2006 STAFF PICKS

Before ringing in the new year, we at The Book Report Network reflect on some of our favorite books published in 2006. Though it was difficult to narrow down, each staff member chose up to five books that we enjoyed the most this year. Take a look and see if any of our selections match yours --- and which titles you may want to consider reading in the future.

Gena Bland, Website Producer

• INTO THE STORM by Suzanne Brockmann
  
• BREAK NO BONES by Kathy Reichs
  
• DON'T LOOK DOWN by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer
  
• TWELVE SHARP by Janet Evanovich
  
• AT RISK by Patricia Cornwell
  

• ARK ANGEL: Alex Rider #6 by Anthony Horowitz
  
• CROSS by James Patterson
  
• CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: THE BOOK by Deirdre Dolan
  
• FOR ONE MORE DAY by Mitch Albom
  
• THE WISH HOUSE by Celia Rees
  

• EAT, PRAY, LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert
  
• THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield
  
• THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak
  
• MAKING IT UP by Penelope Lively
  
• PIRATEOLOGY by Dugald A. Steer
  

• THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy
  An unrelentingly grim account of a man and his son traveling through a post-apocalyptic landscape, told with an unflinching vision that somehow proves that hope will endure to the end of time.
  
• BUST by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
  Bruen and Starr, who have been quietly reconstructing crime fiction in their separate works, collaborate seamlessly to create a caper novel of dark genius. And they have another one coming. Note: if I had more slots to fill, I would have listed Bruen's AMERICAN SKIN and Starr's LIGHTS OUT as well. I didn't, so I won't!
  
• WHITE SHADOW by Ace Atkins
  Atkins recreates the Tampa, FL of the 1950s down to its last nuance in this addicting stand-alone novel about an unsolved murder with links to the mob and international politics.
  
• PRAYERS FOR THE ASSASSIN by Robert Ferrigno
  A speculative cautionary tale that is worthy of a spot on the bookshelf between Philip K. Dick's THE MAN IN THE HIGH SCHOOL and, yes, George Orwell's 1984.
  
• THE RUINS by Scott Smith
  You'll never go hiking again. Or talk to strangers. Or go outside. Or put down this long overdue work from the author of A SIMPLE PLAN once you start it.
  

• THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN by Claire Messud
  
• HEAT by Bill Buford
  
• BLACK SWAN GREEN by David Mitchell
  
• APEX HIDES THE HURT by Colson Whitehead
  
• THE WHOLE WORLD OVER by Julia Glass
  

• FROM BAGHDAD, WITH LOVE by Lt. Col. Jay Kopelman
  
• WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen
  
• HAPPINESS SOLD SEPARATELY by Lolly Winston
  
• TWENTY QUESTIONS by Alison Clement
  

• BASEBALL: A HISTORY OF AMERICA'S FAVORITE GAME by George Vecsey
  
• THE BASEBALL UNCYCLOPEDIA: A Highly Opinionated, Myth-Busting Guide to the Great American Game by Michael Kun and Howard Bloom
  
• THE BOOK OF FATE by Brad Meltzer
  
• THE INTERPRETATION OF MURDER by Jed Rubenfeld
  
• THE LAST TEMPLAR by Raymond Khoury
  

• ONE GOOD TURN by Kate Atkinson
  
• WINKIE by Clifford Chase
  
• THE RUINS by Scott Smith
  

• GRAYSON HALL: A Hard Act to Follow, by R.J. Jamison
  
• LOVE YOU, MEAN IT by Patricia Carrington, Julia Collins, Claudia Gerbasi and Ann Haynes, with Eve Charles
  
• CHASING GHOSTS by Paul Rieckhoff
  
• THE BIG SHUFFLE by Laura Pedersen
  
• CANCER MADE ME A SHALLOWER PERSON: A Memoir in Comics by Miriam Engelberg
  

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