Here they are:
1. KAFKA ON THE SHORE By Haruki Murakami
2. ON BEAUTY By Zadie Smith
3. PREP By Curtis Sittenfeld
4. SATURDAY By Ian McEwan
5. VERONICA By Mary Gaitskill
6. THE ASSASSINS' GATE America in Iraq By George Packer
7. DE KOONING An American Master By Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan
8. THE LOST PAINTING By Jonathan Harr
9. POSTWAR A History of Europe Since 1945 By Tony Judt
10. THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING By Joan Didion
I've only read one, Prep, and didn't like it all that much. The protagonist was incredibly snobbish and self-centred. Which was sort of the point, since it was a coming-of-age story at a snotty boarding school. On Beauty is on my to-read list. Otherwise, the rest of them do nothing for me at all, I must confess. I always feel like I should read Ian McEwan, but I find him quite daunting.
Have you read any of 'em? What did you think? And what were your best books of the year? I'll be posting my list of books read at the end of the year, with top 10 and bottom 10. But I can still squeeze a few more onto the list before January 1st, so I'll leave it a while longer. :)
For the NYT list with summaries and author info go to http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/books/review/tenbest.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1134591352-1R9sJW4vWNYhwwLfeDfkRA