Top 10 Books of 2010

I know this is a post usually initiated by Susan. But since patience is on my 2011 resolution list, and wasn't on 2010, I'll start it.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Kraken by China Mieville
Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Alchemaster's Apprentice by Walter Moers
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Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand
-Kurt Vonnegut

http://manly-but-bookish.blogspot.com/

Missed beating you to this by that much...

So, I read a total of 79 books this year. I was trying to hit 80, but I ran out of time. Eight of them were "trashy underwater fiction." Six of them were non-fiction. Five of them were YA. Two of my top ten overlap yours, Sean.

As is my tradition, only the first is ranked, the rest are listed in the order in which they were read.

1. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet - David Mitchell
Union Atlantic - Adam Haslett
The Three Weissmans of Westport – Cathleen Schine
A Visit From the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
Skippy Dies - Paul Murray
Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart
Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes - Stephen Sondheim
Kraken - China Mieville
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloop

All of these have been reviewed on Amazon and/or my blog except the final two, which will be written soon.

Who's next?
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I wonder what Susan's reading:

http://inoneeyeouttheother.blogspot.com/

For me, in no particular order:

Island of the Sequined Love Nun, AG
Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, AG
Bite Me, AG
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1, Alan Moore
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 2, Alan Moore
The Contortionists Handbook, Craig Clevenger
The Shining, Stephen King
Pet Semetary, Stephen King
The Ultimates Vol 1, Mark Millar
The Ultimates Vol 2, Mark Millar
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Scruffy|SRD Books

Haven't done any ranking yet- never seem to get around to that-
but let's see how many I've read from your lists...

The AG's (of course!), one each from suetu & Sean's lists
& I'm about to read one that overlaps to see if it lives up to the hype...


Would either of y'all like to have a link to your blogs on our store's website when we get it together?

I'll probably post a separate link at that time to give all book bloggers a chance
but thought I'd go ahead & check the interest level...

zendao42 wrote:

Would either of y'all like to have a link to your blogs on our store's website when we get it together? I'll probably post a separate link at that time to give all book bloggers a chance but thought I'd go ahead & check the interest level...

I'd be fine with that.
_________________
Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand
-Kurt Vonnegut

http://manly-but-bookish.blogspot.com/

my list is here

http://nicoledelsesto.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-top-10-books-of-2010.html
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My Book
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knikkki wrote:

my list is here http://nicoledelsesto.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-top-10-books-of-2010.html

Is Swamplandia worth the price for a hardcover, or would one be better served to wait for the paperback? You know, especially if one is a cheap bastard.
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Scruffy|SRD Books

sugarraydodge wrote:

knikkki wrote: my list is here http://nicoledelsesto.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-top-10-books-of-2010.html Is Swamplandia worth the price for a hardcover, or would one be better served to wait for the paperback? You know, especially if one is a cheap bastard.

If you're looking for another reason to justify being cheap,
just remember that moths like hardbacks books...

I've been eyeballing Swamplandia, too.
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Mark it 8, Dude.

In no particular order, here are the 10 books I enjoyed the most last year, with a caveat:

e2 by Matt Beaumont - this is a follow-up to e a novel written entirely in emails. The second is at least as funny as the first, and the first was very funny.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - YA fiction that has stayed with me since I finished it. Fairly formulaic, but interesting and clever.

Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde - Love Fforde, and love the direction he took with this, after the Nursery Crime and Thursday Next books.

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy Hempel - Well, Amy Hempel. Kind of fucking rocks. A lot.

The Boy who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba - Non-fiction about how Kamkwamba brought electricity to his village. This book also got me interested in TED.com.

Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour - I had mixed feelings about this, but it was extremely interesting. All the parts that would be censored in Iran are lined through, which is clever enough, but the story is solid too.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell - Man crush on Mitchell continues. Very strong historical novel.

Bit Me: A Love Story by Chris Moore - AG.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - This is a bucket list book and I enjoyed 90% of it. The peace parts could drag a bit, but overall excellent.

Rise Again by Ben Tripp - ZOMBIES!

LostInWalmart wrote:

Bit Me: A Love Story by Chris Moore - AG.

Is this a fourth book in the series? One with a focus on past-tense vampire induction?
_________________
Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand
-Kurt Vonnegut

http://manly-but-bookish.blogspot.com/

Last edited by Sean on Thu Feb 03, 2011 12:11 pm; edited 1 time in total

zendao42 wrote:

sugarraydodge wrote: knikkki wrote: my list is here http://nicoledelsesto.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-top-10-books-of-2010.html Is Swamplandia worth the price for a hardcover, or would one be better served to wait for the paperback? You know, especially if one is a cheap bastard. If you're looking for another reason to justify being cheap, just remember that moths like hardbacks books...

I would definitely wait for paperback of Swamplandia.
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Sean wrote:

LostInWalmart wrote: Bit Me: A Love Story by Chris Moore - AG. Is a fourth book in the series? One with a focus on past-tense vampire induction?

That's funny!

Sean, I'm gonna follow your blog. How do you add those stars to your posts? I want to do that.
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My Book
My Myspace

The stars are HTML code I found online with a quick search. If you'd like I can send it to you and you can play around with it. It's just a matter of cutting and pasting it into your blog entries.

I think this is how I did it the first time, then I just copy and paste from previous entries going forward.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_make_a_star_on_HTML
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Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand
-Kurt Vonnegut

http://manly-but-bookish.blogspot.com/

Last edited by Sean on Thu Feb 03, 2011 12:11 pm; edited 1 time in total

I read a lot of like eight books in my native language per week this year. I also intensely perused some scriptures pretty scathingly.

I came up with lots of information. These texts books are stuff that people pursuing their Phd wrote as thesis. I have been doing a bachelor's degree in Tamil for the last 3 years. So I bounced off a lot of parallel texts.

The discoveries have been interesting and pretty much terrific to say the least.
God bless everyone.
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Your religion, you miserable man, begins in your stomach and ends in a lavatory - Nodar Dumbadze