Year in review: reading

As an avid reader, I thought it would be interesting to look back on some of the books I read this year. I ended up reading a total of 11 novels in 2008, averaging less than one a month. Some of those were old favorites that I'd already read a few times, but there were also some new ones that were good. Here's a list of my top 5 novels that I read for the first time this year:

5. White Fang by Jack London - I've always been fascinated by Alaska, and since I got to travel up there this year, it was an appropriate time for me to read this book. It focuses on the life of a wolf, starting out in the wild but eventually being tamed by Native Americans and passed from owner to owner.

4. The Client by John Grisham - This thriller is about a young boy who accidentally stumbles upon a lawyer in the process of committing suicide. Before killing himself, he tells the boy where one of his clients, a man accused of murder, hid the body. Soon the boy receives death threats and becomes very cautious about what he reveals in court when called to the stand. The Client was also made into a movie, which I watched after reading the book.

3. QB VII by Leon Uris - The tale of a 1960s trial about one man suing another for writing a book that includes a sentence naming him as a surgeon who committed war crimes in a Nazi concentration camp. Although it is a libel trial, it soon feels like the accuser is the accused as many camp survivors take the stand against him and put forth some horrifying revelations. It becomes a moral battle and a question of what is and isn't right to do in extreme circumstances during wartime. A fascinating read.

2. Shogun by James Clavell - Taking place around 1600, this is the story of a European man named Blackthorne who is stranded in Japan. He quickly learns the Japanese way of life and even falls in love with a Japanese woman, although she is already married. Blackthorne is imprisoned more than once and must decide whom to support when different Japanese factions go to war. His ultimate goal is to return to his ship and sail back to Europe, but the Japanese won't let him go.

1. North and South by John Jakes - The saga of a couple of families, the Mains and the Hazards, in the years leading up to the American Civil War. The Mains are southern; the Hazards are from the north. As the relations between the North and the South deteriorate, the two families try their best to remain friends. This is the first novel of a trilogy, and I definitely plan to read the other two books.