I'm a list-maker, and since 2007 I've kept
a list of the books I've read. This helps me remember what I've read, what I want to read, and allows me to pull up a title when people ask for book recommendations. Some of my reads were for my book groups, some were free galleys I picked up at library conferences, some are not necessarily great literature (I read the entire
Sookie Stackhouse series, for example.) I read 58 books in 2010, and thought I'd share my favorites here. If you have read and want to discuss any of the books below, if you want information on any of them, or if you'd like a personalized recommendation, leave a comment. (These are listed in the order in which I read them.)
- Steinbeck, John The Grapes of Wrath
- Shaffer, Mary Ann and Annie Barrows The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
- Atwood, Margaret Oryx and Crake
- Strout, Elizabeth Olive Kitteridge
- Grossman, Lev The Magicians
- Smith, Dodie I Capture the Castle
- Walters, Barbara Audition
- Jackson, Shirley We Have Always Lived in the Castle
- Barry, Sebastian The Secret Scripture
- Mantel, Hilary Wolf Hall
- Stead, Rebecca When You Reach Me
- French, Tana In the Woods
- Palfrey, John and Urs Gasser Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives
- Benjamin, Melanie Alice I Have Been
- Stockett, Kathryn The Help
- Udall, Brady The Lonely Polygamist
- Bender, Amy The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake
- Thackeray, William Makepeace Vanity Fair
- McCann, Colum Let the Great World Spin
- Nicholls, David One Day
- Byatt, A.S. The Children's Book
- Eliot, George Middlemarch
- Collins, Suzanne Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay
- Kingsolver, Barbara Lacuna
So there you have it: a mix of old and new, YA lit and regular lit, mostly novels with a few nonfiction books mixed in. I finally read some stuff that I'd been meaning to read for years (
Middlemarch, Vanity Fair, and
The Grapes of Wrath -- not one of those disappointed), a series that was recommended by everyone from my mom to a friend in Seattle to YA librarians everywhere (
The Hunger Games -- WOW!), some highly acclaimed novels (
Let the Great World Spin, The Lonely Polygamist) and some critically panned (
Lacuna). All in all, it was a very good year for reading.
Happy New Year, and I wish us all good reading in 2011!
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5 comments:
58-I'm totally impressed!
I've been meaning to line up a few books to read, so I'm excited to look into some of these.
I've read a few (1,2,24); one is on my shelf in the "to read" queue (#10); I've considered reading a couple of them (15, 23) but got mixed reviews (do you think I'd enjoy those?); and I'm intrigued to see #7 on your list--was it pretty interesting?
Thanks for sharing the list!
~Rachel
Rachel, I read #2 on your recommendation, so thanks for that! I think you'll really like Wolf Hall -- I thought it was fascinating historical fiction.
The Help is problematic in some regards, but I genuinely enjoyed the story and found the characters nuanced and interesting. I think you'd like it. I'm not sure if you'd like The Hunger Games. I was not initially interested in the series, but then everyone (including readers whose tastes match mine) started recommending it, and I ended up reading all three books in four days. I tend to enjoy dystopian young adult lit, though, so it really was my cup of tea.
I'm using The Help in my POLS 2490 class this semester. What problems did you have with it? To me, it was really interesting as my grandparents had help when my dad was a kid.
I'm curious about the 34 not listed :)
Kennedy, I really enjoyed The Help. I was just occasionally uncomfortable with the way that Skeeter was set up as the voice for the black women in the book. The author was obviously conscious of the problems with that -- a privileged white woman telling the story (and profiting, setting herself right) by that endeavor. But it was just a bit squicky.
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