10 Best Books of 2007 by The New York Times

As was promised, the New York Times has released its 10 best books of 2007. Earlier this week, it released the 100 Notable Books Of the Year which I reported on this blog on 25 November.

The 10 best books of 2007 which has Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas on top of the list will be published in the Dec. 9 print edition of the Book Review. View the 10 Best Books of 2006 here

This makes me wonder what the criteria is for determining the best books of the year. As curious as I was and given that I hadn't read any of the books, I read a review of Man Gone Down especially to see why it had to be the best book of 2007.

Thomas tells the story in the first person, narrating the events of four days and the troubled lifetime that’s led up to them. A story about a Boston-bred black man living in Brooklyn and struggling to write while supporting his blue-blooded white wife and their three children. One of the bigger questions posed by the novel is how to pursue the American dream and perhaps other dreams in a clash of race and color. Read more here

A Boston-bred African-American writer who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and their three children, Thomas seems to be writing what he knows best. But more than anything else, he knows why his "man" went down. Read the First Chapter of Man Gone Down



Click here to buy Man Gone Down online

Photo Credits: Design by Paul Sahre; photograph by Tony Cenicola
The New York Times

Khaled Hosseini: Medical Practitioner Turned Best-Selling Author?

Khaled Hosseini has showed strength as a successful writer and best-selling author. His first book, The Kite Runner has sold over four million copies. When he released his second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, no one doubted that the book would get a lot of attention when it came out in May 2007.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is the Best Book of 2007 by Amazon. A story of friendship between two women that complements the tale of two boys in his first book, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a compelling drama of personal and national tragedy weighted equally with despair and grave hope.

Watch Khaled Hosseini Introduce A Thousand Splendid Suns

With a background in Medicine, the author believes that he has no intentions of quiting Medicine for Writing, though he claims to have been a writer years before deciding to go into Medicine. But history has made us see best-selling authors like John Grisham (an ex-lawyer) quit their professions to become writers.

Khaled Hosseini’s novels have offered a potent combination of a setting in an exotic land - Afghanistan - that has taken on increasing importance to Americans in the last several years with a compelling human drama. If he can continue (as he has with A Thousand Splendid Suns) to join those elements in his future work, his readers are likely to remain loyal for many works to come.

But the question is: Will Khaled Hosseini keep 'flying the kite' and quit medicine?

Buy A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini at Amazon

New York Times Notable Books of The Year 2007

The New York Times has released the 100 Notable Books Of the Year which will run in the Dec. 2 print edition of the Book Review. The list which comprises Fiction & Poetry and Nonfiction books includes J.K. Rowlings' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Graham Robbs' The Discovery of France.

The 10 Best Books of 2007 will be released on the Web on Nov. 28. So watch out for this space! View the 10 Best Books of 2006 here