THE STAFF PICKS

Each year the Editorial Manager asks us to pick ONE book that we think is  the BEST book of the year. Every year I fail to be able to narrow it to one, so I do not submit a selection. This year I decided just jot down my favorite dozen books and  call it a day.

Sarah graciously allows my list to open the Staff Picks of 2001. One note: there are EIGHT titles with a * that represent titles by an author who I had never read prior to 2001. Take a moment and think about how many new authors you found this year!


Carol Fitzgerald, Founder/President of The Book Report Network, offers her Top Twelve list:

  *1ST TO DIE by James Patterson
  *COLD ZERO by Christopher Whitcomb
    ENVY by Sandra Brown
  *JIMMY'S GIRL by Stephanie Gertler
  *LAST BREATH by Peter Stark
  *LEFT BEHIND SERIES -- Audio
    LONG TIME NO SEE by Susan Issacs
  *LOSING JULIA by Jonathan Hull
  *MYSTIC RIVER by Dennis Lehane
    A PAINTED HOUSE by John Grisham
    SKY OF STONE by Homer Hickam
  *SOMEONE LIKE YOU by Cathy Kelly

The rest of The Book Report staff offer their top book of the year (please note that some of these titles were published prior to 2001):

Jennifer Abbots -- GROOVY BOB: The Life and Times of Robert Frasier by Harriet Vyner

Gena Bland -- Elizabeth George's Thomas Lynley/Barbara Havers Series & THE UGLY DACHSHUND by G.B. Stern.

Sarah Brennan -- POSITIVELY 4TH STREET: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina, and Richard Farina by David Hajdu

Ann Bruns -- COLD FLAT JUNCTION by Martha Grimes

Anita Bunn -- THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY by Michael Chabon

Rob Cline -- PONTIUS PILATE: The Biography of An Invented Man by Ann Wroe

Jami Edwards -- THE STRANGENESS OF BEAUTY by Lydia Minatoya

Sarah Egelman -- THE VISION OF EMMA BLAU by Ursula Hegi

Joe Hartlaub -- PALE HORSE COMING by Stephen Hunter

Ron Kaplan -- EXTRA INNINGS: Writing on Baseball by Richard Peterson

Sunil Kumar -- MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie

Chuck Leddy -- THE CLOUDS ABOVE: A Novel of Love and War by Andrew Grieg

Jean Marchand -- THE GAME OF KINGS by Dorothy Dunnett

Roberta O'Hara -- SPEAKING WITH THE ANGEL edited by Nick Hornby

Becky Olshen -- A MASSIVE SWELLING: Celebrity Reexamined As a Grotesque,Crippling Disease and Other Cultural Revelations by Cintra Wilson

Joan Suszko -- THE TIPPING POINT: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

Jennifer Robbins -- FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser

Nazimul Razack -- PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth

Mary Louise Rohner -- THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY by Jean-Dominique Bauby

Roz Shea -- THE WATER AND THE BLOOD by Nancy E. Turner

Stuart Shiffman -- THE SWEET SEASON by Austin Murphy

Jonathan Shipley -- THE MIRACLE LIFE OF EDGAR MINT by Brady Udall

Brandon Stickney -- WONDER BOYS by Michael Chabon

Marlene Taylor -- DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF... AND IT'S ALL SMALL STUFF by Richard Carlson

Kathy Weissman -- STET by Diana Athill

Vern Wiessner -- AHAB'S WIFE: The Star-Gazer by Sena Naslund

Eileen Zimmerman-Nicol -- HOW TO BE GOOD by Nick Hornby

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