Here they are, the best, and worst, books I read in 2006.
Final tally for the year: 72 books, 22,519 pages.

Top 5 Non-Fiction Reads of 2006

(Note: These are books I read in 2006, not necessarily books that were released in 2006)

5. Loaded by Robert Sabbag
4. Elizabeth by J. Randy Taraborrelli
3. The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery
2. I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris
1. Imagining Ourselves: Global Voices from a New Generation of Women edited by Paula Goldman

Honourable Mentions: An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore, The Wit in the Dungeon: The Life of Leigh Hunt by Anthony Holden, Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent : The Importance of Everything and Other Lessons from Darwin’s Lost Notebooks by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Top 10 Fiction Reads of 2006

(Note: Again, these are books I read in 2006, not necessarily books that were released in 2006)

10. The Fermata by Nicholson Baker
9. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
8. Cover the Butter by Carrie Kabak
7. The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
6. Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland
5. The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer
4. Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson
3. The Girls by Lori Lansens
2. Ladykiller by Charlotte Gill
1. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Honourable Mentions: The Red Power Murders by Thomas King, Fear and Loathing is Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, Frangipani by Celestine Vaite, Goodbye, Jimmy Choo by Annie Sanders, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, The Passion of Mary Magdalen by Elizabeth Cunningham.

Neither Here Nor There

Poetry: Execution Poems by George Elliott Clarke
Graphic Novel: Maus II by Art Spiegelman

Worst Reads of 2006

This is more of a ‘not good to thoroughly mediocre’ listing (in no particular order), just because anything truly awful got tossed before it was finished. There’s just too much good stuff out there to torture myself. I’m learning.
Some Like it Haute by Julie K. L. Dam
Buried Alive by Jan Bondeson
Seven Lies by James Lasdun
Beginnings: A Memoir by Horton Foote