WORTHWHILE READING: 2007

Well, here I am on the final leg of my holidays.
Still visiting. Still having fun. Still eating.
But come Monday, it is back to the coal mines for me. Tomorrow I will be boarding a plane and flying back home. Back to my meowing Jack, and the snowbanks I left behind in Ottawa.
At the end of each year I like to reflect upon the books I have read over the past 12 months. I reminisce about each one and see which come to the forefront as being especially memorable and worthwhile.
There are few things more disappointing to me than to come to the end of a book and think → “What a waste of time.”
Because time is precious to me.
So, here is my list of books that were especially worthwhile.
These are the Top 5 [Fiction] Books that meant the most to me, in 2007.

1) A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving
2) On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
3) The Pesthouse by Jim Crace
4) Death Of A Salesman by Arthur Miller
5) Immortality by Milan Kundera

I would love to comment about each of the above books here, but simply do not have the time to do so.
However, I would like to include a few more, deserving Honorable Mention.
Fall On Your Knees – Ann Marie MacDonald
The Last Temptation of Christ – Nikos Kazantzakis
Landing – Emma Donoghue
The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman
The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand

In the Non-Fiction department I have read many terrific books in 2007, and most notably, these:

1) God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything – Christopher Hitchens
2) The World Without Us – Alan Weisman
3) Clapton: The Autobiography – Eric Clapton
4) The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins
5) Status Anxiety – Alain deBotton

To all of my friends, the dear people and fellow-readers I’ve come to know through this medium of blogging, I wish you a wonderful 2008!
May it be a year filled with health, prosperity, love, good surprises, fun, and not least importantly, WORTHWHILE READING!
Cheers!
-- Cip

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