Since I haven’t seen most of the films nominated for an Oscar this year, I’ve created my own competition based on the ones I did see.  Here are the categories and contenders.... the winners are in italics.

Documentary:

The Blue Planet  (very close second)
Super Size Me
The Life of Birds I, II   (They're documentaries.  About birds.  How can they not win?)
The Wild Birds of Telegraph Hill   (It’s a documentary.  About birds.  How can it not win?)
Fast Food Nation
Blue Vinyl
Who Killed the Electric Car

Comedy:

Medea Goes to Jail   (anything by Tyler Perry has me hysterical)
Sideways   (waste of two hours)

Action / Adventure:

Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest   (a close second)
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Curse of the Black Pearl
Batman Begins
Spiderman 3
X-Men 3
X-Men 2
Star Wars I - The Phantom Menace
Star Wars II - The Clone Wars
Star Wars III - The Revenge of the Sith
Pirates of the Carribbean 3 - At World's End
Oceans 11   (a solid tie for third)
Ocean's 13   (a solid tie for third)

(Note:  I also watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it would be unfair to include them here as they are some of the best movies of all time and would unfairly dominate and overwhelm the other contenders.) 

Drama:

The Color Purple
The Constant Gardener  (waste of two hours)
Serpico  
21 Grams   (waste of two hours)  
Amazing Grace
The Pursuit of Happyness
Babel   (waste of two hours)
The Painted Veil   (second -- an intense and beautiful film, but something about it just doesn’t quite come together)
The Departed  
Blood Diamond

Foreign Language:

Science of Sleep
Alatriste  (more about meeting Viggo Mortensen)
Sonar No Cuesta Nada / A Ton of Luck
Mongolian Ping Pong
Das Leben Der Anderen / Lives of Others   (strong second)
Volver
Il Postino 
Life is Beautiful

[You can also read “The Good, the Sayonara, and the Fluff:  My Books of 2007.”]

Four jobs I have had:

1. Frame shop assistant

2. Intern (for a vet and at the White House)

3. Bookkeeper (try not to choke on your laughter)

4. Software acquisitions manager for a slowly dying software publisher

Come what may, four movies I would willing watch over and over again:

1. Princess Bride

2. Lonesome Dove

3. Moulin Rouge

4. The Godfather

Four cold places I have lived:

1. Virginia

2. Texas

3. Germany

4. Argentina

Four places I have been or will be in 2008:

1. Texas

2. Maine

3. South Beach (even though it’s close, it counts because it’s without the boys)

4. out of my mind

Four of my favorite chocolates foods:

1. dark chocolate

2. almond M&Ms

3. cantaloupe (I guess I should include something somewhat healthy here.)

4. chocolate croissants between sips of decaf lattes

Four places I would like to be right now:

1. Right here…

2. On the patio…

3. In the shade…

4. Typing on my laptop.

[Thanks Suzannah!]

As I review the list of books I read this past year I am amazed at the sheer quantity.  And the quality, too, for that matter.  Aside from a couple of Fluffs, my brain was able to wrap itself around some pretty interesting and enlightening tomes.

I’ve placed the books into six categories, and then made a few comments on each.  If the word sayonara appears after the author it means 1) I don’t recommend it and 2) it went straight to the Goodwill pile.  I only keep books I would either read again or heartily recommend.  The italicized books are my three favorites of the year.

FICTION:

Madame Bovary   Gustave Flaubert.   There’s a reason it’s a classic… memorable characters, well-written prose.
In a Dark Wood Wandering   Hella S. Haasse.   Engrossing historical fiction, aptly depicts the time period.
Bergdorf Blondes    Plum Sykes.   This book is, of course, a waste of a perfectly good tree.  It is Fluff Defined, really.  But there are months days when that’s all my brain can handle.  If you were amused by The Devil Wears Prada, it’s tres fun, a quick read, and good for several laughs.
Kite Runner    Kahled Hosseini.  
Uncle Tom's Cabin    Harriet Beecher Stowe.

MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY:

I Loved a Girl  Walter Trobisch.    Candid and thought-provoking collection of letters between a priest and a young couple considering marriage.  Excellent.
Borrowed Time:  An AIDS Memoir   Paul Monette.     Sayonara.
Pirate Hunter:  The True Story of Captain Kidd   Richard Zaks.     Apart from being gratuitously crass in a few places – and occasionally getting the impression that some of the historical background that sets the scene throughout was added as filler - I enjoyed Pirate Hunter.  So did Jonathan.  It’s the only book he read last year.

DOCUMENTARY/HISTORY:

Fast Food Nation   Eric Schlosser.   Makes you re-think that McDonald’s burger for many, many reasons.
Vaccinated   Paul Offit.  (review)

OTHER NON-FICTION:

The Not So Big House   Sarah Susanka.    Inspiring ways to efficiently construct/design/renovate you home.
Adobe Illustrator CS3 Classroom in a Book    
Deceptively Delicious   Jessica Seinfeld.   (review)
All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes    Kenneth A. Myers and Marvin Olasky.    Sayonara.
Bible:  Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, I and II Timothy, Titus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galations, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude.    [Note:  In January of 2005 I set out to read the Bible through in one year.  Three years later, I’m one book away from that goal.  Out of it’s books I read in 2007, Hebrews resonated the most with me.]

ECONOMICS / MARKETING:

Freakonomics   Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.    Jonathan and I listened to this audiobook in the car en route to and from Sante Fe last spring.  Intriguing, enlightening, and entertaining.
Why We Buy:  The Science of Shopping   Paco Underhill.   Sayonara.

EDUCATION / PARENTING:

Good Kids, Bad Habits  Jennifer Trachtenberg.  (review)
Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box  Ann Dunnewold.  (review)
Girlfriend's Guide to Toddlers   Vicki Iovine.   The Girlfriend’’s Guides are always amusing and encouraging with quite a few helpful pointers throughout.
Practical Wisdom for Parents:  Demystifying the Preschool Years    Nancy Shulman and Ellen Birnbaum.   Despite the melodramatic subtitle, this book is a fairly extensive guide to both how children change during these years and how to choose an appropriate preschool environment for them.
Six Point Plan for Raising Healthy Happy Kids   John Rosemond.  Sayonara.
Tools for Teaching   Fred Jones.    Good resource for educators.
Teaching Preschoolers:  It’s Not Exactly Easy, But Here is How To Do It     Ruth Beechick.    A succinct and well-organized guide with emphasis on practical application.  I will be referring to this book often during the next few years.
The Bilingual Edge    Kendall King and Alison Mackey.  (review)

So....  what were your favorite reads of 2007?

Todos Los Bebes

The Snowy Day

Easter Easter, Almost Here

Eating the Alphabet

Let's Paint a Rainbow

The Runaway Bunny

Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones