Best books you've read in 2004

The Goblet of Fire and Order Of The Phoenix.

The Order of The Phoenix was quite a disappointment for me after The Goblet of Fire, which is my fav' HP so far.

I agree. It didn't live up to my expectations either.

Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. Fascinating.

i read that about a month ago, it was really really good, and eloquent too. It was one of those books that makes you cry when you finish it, and only partly because of what's happened... I couldn't believe that the Atkinson had managed to make the father's death so funny and sad at once, and the secret... well just wow. a brilliant way to write a book.
I read holes the other day, i just had to keep on reading, and I finally finished mockingbird in summer (ontop of a primary schoolhouse roof in Peru since you ask...) and it's really, really great.
I can't recommend Angela Carter enough, the Bloody Chamber is a brilliant and thrilling take on fairytales, with a few gothic conventions brought in... beautiful.
Other top books i've read this year... hmm... i know there's a lot (I finished my English Literature A level last summer)... Shakespeare's 'the Tempest', once you've got into it is a compelling piece of writing, and very different from other works of its time, and has some intensely lyrical passages... and humour.
maybe i'm a literature geek though,lol.
anyway, on with christmas day.
Life of Pi was awesome btw.