On the eve of 2008, it's nice to review the best books of 2007.  Kirkus Review has put out three different lists for the following categories: best children, young adult, and adult books of 2007.  Of this project, the editors write:   "Most of us would like to think of literature as a pure art, unencumbered by sales, charts and positions on bestseller lists...The reality, however, is of course more complicated, as each year hundreds of excellent titles are overlooked by the media or just don't sell as briskly as expected. For this Special, the editors revisited books that received strong reviews in Kirkus, then investigated how much public attention each received. The books featured are our picks for the outstanding overlooked fiction and nonfiction titles of the year."  You can see the list here. 
Included in this list are authors Amy Bloom, Mohsin Hamid, Andrea Barrett, Arabella Edge, Oakley Hall, and Valerie Martin, among many others.  This is a good list to have on hand in order to revisit those books you heard about, but never picked up for yourself.