I collected over 8 lists of “Best Books of 2007” and combined them into one big meta-list. Here are the results – every book on at least two of the original “best of” lists. The numbers in bold indicate the number of lists the book was on. If I’ve read the book, I’ve included the rating I gave it on Goodreads (1-5 stars).
On 7 lists
THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO. By Junot Díaz.
THEN WE CAME TO THE END. By Joshua Ferris.
TREE OF SMOKE. By Denis Johnson.
On 6 lists
THE REST IS NOISE: Listening to the Twentieth Century. By Alex Ross. (5)
LEGACY OF ASHES: The History of the CIA. By Tim Weiner. (4)
On 5 lists
THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN’S UNION. By Michael Chabon. (4)
THE NINE: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. By Jeffrey Toobin.
On 4 lists
CULTURAL AMNESIA: Necessary Memories From History and the Arts. By Clive James.
A FREE LIFE. By Ha Jin.
AGENT ZIGZAG: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal. By Ben Macintyre.
On 3 lists
THE DAY OF BATTLE: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944. Volume Two of the Liberation Trilogy. By Rick Atkinson.
LONG WAY GONE: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. By Ishmael Beah.
THE FATHER OF ALL THINGS: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam. By Tom Bissell.
BROTHER, I’M DYING. By Edwidge Danticat.
THE MAYTREES. By Annie Dillard.
NO ONE BELONGS HERE MORE THAN YOU: Stories. By Miranda July.
ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE: A Year of Food Life. By Barbara Kingsolver.
WHAT THE DEAD KNOW. By Laura Lippman.
TWO LIVES: Gertrude and Alice. By Janet Malcolm.
IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN. By Hisham Matar.
ON CHESIL BEACH. By Ian McEwan.
SCHULZ AND PEANUTS: A Biography. By David Michaelis.
AFTER DARK. By Haruki Murakami. Translated by Jay Rubin.
RUN. By Ann Patchett.
OUT STEALING HORSES. By Per Petterson. Translated by Anne Born.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. By J.K. Rowling.
BRIDGE OF SIGHS. By Richard Russo.
THOMAS HARDY. By Claire Tomalin.
THE WORLD WITHOUT US. By Alan Weisman. (4)
On 2 lists
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. By André Aciman.
INFIDEL. By Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
HOUSE OF MEETINGS. By Martin Amis.
AMERICAN ISLAM: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion. By Paul M. Barrett.
THE SAVAGE DETECTIVES. By Roberto Bolaño. Translated by Natasha Wimmer.
HERE IF YOU NEED ME: A True Story. By Kate Braestrup.
VARIETIES OF DISTURBANCE: Stories. By Lydia Davis.
FALLING MAN. By Don DeLillo.
WHAT IS THE WHAT. The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng: A Novel. By Dave Eggers. (5)
THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL CASES. By Nathan Englander.
THE GATHERING. By Anne Enright.
NOVELS IN THREE LINES. By Félix Fénéon. Translated by Luc Sante.
THE LONG EMBRACE: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved. By Judith Freeman.
THE COLDEST WINTER: America and the Korean War. By David Halberstam.
THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST. By Mohsin Hamid.
TIME AND MATERIALS: Poems, 1997-2005. By Robert Hass.
THE COLLECTED POEMS, 1956-1998. By Zbigniew Herbert. Translated by Alissa Valles.
UNRULY AMERICANS AND THE ORIGINS OF THE CONSTITUTION. By Woody Holton.
A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS. By Khaled Hosseini.
GERTRUDE BELL: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations. By Georgina Howell.
THE SHOCK DOCTRINE. By Naomi Klein.
DRY MANHATTAN: Prohibition in New York City. By Michael A. Lerner.
THE BAD GIRL. By Mario Vargas Llosa. Translated by Edith Grossman.
FELLOW TRAVELERS. By Thomas Mallon.
BORN STANDING UP: A Comic’s Life. By Steve Martin.
DANCING TO “ALMENDRA.” By Mayra Montero. Translated by Edith Grossman.
RALPH ELLISON: A Biography. By Arnold Rampersad.
A LIFE OF PICASSO: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932. By John Richardson.
EXIT GHOST. By Philip Roth.
TAKEOVER: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy. By Charlie Savage.
JOURNALS, 1952-2000, by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
LIKE YOU’D UNDERSTAND, ANYWAY: Stories. By Jim Shepard.
THE POST-BIRTHDAY WORLD. By Lionel Shriver.
THE SEPTEMBERS OF SHIRAZ. By Dalia Sofer.
MOTHERS AND SONS: Stories. By Colm Toibin.
CHEATING AT CANASTA. By William Trevor.
INDIAN SUMMER, by Alex von Tunzelmann.