Deborah Grabien -- Best Literature Picks of 2007

I did almost no reading in 2007 -- I was buried in writing. Most of my reading was rereads of old favourites: I went on a Nero Wolfe binge, on a Raymond Chandler binge, and read a boatload of poetry. I barely came up for air....

(Grinning, she added 'I've wanted to marry Archie Goodwin since I was thirteen.')

I did read a couple of things in manuscript form, for blurbs and beta-reading. One that I read in that format, that's about to be released (April 2008), is Roz Kaveney's"Superheroes! -- Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Film; non-fiction, a critical look at the subject. It's wonderful.

I also beta-read Laura Anne Gilman's Blood From Stone, due out in 2009. Extreme fun, nicely balanced with dark stuff (sexy, edgy, a good dark bite to the ethics of power, both possessed and manipulated), and a scene in a museum that had me whimpering with joy.