2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012

In 2002 I made a New Year’s resolution to keep a list of all the books I read that year. I did it! I have kept my list ever since.

At the end of each year, I look back over my list and challenge myself to pick five favorites. A book might make the cut for any number of reasons–it made me laugh, I thought the writing was great, I stayed up all night reading it, it was about a subject I love.

Some years, the top five leap out at me. And some years, it takes me several weeks to decide which ones will make the list. Sometimes, years later, I look back over my highlighted titles and totally agree with my choices. But more often that not, as time marches on, I find that I’d like to undo a highlighted title and substitute in another from that same year. I resist the urge, though, because those highlighted titles must have spoken to me at the time.

2013

1. The Motion of the Ocean by Janna Cawrse Esarey
2. Enough About Love by Herve le Tellier
3. The Must be the Place by Anna Winger
4. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
5. Swallow the Ocean by Laura M. Flynn
6. Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue  Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor
7. Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost

2012

Okay, the book list got a little skimpy this year. Oh, who am I kidding? It is just downright anorexic. But I have an excuse—I became a mom. Who knew these little humans needed so much attention?

1. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
2. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Alison Hoover Bartlett
3. Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang
4. Kosher Chinese by Michael Levy
5. Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart
6. Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

2011

1. Good Eggs by Phoebe Potts
2. Mamalita by Jessica O’Dwyer
3. China Ghosts by Jeff Gammage
4. Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen
5. The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama
6. Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other by Scott Simon
7. Sweet Misfortune by Kevin Alan Milne
8. A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani
9. The Breaking of Eggs by Jim Powell
10. All the Tea in China by Sarah Rose
    
11. Breakfast with the Pope by Susan Vigilante
12. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
13. Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz
14. The Wishing Year by Noelle Oxen
15. Silent Tears by Kay Bratt
16. The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
17. Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli
18. Barefoot in Baghdad by Manal Omar
19. One More Year by Sana Krasikov
20. Little Princes by Conor Grennan
21. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
22. Lucky Girl by Mei Ling Hopgood
23. The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer
24. The Early Arrival of Dreams by Rosemary Mahoney
25. Painting Chinese by Herbert Kohl
26. A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
27. I & Claudius by Clare de Vries

2010

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson
2. Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
3. Born Under a Million Shadows by Andrea Busfield
4. Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
5. English by Wang Gang
6. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee
7. The Tea House Fire by Ellis Avery
8. Honeymoon in Purdah by Alison Wearing
9. A Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
10. Truck by Michael Perry
11. Marry Anita by Anita Jain
12. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
13. Bangkok Days by Lawrence Osborne
14. An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser
15. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowel
16. Queen of the Road by Doreen Orion
17. Iraqi Girl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq
18. Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren
19. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
20. Harold and the Search for Happiness by Francois Lelord
21. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
22. Japanland by Karin Muller
23. Marriage and Other Acts of Charity by Kate Braestrup
24. Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm
25. On Mexican Time by Tony Cohan
26. Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home by Maria Finn

2009

1. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
2. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
3. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
4. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
5. The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara
6. The Pakistani Bride by Bapsi Sidhwa
7. The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell
8. Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris
9. Bowling Across America by Mike Walsh
10. Acqua Alta by Donna Leon
11. Haiku Mind by Patricia Donegan
12. Haiku Apprentice by Abigail Friedman
13. Beside a Burning Sea by John Shors
14. True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year in Juvenile Hall by Mark Salzman
15. The Natural Laws of Good Luck: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage by Ellen Graf
16. Love Haiku: Masajo Suzuki’s Lifetime of Love by Masajo Suzuki
17. The Haiku Year by Michael Stipe, Grant Lee Phillips, Tom Gilroy, Anna Grace, Rick Roth, Jim McKay and Steve Earle
18. Dragon House by John Shors
19. The Lost City of Z by David Grann
20. Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
21. The Scent of Sake by Joyce Lebra
22. Italian for Beginners by Kristin Harmel
23. Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors
24. One True Theory of Love by Laura Fitzgerald
25. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
26. Sofi Mendoza’s Guide to Getting Lost in Mexico by Malin Alegria
27. Does My Head Look Big in This? Randa Abdel-Fattah
28. The Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins
29. The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson
30. Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faiza Guene
31. Slant by Laura E. Williams
32. Secret Son by Laila Lalami
33. The Class by Francois Begaudeau
34. Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
35. Haiku by Andrew Vachss
36. Blink by Malcom Gladwell
37. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

