As part of my recent competition to win a signed copy of The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, I asked entrants to nominate the most enjoyable book they had read so far this year. I had so much fun reading everyone's suggestions I thought it might be good to share them with the world at large. And so I've compiled a list of more than 60 books that Reading Matters' readers chose as their most fun read of 2008.
Several books appear more than once, including The Gargoyle, Half of a Yellow Sun (must bump that up my reading queue -- I bought it second-hand last year) and The Uncommon Reader.
Here's the list in full, in the order in which they were nominated.
- The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale: nominated by bunny
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: nominated by Mae
- The Road Home by Rose Tremain: Mad Asthmatic
- The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield:Alyce
- We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver: Heather
- The Host by Stephenie Meyer: Yan
- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: Judy
- Old Filth by Jane Gardam: Carlton
- American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld: Karen
- The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski: jeniwren
- 1984 by George Orwell: canochinha
- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin: WhiteLady3
- Run by Ann Patchett: Anna van Gelderen
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer: Linda
- The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly: Ana T.
- Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom; Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; and Our Longest Days by the writers of Mass Observation: BooksPlease
- Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel: Lianne
- Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein by Molly Dwyer: Michele
- Sweetsmoke by David Fuller: Icedream
- The Book of Lost Things by John Connely; and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Stephanie
- Cryers Hill by Kitty Aldridge; and Lorelei's Secret by Carolyn Parkhurst: Wendy Smith
- Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Jennifer
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz; and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer: Raych
- Duchess by Susan Holloway Scott: Amanda
- The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet: padma
- Life in Seven Mistakes by Susan Johnson: Melissa
- The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent; and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: gautami tripathy
- Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready: Lauren
- Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn: Leslie
- The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein; and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer: Wrighty
- Anne of Green Gables by L. Montgomery and Empress Orchid by Anchee Min: Violet
- Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson: iliana
- The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson; and City of Thieves by David Benioff: Sunny@theLibrary
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Jamie
- The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett; and The Future of Love by Shirley Abbott: Matt
- The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian: marybeth i
- Matrimony by Joshua Henkin: Sheri
- Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan: Norm
- Small Island by Andrea Levy; Sophie's Choice by William Styron; Loving Frank by Nancy Horan; The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan; and Under Pressure by Carl Honore: nutmeg
- Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier: sena
- World Without End by Ken Follett: avalonne83 The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery: Gnoe
- The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran: Julianne Douglas
- A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry: Tara
- Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore: Amber G
- The Queen of Bedlam by Robert R. McCammon: Tracey Byram
- The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent: gwendolyn b.
- The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers: Gina
- A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh: chartroose
- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri: Juliette
- Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling; and Lisey's Story by Stephen King: Diane S
- Private Papers by Margaret Forster: Louise
- The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson: Jena
- The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak: Elana Bowman
- The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson: Andi
- Quicksand by Iris Johansen: Wanda Bergman
- The Gate House by Nelson DeMille: Sara Miller
- A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz: stacey @ book:thirty
- Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami: tanabata
- The Host by Stephenie Meyer: Stephanie
- Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear: Leah
