We asked you to tell us the best book you read in 2006 and you responded in droves! Thanks to all of the fanatical readers who voted, and congratulations to this year's winners of the Golden Galoshes: Marley and Me and The Da Vinci Code.
We hope they will wear those galoshes with pride all year long. But, please, be careful in the rain: we're pretty sure gold is neither waterproof nor ideal for splashing in puddles. We suggest they be used in a decorative fashion, perhaps on a mantle or under glass.
Congratulations to every book that was read and loved by someone in the past year! And if there's a title on this list you haven't read yet, may we humbly suggest you get cracking. You still have all those new books to devour before next year's Puddly Awards!
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown |
Marley and Me by John Grogan |
While we were asking you to cast your Puddly votes, we also asked our fellow Powell's employees to name the best book they read last year. As a bonus, our fifty favorites are listed here.
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
- A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
- A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
- Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
- The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- The Ruins by Scott Smith
- 1491 by Charles Mann
- 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck
- Lost Girls by Alan Moore
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
- I Like You by Amy Sedaris
- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
- Lisey's Story by Stephen King
- Little Children by Tom Perrotta
- Cell by Stephen King
- The Dead Fish Museum by Charles D'Ambrosio
- Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
- Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
- Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
- Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
- In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders
- The River of Doubt by Candice Millard
- The Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian
- The Best American Comics 2006 by Harvey Pekar
- Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
- Collapse by Jared Diamond
- Three Days to Never by Tim Powers
- What Is the What by Dave Eggers
- Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
- Terrier: Beka Cooper #1 by Tamora Pierce
- This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin
- The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy Hempel
- Company by Max Barry
- Echo Park by Michael Connelly
- Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
- Out from Boneville: Bone #1 by Jeff Smith
- People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia
- The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
- Microthrills by Wendy Spero
- Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
- The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
1.
by John Grogan
"Mr. Grogan knew the workings of Marley's mind. He makes that abundantly clear in Marley and Me, a very funny valentine to all those four-legged 'big, dopey, playful galumphs that seemed to love life with a passion not often seen in this world.' It's a book with intense but narrow appeal, strictly limited to anyone who has ever had, known or wanted a dog." Janet Maslin, New York Times
2.
by Dan Brown
Enjoy a great thriller? You will love this relentlessly paced tale. It's full of fascinating historical details about western art, the mystery of the grail, and hidden codes. You won't be able to put it down but you'll want to look up secret societies from the Knights Templar to Opus Dei. Sound far-fetched? Well, FBI traitor Robert Hanson was a member of Opus Dei. Hmmmmmm!! Kathi, Powells.com
3.
by Khaled Hosseini
"Rather than settle for a coming-of-age or travails-of-immigrants story, Hosseini has folded them both into this searing spectacle of hard-won personal salvation. All this, and a rich slice of Afghan culture too: irresistible." Kirkus Reviews
4.
by Stephen King
"A nerve-racking, genuinely unsettling thriller, Cell is proof positive that King has tapped into yet another creative wellspring during a period of life when most writers are often overworking the same dry and dusty literary landscapes." Denver Post
5.
by James Patterson
"Even as the story whips by with incredible speed, Patterson manages to pack it full of suspense, emotion, and a resolution that, while perfectly satisfying, carries the author's trademark teaser hinting at the 'more' that surely will come." Booklist
6.
by Rohinton Mistry
"Those who continue to harp on the decline of the novel . . . ought to consider Rohinton Mistry. He needs no infusion of magic realism to vivify the real. The real world, through his eyes, is magical." New York Times
7.
by Christopher Paolini
"[A] vigorously written high fantasy epic....Legacies etched in stars and dreams guide his steps in this enchanting adventure. Eragon is highly recommended for dedicated fantasy enthusiasts." Midwest Book Review
8.
by J. K. Rowling
"The darkest and most unsettling installment yet....The achievement of the Potter books is the same as that of the great classics of children's literature, from the Oz novels to The Lord of the Rings: the creation of a richly imagined and utterly singular world, as detailed, as improbable and as mortal as our own." Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
9.
by Stephen King
"King is surprisingly introspective and mature here. He showcases the agony and the ecstasy of the writing process....One of King's finest works." Kirkus Reviews
10.
by Kim Edwards
"Unfolds from an absolutely gripping premise, drawing you deeply and irrevocably into the entangled lives of two families and the devastating secret that shaped them both. I loved this riveting story." Sue Monk Kidd
11.
by Dan Brown
"[W]ell-plotted if over-the-top....Though its premises strain credulity, Brown's tale is laced with twists and shocks that keep the reader wired right up to the last revelation." Publishers Weekly
12.
by Dean Koontz
"Bestseller Koontz's third Odd Thomas novel (after Forever Odd) offers an irresistibly offbeat mix of supernatural horror and laugh-out-loud humor. A resident of St. Bartholomew's Abbey, a monastery in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Thomas has the ability to see the spirits of the dead, a gift he has used to resolve mysteries and prevent future tragedies." Publishers Weekly
13.
