2010 Reads

Considering I read 14 books in 2009, making it to 150 in 2010 was a pretty big accomplishment. I also started In The Next Room which has been a great experience. A few of these books still need reviews which will be posted over the next couple weeks and the list will be updated but I figured I would share in the meantime.

In addition, you can read about:
-My favourite adult books
-My favourite poetry books
-My favourite young adult books
-My least favourite adult books
-My least favourite young adult books

Star (*) indicates a reread. AB indicates an Audio Book.

1. Specimen Days- Michael Cunningham (Jan 3 2010)
2. The Guernsey Literary and the Potato Peel Pie Society- Mary Ann Shaffer (Jan 7 2010)
3. Memory Keeper's Daughter- Kim Edwards (Jan 12 2010)
4. Howl and Other Poems- Allen Ginsberg (Feb 17 2010)
5. Push- Sapphire (Feb 18 2010)
6. Love Poems- Carol Ann Duffy (Feb 21 2010)
7. Biomimicry- Innovation Inspired by Nature- Janine M. Benyus (Feb 23 2010)
8. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier- Ishmael Beah (Feb 26 2010)
9. Dear Me: A Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old-Self- Edited by Rolf Harris Foreward by: Sir Elton John (Feb 26 2010)
10. The Polysyllabic Spree- Nick Hornby (Feb 27 2010)
11. Housekeeping vs. the Dirt- Nick Hornby (Feb 27 2010)
12. Letters to a Young Poet- Rainer Maria Rilke (Feb 28 2010)
13. Ariel- Sylvia Plath* (March 11 2010)
14. Diving into the Wreck- Adrienne Rich (March 26 2010)
15. The Sea House- Esther Freud (April 24 2010)
16. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man- James Joyce (April 29 2010)
17. Satan Says- Sharon Olds (May 2 2010)
18. Night Train to Lisbon- Pascal Mercier (May 5 2010)
19. A Single Man- Christopher Isherwood (May 6 2010)
20. Snuff- Chuck Palahniuk (May 7 2010)
21. The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini (May 10 2010)
22. 31 Songs- Nick Hornby (May 13 2010)
23. Notes on a Scandal- Zoe Heller (May 18 2010)
24. The Bishop's Man- Linden MacIntyre (May 21 2010)
25. The Invisible Man- H.G. Wells (June 16th 2010)
26. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella- Stephanie Meyer (June 17 2010)
27. Pretty Dead- Francesca Lia Block (June 20 2010)
28. Dancing Naked: A Novel by Shelley Hrdlitschka (June 21 2010)
29. Standing Female Nude- Carol Ann Duffy (June 22 2010)
30. The Waters & The Wild- Francesca Lia Block (June 23 2010)
31. The Gargoyle- Andrew Davidson (June 26 2010)
32. Your Native Land, Your Life- Adrienne Rich (June 27 2010)
33. This Side of Brightness- Colum McCann (June 27 2010)
34. Shakespeare Wrote for Money- Nick Hornby (June 28 2010)
35. Blood Roses- Francesca Lia Block (June 29 2010)
36. After the Quake: Stories- Haruki Murakami (June 29 2010)
37. The Father- Sharon Olds (July 1 2010)
38. The Art of War- Sun Tzu (July 2 2010)
39. Sputnik Sweetheart- Haruki Murakami (July 3 2010)
40. An Atlas of the Difficult World- Adrienne Rich (July 3 2010)
41. Looking for Alaska- John Green (July 5 2010)
42. An Abundance of Katherines- John Green (July 6 2010)
43. Everything in this Country Must- Colum McCann (July 10 2010)
44. After Dark- Haruki Murakami (July 10 2010)
45. A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini (July 11 2010)
46. Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles- Jeanette Winterson (July 11 2010)
47. Boy Meets Boy- David Levithan (July 12 2010)
48. The Year of Magical Thinking- Joan Didion (July 13 2010)
49. The Time Machine- H.G. Wells (July 14 2010)
50. Ruby- Francesca Lia Block and Carmen Station (July 14 2010)
51. The Body- Stephen King (July 16 2010) - AB
52. The Graveyard Book- Neil Gaiman (July  20 2010)
53. Julie & Julia- Julie Powell (July 22 2010)
54. Secret Daughter- Shilpi Somaya Gowda (July 23 2010)
55. Harmless- Dana Reinhardt (July 26 2010)
56. What is the What- Dave Eggers (July 26 2010)
57. how to (un)cage a girl- Francesca Lia Block (July 26 2010)
58. Ignorance- Milan Kundera (July 29 2010)
59. Something Wicked This Way Comes- Ray Bradbury (July 30 2010) AB
60. Downtown Owl- Chuck Klosterman (July 31 2010)
61. So Many Ways To Begin- Jon McGregor (August 1 2010)
62. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas- John Boyne (August 3 2010)
63. Zoli- Colum McCann (August 3 2010)
64. Slam- Nick Hornby (August 5 2010)
65. Psyche in a Dress- Francesca Lia Block (August 5 2010)
66. Thirteen Reasons Why- Jay Asher (August 6 2010)