2008

1. Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali by Kris Holloway
2. Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin
3. Elephant Run by Roland Smith
4. The White Masai: An Exotic Tale of Love and Adventure by Corinne Hofmann
5. Salty by Mark Haskell Smith
6. Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper by Diablo Cody
7. A Beginner’s Guide to Changing the Universe: A True Life Adventure Story by Isabel Losada
8. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
9. The Art of French Kissing by Kristin Harmel
10. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee
11. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
12. The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag
13. Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
14. Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American at Home and Abroad by Firoozeh Dumas
15. Atonement by Ian McEwan
16. Surprise Me: a 30-Day Faith Experiment by Terry Esau
17. Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson
18. Vertical Ethiopia by Majka Burhardt
19. Atonement by Ian McEwan
20. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
21. On a Hoof and a Prayer: Exploring Argentina at a Gallop by Polly Evans
22. Lulu in Marrakech by Diane Johnson
23. Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran
24. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
25. Arlington Parkby Rachel Cusk
26. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
27. Marco Polo Didn’t Go There by Rolf Potts
28. Fidel’s Last Days by Roland Merullo
29. Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance by Lloyd Jones

2007

1. The House of Paper by Carlos María Domínguez
2. The River of Doubt by Candice Millard
3. A Good Dog: The Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life by Jon Katz
4. Grayson by Lynne Cox
5. Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence by Matthew Sanford
6. When Heaven Fell by Carolyn Marsden
7. Child of the Jungle by Sabine Kuegler
8. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
9. Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
10. Sula by Toni Morrison
11. Kabul Beauty School for Women by Deborah Martinez
12. River Queen by Mary Morris
13. Bangkok Haunts by John Burdett
14. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
15. Bad Karma: Confessions of a Reckless Traveler in Southeast Asia by Tamara Sheward
16. Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald
17. Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande
18. Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tramtranslated by
    Andrew X. Pham
19. Sold by Patricia McCormick
20. Adventures of an Ice Princess by Liz Maverick
21. A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson
22. Home on the Road by Catherine Watson
23. The Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
24. Digging to America by Anne Tyler
25. Buenos Aires Broken Heart Club by Jessica Morrison
26. Stalking the Wild Dik Dik by Marie Javins
27. Minaret by Leila Aboulela
28. All the Fishes Come Home to Roost by Rachel Manija Brown
29. Two in a Boat: The True Story of a Marital Rite of Passage by Gwyneth Lewis

2006

1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
3. Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
4. Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides
5. Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
6. Old Filth by Jane Gardam
7. Shibumi by Trevanian
8. The Tree of Red Stars by Tessa Bridal
9. Backpack by Emily Barr
10. Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
11. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joann Harris
12. Saturday by Ian McEwan
13. The Last Song of Dusk by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
14. Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
16. Someone Else by Tonio Benacquista
17. Let Me Go by Helga Schneider
18. Burning the Map by Laura Caldwell
19. Losing Gemma by Katy Gardner
20. Es Cuba: Life and Love on an Illegal Island by Lea Aschkenas
21. Angles and Demons by Dan Brown
22. Lost Girls & Love Hotels by Catherine Hanrahan
23. Bangkok Tatoo by John Burdett
24. Blood Orange Brewing by Laura Childs
25. What Color is Your Jockstrap? Edited by Jen Leo
26. Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst
27. The Dancing Girls of Lahore by Louise Brown
28. The Almond Picker by Simonetta Agnello Hornby
29. Frangipani by Celestine Hitiura Vaite
30. The Unwanted by Kien Nguyen
31. The Ganster We Are All Looking For by Le Thi Diem Thuy
32. Cuba Diaries: An American Housewife in Havana by Isadora Tattlin

