We’ve entered the black hole between Christmas and New Years during which few people seem to work (The Modern Gal being an exception) and nothing seems to happen. Soooooo, guess what that means. It’s the Best of 2007 List Week at The Modern Gal! It’s like fashion week but not quite as in demand. Get excited.

Anyway, I’ll be making lists of arbitrary length quantifying what I found interesting this year for your consumption/enjoyment/debate because I love lists, people seem drawn to lists like moths to a flame, everyone else does them and because I really don’t feel like working too hard this week. One caveat: The things that I list don’t necessarily have any connection to 2007 other than I discovered them all this year.

I begin with books, because they’re the easiest for me as I can just open up my Goodreads list to easily recall what it was I read, which turned out to be a lot this year and is inversely proportional to how many movies I watched.

2007 was dominated by Harry Potter, who was definitely worth every minute spent on him. I almost ranked the three books as one, although I felt the last one wasn’t quite as good as the few before it other that it nicely wrapped things up. If you’ve been holding out or trying not to give in to the Harry Potter craze, well, you’re seriously missing out.

If you want an individual review of any of these books, just ask.

1. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
5. Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster
6. Family Romance: A Love Story by John Lanchester
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
8. How to be Good by Nick Hornby