Top 2010 Reads

It's been a wonderful year for reading. I've read a total of 208 books. This is the first year I've ever blogged about reading and though I've found out it's a lot of work, it's also incredibly rewarding. I find myself doing in-depth analyses of what I’m reading and thinking critically about why I am reacting the way I am to the material.

Here’s my complete list of 2010 books and my ratings.

For the record, I don't count children's book. I don't count individual short stories, but I do count short story collections. I definitely count plays, because I've found that a book like August: Osage County can pack more meaning in a single line, than a 600 page novel can in three chapters. They’re also provided some of the most powerful stories I read all year. I read classics, histories, new releases, dystopias, mysteries, YA series, literary fiction, graphic novels, nonfiction, and more. If this year taught me one thing it was that a brilliant story can come in any package.

I don't read to hit a number or complete a single list (though I do love lists). I read voraciously because I can't wait to find the next author or character that makes me fall in love. I want to find books that stay with me, adventures or struggles that resonate for years to come and 2010 was a treasure chest for all of those things.

So here's to 2010, a year rich with reading, and to 2011, hoping it’s just as full.

Top Five Nonfiction Reads

Columbine by Dave Cullen
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Top Ten Fiction Reads

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman
O Pioneers! By Willa Cather
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Honorable Mentions:
City of Thieves by David Benioff
The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley
Briar Rose by Janne Yolen
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Room by Emma Donoghue

2010 Reading Survey

Here's a few fun reading questions that I saw at Literary Musings and The Perpetual Page-Turners. How about we all just agree from the start that I’m going to cheat and list two books on some (most) of these. I tried, I just can’t narrow it down. That being said, here we go…

1. Best book of 2010? The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith – A British butler who has lived a detached life and is coming to terms with his regrets; a British teen who is completely in love with life. Two absolute gems that I will definitely be rereading in future years. 



2. Worst book of 2010? For One More Day by Mitch Albom – Seriously, why do I keep reading his fiction? It’s awful!

3. Most Disappointing Book of 2010? A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick – So overrated, I expected a mystery and got a wannabe romance novel. 



4. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2010? Maus I & II Art Spiegelman – Pulitzer-Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust featuring Jews as mice. I didn’t really know what to expect, but it was wonderful.


5. Book you recommended to people most in 2010? Still Alice by Lisa Genova – A brilliant woman’s descent into the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease, from her own perspective. I’ve found myself recommending it to just about everyone.

6. Best series you discovered in 2010? Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rick Riordan and The Dark is Rising Susan Cooper – Why are all the good series for young adults? Obviously that’s an exaggeration, there’s some great adult stuff too, but these two are my two favs this year and they both fall in that category. So does the Hunger Games, though I discovered that one last year.

7. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2010? Sarah Waters, Willa Cather and Terry Pratchett – Masterful Victorian twists, quiet farmers in Nebraska and clever British quips, each author left me wanting to devour everything else they’ve written.


8. Most hilarious read of 2010? The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby and Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse – Hornby writing about reading, but in his own hilarious way and Jeeves and Wooster will never fail to make me laugh. 



9. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2010? The Girl Who Played With Fire Stieg Larsson – I loved the rest of the series too, but this one never slow down for a second.

10. Book you most anticipated in 2010? Great House by Nicole Krauss and The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – These two authors wrote two of my all-time favorite books. When they both released new novels this year I could hardly stand the wait until I had them in my hands.

11. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2010? Other than the glorious Penguin classics, Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, Juliet, Naked Nick Hornby and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (see picture above)

12. Most memorable character in 2010? Flavia de Luce from the Alan Bradley mysteries and Aibileen from The Help by Kathryn Stockett. One is a precocious 11-year-old British girl, the other is a stoic black maid in Mississippi during the Civil Rights movement. Such different creations, but both stayed with me long after I finished the books.


13. Most beautifully written book in 2010? Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert – New York City in the 1970s, provincial France in the 19th century, luscious prose in both. 



14. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2010? The Haidmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – What a book! Go read it immediately.

15. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2010 to finally read? Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – I just loved this one and though I’ve read a lot of Dickens in the past, I’ve never had that reaction before.

How about you guys? New favorite authors, best book you read, how was your 2010 in reading?