2005

1. The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk
2. The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander
3. Welcome to My Planet by Shannon Olson
4. Children of God Go Bowling by Shannon Olson
5. Honeymoon with my Brother by Franz Wisner
6. French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
7. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
8. The Bitch in the House Edited by Cathi Hanuer
9. The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
10. Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa
11. Revenge by Marry Morris
12. Maya Running by Anjali Banerjee
13. Whose Panties are These? edited by Jen Leo
14. Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes
15. Night of the Radishes by Sandra Benitez
16. They Poured Fire On Us From the Sky by Alephonsion Deng, Benson Deng, Benjamin Ajak, Judy A. Bernstein
17. Around the Bloc by Stephanie Elizondo Griest
18. A Way to See the World by Thomas Swick
19. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
20. Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
21. Best American Travel Writing 2004 edited by Pico Iyer
22. Roads Less Traveled Catherine Watson
23. The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost
24. Holy Smoke by Tonio Benacquista
25. The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
26. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
27. Whiteout by Ken Follet
28. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
29. Trading Up by Candace Bushnell
30. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
31. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

2004

1. Avoiding Prison and Other Noble Vacation Goals by Wendy Dale
2. The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
3. The Translator by John Crowley
4. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
5. Bad Times in Buenos Aires by Miranda France
6. Along the Inca Road by Karin Mulle
7. Reading Lolita in Terhan by Azar Nafisi
8. Priority by Iselin C. Hermann
9. The Stone Boudoir by Teri Maggio
10. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
11. The Ladies’ Coupe by Anita Nair
12. The Mango Season by Amulya Mallad
13. A Good Year by Peter Mayle
14. Almost French by Sarah Turnbul
15. High Tide by Mark Lynas
16. The Food of Love by Anthony Capella
17. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
18. The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
19. The Book of Salt by Monique Truong
20. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
21. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
22. The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst

2003

1. The Leaf Storm by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2. Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It by Geoff Dyer
3. Eva Peron by Alicia Dujorne Ortiz
4. Reviving Ophelia by Mary Piphen
5. A Multitude of Sins by Richard Ford
6. Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman
7. Travelers’ Tales: Cuba Edited by Tom Miller
8. Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway
9. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
10. Memoirs of a Geisha by Aurthur Golden
11. The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
12. The Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
13. Cane River Lalita Tademy
14. A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
15. All the Names by Jose Saramago
16. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
17. Travels in a Thin Country by Sara Wheeler
18. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
19. No Horizon is So Far by Ann Bancroft
20. The War of the Beavers by Verena Andermatt Conley
21. Waiting with Gabriel by Amy Kuebelbeck

2002

1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
2. Dakota by Kathleen Norris
3. Frida by Barbara Mujica
4. Never Again a World Without Us by Teresa Ortiz
5. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
6. Lying Awake by Mark Salzman
7. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba by Jacki Lyden
8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
9. Where She Came From by Helen Epstein
10. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
11. The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepulveda
12. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
13. Prague by Arthur Phillips
14. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Anne Brashares
15. The Art of Travel by Alain de Bottom
16. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
17. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
18. Mr. Maybe by Jane Green
19. Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman
20. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
21. The Death of Vishnu by Manie Suri
22. How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Bottom
23. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
24. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
25. Lucky by Alice Sebold
26. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
27. Making Sense of Life’s Changes: Transitions by William Bridges
28. Daughter of Fortune by Isabelle Allende
29. The Snake Charmer by Sanjay Nigam

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