Here are my Top 10 Books of 2007!

1. It's Too Late To Say I'm Sorry by Joey Comeau
Don't even try to say I can't. Joey's my special little guy. Aren't you Joey? Aren't you my special little guy!

2. The Tablecloth Trick by Rick Crilly
Everybody thinks I picked this just to be nice since I work with Rick, but I really really loved this book. I read and loved it before I even met him! There was a hilariously bad review of it in Broken Pencil in which the reviewer basically wrote "aww, why do I have to review this? I don't even understand it! This sucks guys, give me something else ok?" It's such a strange little book. I thought it was going to be gimmicky at first, but it was totally perfect.

3. Another Love by Erezsebet Galgoczi
This book was first published in the 80s and has only now been translated into English. It's set in the 50s, in the Soviet Union and it's about an officer investigating the death of a school friend he hadn't seen in years. She was a lesbian, and the book is about her, but everything about her is in the past. It's just him finding out all these things she did, through her friends, through her things. You get glimpses of her, and you really only get glimpses of him, since  there's not much focus on him. It is published by Cleis and they mostly publish things like "Best Gay Erotica 2008" and "Hot Gay Erotica 2008" and so on, so I thought it would be, you know, dirty, but it was beautiful and sad instead.

4. The Girls Who Saw Everything by Sean Dixon
I read this book in 2 days and I liked everything about it. It is first and foremost an adventure story, with little bits of wonderful children's literature references (From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler! Watership Down!) and a kind of insane premise (see the link?) but it pulls everything together and is really satisfying. I was able to forgive the girls their terrible taste in CanLit (Ondaatje, Ann-Marie MacDonald). The whole thing is bizarre and wonderful. Thanks to theyellowline for the recommendation.

5. Little Lessons in Safety by Emily Holton
I think this is a collection of zines and drawings and there are some pretty good weird little stories in it, but I mostly love it for the drawings of Karl Lagerfeld. They are awesome.

6. Born Standing Up - Steve Martin
Did you know he didn't always have white hair? I did not. I didn't even know he did stand up! Clearly, I am no hardcore Steve Martin fan, yet the book was delightful. I liked the first part the best, I think, where he described being obsessed with magic and magicians as a kid.

7. Freakshow - James St James
Um. I still haven't finished it. But I'm sure it's good! The beginning is fabulous!

8. It's So You: 35 Women Write about Personal Expression Through Fashion and Style - Michelle Tea (ed.)
I wanted to include something by Michelle Tea, given my Rose of No Man's Land-inspired change of heart, AND I wanted to include something by Eileen Myles but I hadn't read her new book of poetry (Sorry, Tree) and so I really wanted this book to be good, even though it seemed flaky at first. I skimmed over the descriptions of a lot of the clothes, because seriously, I don't know enough about fashion to be able to laugh at it, but I really liked the "man I thought I was hot shit in that hideous number" feeling of it.

9. Mapplethorpe: Polaroids by Sylvia Wolf
I didn't know a thing about Robert Mapplethorpe before I picked up this book, and maybe it's lame to get all excited about him, maybe he's the Celine Dion of the photography world, but what do I care? This book inspired me to try to take better pictures. The biography of him/essay about him by Sylvia Wolf made me want to change my life. I don't know how to talk about this book without sounding like a fool but god damn. I didn't know you could do that with a Polaroid camera! Does everybody else know about how great he is? Or am I the asshole raving about The Secret?

10. The Child by Sarah Schulman
This book was fucking bewildering.

And honorable mention goes to Hard Road, Easy Riding: Lesbian Biker Erotica for ridiculous over the top erotica that works. It's filled with denim prisons and heaving breasts and is so cheesy, but is still hot and it's not trying to be anything it isn't.

I'm currently reading She Came to Stay by Simone de Beauvoir. After reading Tete-a-tete, I thought I would really like Beauvoir, but I'm struggling with this. I've read some of The Second Sex in school and kind of thought it was dull, and now this "revenge novel" combines long stretches of philosophical wondering with embarrassingly personal scenes.  She makes the Xaviere character so moody and petulant and stubborn that the dialog is often incredibly aggravating. I don't know, is it worth it? I also bought the first volume of her memoirs.