by Mitch Albom
"In this first novel from Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven author Albom, grief-stricken Charles 'Chick' Benetto goes into an alcoholic tailspin when his always-attentive mother, Pauline, dies. ...Albom often strikes a nerve on his way to the heart." Publishers Weekly
14.
by Nathanieal Philbrick
"A judicious, fascinating work of revisionist history. Mayflower is a surprise-filled account of what are supposed to be some of the best-known events in this country's past but are instead an occasion for collective amnesia." Janet Maslin, New York Times
15.
by Cormac McCarthy
The Road is Cormac McCarthy's darkest, most poetic book in years. In a post-apocalyptic, razed landscape (which, though archetypal, feels frighteningly plausible), McCarthy poses questions of survival, good and evil, and what makes us human. Jill, Powells.com
16.
by Michael Pollan
The content is shocking, the writing beautiful. The truths this book reveals are enough to change the way you eat forever. Read this book and you'll never be the same. Frances M., Powells.com
17.
by Audrey Niffenegger
"Inspired by her grandparents' love story in which the grandmother outlived her husband by nearly three decades, Niffenegger has invented Henry and Clare, and their unique and complicated love story involving the ability to live in the past and future in an unpredictable parallel. Delightful, imaginative, with an unforgettable conclusion." Donna Kane, Powells.com
18.
by Marcus Zusak
"[S]trange, poetically descriptive, and, at times, ruthlessly bleak....[Liesel's] story is remarkable in that it's one of many equally tragic ones — and because it takes a special talent to find its moments of beauty among the rubble." Philadelphia Inquirer
19.
by John Grisham
An equally absorbing and troubling inquiry into a case of criminal injustice, Grisham's nonfiction debut equals the storytelling of his unparalleled fiction. Chandler, Powells.com
20.
by Yann Martel
"This breezily aphoristic, unapologetically twee saga of man and cat is a convincing hands-on, how-to guide for dealing with what Pi calls, with typically understated brio, 'major lifeboat pests.'" The New Yorker
21.
by Jodi Picoult
"Picoult's timely and compelling novel will appeal to anyone who has thought about the morality of medical decision making and any parent who must balance the needs of different children. Highly recommended." Library Journal
22.
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
"If you thought the true gothic novel died with the 19th century, this will change your mind. Shadow is the real deal....Be warned, you have to be a romantic at heart to appreciate this stuff, but if you are, this is one gorgeous read." Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly
23.
by Sara Gruen
"One of the many pleasures of this novel is the opportunity to enter a bizarrely coded and private world with its own laws, superstitions and vocabulary....The pleasures of that world were so compelling, so detailed and vivid, that I couldn't bear to be torn away from it for a single minute." Chicago Tribune
24.
by Richard Powers
"It's a tribute to Powers's nimble plotting that the mysteries unfold so organically and stealthily that you are unaware of his machinations until they come to stunning fruition.... Powers accomplishes something magnificent." Colson Whitehead, The New York Times Book Review
25.
by Jeannette Walls
"Walls's journalistic bare-bones style makes for a chilling, wrenching, incredible testimony of childhood neglect. A pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps, thoroughly American story." Kirkus Reviews
26.
by Augusten Burroughs
"Burroughs has written an entertaining yet horrifying account that isn't for the squeamish: the scatological content and explicit homosexual episodes may limit its appeal. Recommended for the adventurous seeking an unsettling experience among the grotesque." Library Journal
27.
by Julia Glass
"The artful construction of this seductive novel and the mature, compassionate wisdom permeating it would be impressive for a seasoned writer, but it's all the more remarkable in a debut....In this dazzling portrait of family life, Glass establishes her literary credentials with ingenuity and panache." Publishers Weekly
28.
by Neil Gaiman
"Anansi Boys is Neil Gaiman's best novel yet. It may lack the epic scope of American Gods, but page for page it provides a higher level of satisfaction. This is Gaiman at his wittiest, most uninhibited; we feel the author having fun with his creations, and the sensation is infectious. Filled to the brim with strong characters and a personable narration as entertaining and off the cuff as the voice Gaiman uses in his online journal, Anansi Boys is pure reading pleasure." Chris Bolton, Powells.com
29.
by David Mitchell
"Mitchell has written another complex novel, in which multiple themes run like streams of extra data beneath every incident, and understanding comes by the process of reading into a satisfying tangle of metaphor and reference. It is the best kind of contemporary fiction." M. John Harrison, The Times Literary Supplement
30.
by Gail Carson Levine
"In an alluring companion novel that some readers may argue even surpasses Ella Enchanted, Levine gives a visionary rendering of the Snow White tale that challenges conventional ideas of beauty." Publishers Weekly
31.
