This is the list of books I read in 2004, in the order that I read them. For an explanation of my rating system, see here. The highlight of my reading year was reading -- or rereading -- the six Jane Austen novels in order of publication. Hubby gave me a pretty matching set and I enjoyed them all the more for the lovely covers. Other favorites for the year were The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis and Consider the Oyster by M.F.K. Fisher. And Brideshead Revisited definitely deserves its accolades.
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (3/5)
The Titans by John Jakes (3/5)
Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende (3/5)
Certain Justice by John Lescroart (3/5)
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (5/5)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (5/5) (College Board's Top 101; Easton Press Top 100; MLA's Top 30)
The New Diet Revolution by Robert Atkins (4/5)
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (4.5/5)
The Pilot's Wife by Annette Shreve (3/5)
The Reader by Bernhard Schlank (3/5)
Lost Light by Michael Conneley (3/5)
Emma by Jane Austen (5/5)
Dirty Work by Stuart Woods (3/5)
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (5/5)
Persuasion by Jane Austen (5/5)
Give Me a Break by John Stossel (3.5/5)
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (4/5)
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (3/5) (my French Connection list)
Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm (2.5/5) (Modern Library's Top 100)
Atonement by Ian McEwan (4.5/5) (All-TIME 100)
For the Defense by Kate Wilhelm (2.5/5)
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (5/5) (All-TIME 100; Anthony Burgess Top 99; Modern Library's Top 100; Radcliffe's Top 100)
Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley (4.5/5) (Modern Library's Top 100)
An Unlikely Conservative by Linda Chavez (3/5)
Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener (4/5) (Pulitzer Prize winner)
Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart (3.5/5)
Guilt by John Lescroart (3/5)
The Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever (3.5/5) (Modern Library's Top 100; National Book Award winner)
The Wapshot Scandal by John Cheever (3.5/5)
Kowloon Tong by Paul Theroux (2.5/5)
Herzog by Saul Bellow (5/5) (All-TIME 100; National Book Award winner)
The Warriors by John Jakes (3/5)
Suspicion of Vengeance by Barbara Parker (3.5/5)
Long Time No See by Susan Isaak (3/5)
The Old Devils by Kingsly Amis (4/5) (Booker Prize winner)
God and Man at Yale by William F. Buckley, Jr. (4/5)
Fletch by Gregory McDonald (3/5)
Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy (3.5/5)
Disgrace by J.M. Coetze (3.5/5) (Booker Prize winner)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (4.5/5) (All-TIME 100; Radcliffe's Top 100)
Cleopatra by Michael Grant (3/5)
A Darkness More than Night by Michael Conneley (3/5)
The New Testament (King James)
First Law by John Lescroart (4/5)
From Here to Eternity by James Jones (3/5) (Modern Library's Top 100; National Book Award winner)
Mongoose, R.I.P. by William F. Buckley, Jr. (3/5)
Murder on the Run by Gail White (3/5)
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (3.5/5)
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty (4/5) (Pulitzer Prize winner)
For Women Only by Jennifer Berman (2.5/5)
The Lawless by John Jakes (3/5)
Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay (3/5)
Sharp Shooter by Nadia Gordon (3.5/5)
Consider the Oyster by M.F.K. Fisher (4.5/5) (my French Connection list)
Brokeback Mountain by E. Annie Proulx (3/5)
Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst (3.5/5)
Spanish Lessons by Derek Lambert (3/5)
The Little Black Dress by Didier Ludot (3/5)
Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle (3.5/5) (Booker Prize winner)
As They Were by M.F.K. Fisher (3.5/5)
Secret Portland by Ann Carol Burgess (2/5) (reviewed here)
