Book dump: December and 2007 in review

Here are the books I read in December:

The Baby on the Car Roof and 222 More Urban Legends by Thomas J. Craughwell

Not as interesting or as entertaining as I hoped. A pale shadow of the Brunvand books, or of snopes.com for that matter.
 

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

This was one of those books where I could have used an unabridged dictionary and a Latin phrase book by my side while reading it. But at least now I know what glycyrrhiza is and what it's used for, and how to cicatrize eczemas (and, for that matter, what cicatrization is). But I have a particular fondness for works of fiction set against a ecclesiastical backdrop, so I enjoyed this novel.
 

Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case by Diane Dimond

I remember when this book came out in 2005, and saw it on the shelves at the store fairly frequently, and then picked up a remaindered copy for a buck late last year, but it was only after I started reading it that I realized that the title is taken from the song "Billie Jean." A real pop culture savant, I am.
 

Degree of Guilt by Richard North Patterson

Well-crafted legal thriller.

And for reference purposes, here's the complete list of all the books I read in 2007. Books in large text are ones I particularly enjoyed; books in small text I thought were unusually stinky:

1. Rules of Prey by John Sandford
2. Guilt by John Lescroart
3. You Suck by Christopher Moore
4. Lord Darcy by Randall Garrett
5. California Demon by Julie Kenner
6. The Littlest Hitler by Ryan Boudinot
7. All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming
8. James K. Polk by John Siebenthaler
9. 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden
10. Pictures of Adam by Myron Levoy
11. Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
12. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
13. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
14. Rumpole and the Reign of Terror by John Mortimer
15. The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry
16. Storm Over Texas: The Annexation Crisis and the Road to Civil War by Joel H. Silbey
17. The Watchman by Robert Crais
18. The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
19. Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston
20. 1632 by Eric Flint
21. The Thieves of Heaven by Richard Doetsch
22. Cinderella: Inside the Rise of Mid-Major College Basketball by Michael Litos
23. Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey
24. Land of Mist and Snow by Debra Doyle and James Macdonald
25. Burn the Town and Sack the Banks: Confederates Attack Vermont! by Cathryn J. Prince
26. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
27. Drama! The Four Dorothys by Paul Ruditis
28. Vinnie's Head by Marc Lecard
29. Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software by Scott Rosenberg
30. Acceptance by Susan Coll
31. Altruistic Armadillos, Zenlike Zebras: A Menagerie of 100 Favorite Animals by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
32. The Remarkable Millard Fillmore: The Unbelievable Life of a Forgotten President by George Pendle
33. One True Thing by Anna Quindlen
34. Last Harvest: How a Cornfield Became New Daleville: Real Estate Development in America from George Washington to the Builders of the Twenty-first Century, and Why We Live in Houses Anyway by Witold Rybczynski
35. If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation by Janine Latus
36. Boomsday by Christopher Buckley
37. The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
38. A Killing in Comics by Max Allan Collins
39. Can I Keep My Jersey? 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond by Paul Shirley
40. One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding by Rebecca Mead
41. Agents of Atlas by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk
42. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
43. The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution by Naftali Bendavid
44. The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen with annotations by David M. Shapard
45. Christopher's Ghosts by Charles McCarry
46. The Assault on Reason by Al Gore
47. Bloom by Elizabeth Scott
48. Bridge to Terabithia: The Official Movie Companion by David Paterson
49. Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew, and Marc Hempel
50. ...and His Lovely Wife: A Memoir from the Woman Beside the Man, on love, marriage, and life on the campaign trail by Connie Schultz
51. The Lost Constitution by William Martin
52. Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe’s America by Andrew Ferguson
53. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
54. Doctor Strange: The Oath by Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin
55. Whiskey Sour by J. A. Konrath
56. Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson
57. King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
58. The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander
59. Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? True Adventures in Internet Geekdom by Allyson Beatrice
60. My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student by Rebekah Nathan
61. Power Play by Joseph Finder
62. Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA by Julia Alvarez
63. Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
64. Reasonable Doubt by Philip Friedman
65. Aftermath, Inc.: Cleaning Up After CSI Goes Home by Gil Reavill
66. An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
67. How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Tips, Tricks and Techniques to Master America's Favorite Puzzle by Amy Reynaldo
68. God’s Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America by Hanna Rosin
69. Outside In by Courtney Thorne-Smith
70. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs
71. Deadline by Chris Crutcher
72. Eternals by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr.
73. Confessions of a Blabbermouth by Mike & Louise Carey and Aaron Alexovich
74. The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta
75. Critical Condition by Stephen White
76. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
77. Drop Shot by Harlen Coben
78. I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason
79. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
80. The Collectors by David Baldacci
81. Stigma by Philip Hawley, Jr.
82. Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith
83. Two Dollar Bill by Stuart Woods
84. In the Shadow of the Arch by Robert J. Randisi
85. Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
86. The Baby on the Car Roof and 222 More Urban Legends by Thomas J. Craughwell
87. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
88. Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case by Diane Dimond
89. Degree of Guilt by Richard North Patterson