by Christopher Paolini
"Eldest roars along from beginning to end. The author's writing has matured and he has developed great skill at layering his themes as they build to an exciting climax." BookReporter.com
32.
by Normal Mailer
"The big book no one but Mailer could have dared...absolutely astonishing." Joan Didion, New York Times Book Review
33.
by Jonathan Safran Foer
"[B]eautifully designed second from the gifted young author....[A] riveting narrative....[A] brilliant fiction works thrilling variations on, and consolations for, its plangent message: that 'in the end, everyone loses everyone.' Yes, but look what Foer has found." Kirkus Reviews
34.
by Kazuo Ishiguro
"In this luminous offering, [Ishiguro] nimbly navigates the landscape of emotion — the inevitable link between present and past and the fine line between compassion and cruelty, pleasure and pain." Booklist
35.
by Diane Setterfield
"The Thirteenth Tale is a book that you wake in the middle of the night craving to get back to....Like a childhood favorite, it is timeless, charming, pure pleasure to read." San Diego Union-Tribune
36.
by Paul Neilan
"If Camus and Bukowski had written A Confederacy of Dunces and combined it with the screenplay for Office Space, it would have been this book. A triumphantly, weirdly hilarious comedy." Neal Pollack, author of Never Mind the Pollacks
37.
by David Mitchell
If you haven't read David Mitchell's previous novels, let Cloud Atlas be your introduction to his incredible imagination. Here six convincing and wonderfully realized worlds, filled with surprise and originality, loosely intermingle. Each story, inhabited with equally compelling characters, proves the genius of this amazingly gifted writer. Michal, Powells.com
38.
by Arthur Golden
"Wonderful, involving, intelligent, fascinating, and almost Dickensian in the way the characters inhabit the landscape, and the landscape permeates the characters. It's a unique, beautifully written book." Ann Beattie
39.
by James Frey
"Insistent as it is demanding.... A story that cuts to the nerve of addiction by clank-clank-clanking through the skull of the addicted... A critical milestone in modern literature." Orlando Weekly
40.
by Michael Crichton
"Next is a novel about the implications of genetic research...a subject that requires all of Crichton's ingenuity to be stuffed into 400 or so pages along with all the sex, violence and skulduggery that the genre demands." Los Angeles Times
41.
by Scott Smith
"The book of the summer....There are no chapters and no cutaways — The Ruins is your basic long scream of horror. It does for Mexican vacations what Jaws did for New England beaches in 1975." Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly
42.
by Anne Tyler
"Tyler creates many blissful moments of high emotion and keen humor while broaching hard truths about cultural differences, communication breakdowns, and family configurations. This deeply human tale of valiantly improvised lives is one of Tyler's best." Booklist (Starred Review)
43.
by Christopher Moore
"To keep a straight face while reading this book, one would have to be dead already and in the final stages of rigor mortis." Rocky Mountain News
44.
by Steven Levitt
"If Indiana Jones were an economist, he'd be Steven Levitt....Criticizing Freakonomics would be like criticizing a hot fudge sundae." Wall Street Journal
45.
by Alison Bechdel
Easily the best original graphic novel since Craig Thompson's Blankets! A breathtaking achievement as well as a riveting memoir in comic form, Fun Home boosts Alison Bechdel to the front ranks of today's finest autobiographical comic storytellers, right up there with Art Spiegelman, Joe Sacco, and Thompson.
Bolton, Powells.com
46.
by Geraldine Brooks
In her follow-up to Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks has taken historical fiction to another dimension altogether. Using America's Civil War as her frame, she plants a famous (but deeply mysterious) literary figure at its center: Mr. March, the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's classic, Little Women. The result is a wholly original novel, a rich re-imagining of the nation's political and literary foundations, and arguably Brooks's finest work to date. Dave, Powells.com
47.
by Marjane Satrapi
"A dazzlingly singular achievement....Striking a perfect balance between the fantasies and neighborhood conspiracies of childhood and the mounting lunacy of Khomeini's reign, she's like the Persian love child of Spiegelman and Lynda Barry." Salon
48.
by Betty Smith
"Smith has a treasure lode and...in this one book she gives all of it away....The civilization of Smith's Williamsburg exists in very few living memories....[W]hen even these isolated signposts are gone, the spirit of the book, the lives and struggles it celebrates, will be with us, reminding us of who we were and who we still are." Robert Cornfield, New York Times Book Review
49.
by Janet Evanovich
"Fans of the adventures of Stephanie Plum, hapless Trenton bounty hunter torn between two hunky bad boys, get what they want out of this installment..." Detroit Free Press
50.
by Timothy Egan
A fresh, stirring look at the Dust Bowl and Depression, Timothy Egan follows the personal dramas of a handful of families, allowing their voices to reveal the environmental and human tragedies that rocked the nation. Grippingly detailed, this exciting yet compassionate work of history is difficult to put down. I enjoyed it to the last page. Michal, Powells.com
