome to My Planet* (*Where English is Sometimes Spoken), Shannon Olson*
50. Children of God Go Bowling, Shannon Olson*
51. Snobs: A Novel, Julian Fellowes*
52. The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory*
53. The Queen's Fool, Philippa Gregory*
54. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova*
55. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt*
56. The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt*
57. My Invented Country: A Memoir, Isabel Allende*
58. Marie Antoinette, Antonia Fraser*
59. The Fig Eater, Jody Shields*
60. What the Dog Did: Tales From a Formerly Reluctant Dog Owner, Emily Yoffe
61. The Wives of Henry VIII, Antonia Fraser*
62. America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines, Gail Collins*
63. Remembering the Good War: Minnesota's Greatest Generation, Thomas Saylor
64. Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7,1944, to May 7, 1945, Stephen Ambrose*
65. Voices of Valor: D-Day, June 6, 1944, Douglas Brinkley and Ronald J. Drez
66. Irish Girls About Town, Maeve Binchy et al*
67. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Azar Nafisi*
68. The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffennegger*
69. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, Anne Lamott*
70. Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, Anne Lamott*
71. After Long Silence: A Memoir, Helen Freemont*
72. Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman*
73. Packinghouse Daughter: A Memoir, Cheri Register*
74. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Erik Larson*
75. Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand
76. Catherine deMedici, Renaissance Queen of France, Leonie Frieda*
77. On the Threshold: Home, Hardwood, & Holiness, Elizabeth Andrew*
78. Our Greatest Gift: Meditations on Dying and Caring, Henri Nouwen
79. The Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen
80. Mary Daheim mysteries*
81. The Not-So-Big Life, Susan Susanka
82. The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm, Juliet Nicholson
83. Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe, Nancy Goldstone
84. Ladies in Waiting: From the Tudors to the Present, Anne Somerset
85. Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art From the Cults of Catholic Europe, Thomas Cahill
86. Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III, Flora Fraser
87. Singing Mother Home: A Daughter's Journey Through Anticipatory Grief, Donna S. Davenport
88. Dying Well: The Prospect for Growth at the End of Life, Ira R. Byock
89. A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis*
90. Praying Our Goodbyes, Joyce Rupp
91. The Needs of the Dying: A Guide for Bringing Hope, Comfort, and Love to Life's Final Chapter, David Kessler
92. The Pearl of Great Price: Gospel Wisdom for Married Couples, Julie McCarty
93. Motherless Daughters: Legacy of Loss, Hope Edelman

*reread in 2007