Book Fever
By Marcia Loy
December 26, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Favorite nonfiction from 2007-2008

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. —James McCosh

I’ve been writing Book Fever for more than a year. Lots of people tell me they enjoy reading it. If they have half as much fun reading it as I’ve had writing it, then I’ve had twice as much fun as they’ve had. I’d write it if Atención charged me for doing it (don’t tell them).

Here’s a list of 50 or so nonfiction books I’ve enjoyed since I started writing this column, many of which I’ve written about in Book Fever. I didn’t think I could come up with 50 books this week, but as I went through my reading list, voila! Here they are. This is as eclectic a mix of nonfiction as you’re likely to find anywhere. 

1. Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, Jenni Ferrari-Adler, editor

2. The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love, Jill Conner Browne

3. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson

4. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

5. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, Thad Carhart

6. Two Guys Read Moby Dick, Steve Chandler & Terrence N. Hill

7. In Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin

8. Mexican Days, Tony Cohan

9. Sixpence House, Paul Collins

10. The Journals of Lewis and Clark, Bernard DeVoto, editor

11. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Dideon

12. Justice, Dominick Dunne

13. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers

14. I Worry About My Neck, Nora Ephron

15. Between the Woods and the Water, Patrick Leigh Fermor

16. Bad Trips, Keath Fraser, editor

17. A Cat Abroad, Peter Gethers

18. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert

19. Waiting, Debra Ginsberg

20. Blink, Malcolm Gladwell

21. Team of Rivals and No Ordinary Time, Doris Kerns Goodwin

22. Kite Strings of the Southern Cross, Laurie Gough

23. No Death, No Fear, Thich Nhat Hanh

24. Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand

25. Fire, Sebastian Junger

26. Ethics for the New Millennium, His Holiness the Dalai Lama

27. Devil in the White City, Thunderstruck and Isaac’s Storm, Eric Larson

28. Moneyball, Michael Lewis

29. Does Anybody Here Have a Problem with That?, Bill Maher

30. West with the Night, Beryl Markham

31. Mornings on Horseback and The Great Bridge, David McCullough

32. Bringing Down the House, Ben Mezrich

33. So Many Books, So Little Time, Sara Nelson

34. I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This, Bob Newhart

35. Sharing Silence, Gunilla Norris

36. The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean

37. Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease, Dr. Dean Ornish

38. Parliament of Whores, P.J. O’Rourke

39. Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose

40. Book Lust and More Book Lust, Nancy Pearl

41. Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl

42. Everything She Ever Wanted, Ann Rule

43. The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz

44. For the Love of Books, Ronald B. Schwartz

45. A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle

46. My Love Affair with England, Susan Allen Toth

47. The Zimmermann Telegram, Barbara Tuchman

48. An Alphabetical Life, Wendy Werris

49. Krakatoa, Simon Winchester

50. So Many Books, Gabriel Zaid

Making lists was so much fun that in January Book Fever will look at more lists, starting with my own partial reading list for 2009 and continuing with other people’s book lists. Happy reading!