Dec 17 2008
Barnes & Noble Announces the Year’s Best Fiction and Non-Fiction
The year of 2008 is quickly coming to a close and that means looking back on the best of the year. Barnes & Noble does this well by putting together two different Best of guides for book lovers. The Barnes & Noble Review Editor-in-Chief, James Mustich, has gotten together some other experts to choose the best fiction and non-fiction books of 2008.
Barnes & Noble’s Best of Non-Fiction 2008 includes:
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faus
Gardens: an Essay on the Human Condition by Robert Pogue Harrison
Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth by Robert Poole
Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby
How Fiction Works by James Wood
A Blue Hand: The Beats In India by Deborah Baker
Ain’t My America by Bill Kauffman
Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency by Barton Gellman
Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs America by William Greider
The Cult of the Presidency by Gene Healy
The Great Depression and the New Deal by Eric Rauchway
The Craftsman by Richard Sennett
The Invention of Scotland: Myth and History by Hugh Trevor-Roper
World War I: The African Front by Edward Paice
Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin
William Eggleston: Democratic Camera by Elizabeth Sussman and Thomas Weski
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do by Tom Vanderbilt
Barnes & Noble’s Best of Fiction 2008 includes:
The Girl on the Fridge by Etgar Keret
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan
Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down by David Heatley
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
The Pets by Bragi Ólafsson; translated by Janice Balfour
The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem Aslam
The Outlander by Gil Adamson
Freddy the Pig by Walter Brooks
Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert
A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar
That wraps up Barnes & Noble’s picks for this year’s best fiction and non-fiction!
I must admit that I did judge this book by the cover, well, not so much the cover as the subtitle: “From High Heels and Parties to High Chairs and Potties”. When I read this I just assumed that it would be about a woman who waited too long to have a baby until she realized she wanted one, or about a woman who partied at night clubs and bars after work and found out she was pregnant. I must apologize to Jenna McCarthy for even letting this assumption cross my mind. Boy, was I wrong! Jenna is a talented, wise, determined, and caring person. This book reads like a finely crafted diary from the conception of her child to the baby’s first year. She takes us through her worries, trials, frustrations, triumphs, mishaps, and hopes. McCarthy is refreshingly honest, and that was what kept me reading. Each chapter made me laugh out loud. As a mom of two girls I can relate to just about everything she writes about going through. McCarthy describes her experience with conception, pregnancy and birth, as well as the first year as a new mom. I recommend this book to anyone expecting, who has a baby, or if you are even thinking about having a baby. McCarthy is completely honest, real and raw. You’ll love this book! It is hilarious, honest and witty - a unique memoir worth reading. 