67. Half Broke Horses- Jeannette Walls (August 6 2010)
68. Cleaving- Julie Powell (August 8 2010)
69. Ash- Malinda Lo (August 9 2010)
70. Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury (August 9 2010)- AB
71. Life is Elsewhere- Milan Kundera (August 9 2010)
72. The Two Kinds of Decay- Sarah Manguso (August 9 2010)
73. The Adventures of a Photographer in La Plata by Adolfo Bioy Casares (August 10 2010)
74. The Book Thief- Markus Zusak (August 11 2010)
75. Once Was Lost- Sara Zarr (August 12 2010)
76. Written on the Body- Jeanette Winterson (August 12 2010)
77. Wintergirls- Laurie Halse Anderson (August 13 2010)
78. Define Normal-Julie Anne Peters (August 13 2010)
79. Water For Elephants- Sara Gruen (August 16 2010)
80. After- Amy Efaw (August 18 2010)
81. Primavera- Francesca Lia Block (August 18 2010)
82. Identity- Milan Kundera (August 19 2010)
83. I Know Some Things- Edited by Lorrie Moore (August 22 2010)
84. Crank- Ellen Hopkins (August 23 2010)
85. Night- Elie Wiesel (August 25 2010) AB
86. Vanishing And Other Stories- Deborah Willis (August 25 2010)
87. Keeping the Moon- Sarah Dessen (August 26 2010)
88. Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It- Maile Meloy (August 26 2010)
89. The Martian Chronicles- Ray Bradbury (August 30 2010) AB
90. If I Stay- Gayle Forman (September 2 2010)
91. Dancer- Colum McCann (September 4 2010)
92. I'd Know You Anywhere- Laura Lippman (September 5 2010)
93. How To Talk To A Widower- Jonathan Tropper (September 7 2010)
94. Identical- Ellen Hopkins (September 8 2010)
95. The Dream of a Common Language: Poems, 1974-1977- Adrienne Rich (September 9 2010)
96. Almost Perfect- Brian Katcher (September 10 2010)
97. The Lacuna- Barbara Kingsolver (September 14 2010)
98. Madness: A Bipolar Life- Marya Hornbacher (September 15 2010)
99. The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins (September 17 2010)
100. My Name Is Memory- Ann Brashares (September 18 2010)
101. Tell All- Chuck Palahniuk (September 18 2010)
102. Ape House- Sara Gruen (September 20 2010)
103. This Is Where I Leave You- Jonathan Tropper (September 21 2010)
104. Burned- Ellen Hopkins (September 22 2010)
105. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures: Stories- Vincent Lam (September 25 2010)
106. Serendipity Market- Penny Blubaugh (September 25 2010)
107. Prom Nights From Hell- Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephanie Meyer and Lauren Myracle (September 27 2010)
108. Up From The Blue- Susan Henderson (October 2 2010)
109. Glass- Ellen Hopkins (October 3 2010)
110. The Recipe Club- Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel (October 4 2010)
111. Birthday Letters- Ted Hughes (October 5 2010)
112. Twisted- Laurie Halse Anderson (October 6 2010)
113. Veronika Decides to Die- Paulo Coelho (October 8 2010)
114. The Next Queen of Heaven- Gregory Maguire (October 10 2010)
115. Fire in the Blood- Irène Némirovsky (October 11 2010)
116. Chains- Laurie Halse Anderson (October 12 2010)
117. Like a Man Gone Mad- Samuel Hazo (October 13 2010)
118. As the Sycamore Grows- Jennie Helderman (October 14 2010)
119. Ruby and the Stone Age Diet- Martin Millar (October 15 2010)
120. The Art of Disappearing- Ivy Pochoda (October 17 2010) + Author Interview
121. Stopping for Death- Selected by Carol Ann Duffy (October 17 2010)
122. The Mermaid's Pendant- LeAnn Neal Reilly (October 20 2010)
123. Dash and Lily's Book of Dares- Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (October 20 2010)
124. Great House- Nicole Krauss (October 22 2010)
125. Catalyst- Laurie Halse Anderson (October 30 2010)
126. Of Bees and Mist- Erick Setiawan (October 30 2010)
127. All I Ever Wanted- Kristin Higgins (November 3 2010)
128. Bones of Faerie- Janni Lee Simner (November 3 2010)
129. Arsenic and Clam Chowder: Murder in Gilded Age New York- James D. Livingston (November 5 2010)
130. Unstoppable in Stilettos- Lauren Ruotolo (November 6 2010)
131. By Nightfall- Michael Cunningham (November 7 2010)
132. Everything I Never Wanted To Be- Dina Kucera (November 7 2010)
133. The Everafter- Amy Huntley (November 8 2010)
134. Birthmarked- Caragh M. O'Brien (November 10 2010)
135. Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins (November 10 2010)
136. Mockingjay- Suzanne Collins (November 11 2010)
137. Outside the Ordinary World- Dori Ostermiller (November 20 2010)
138. Heidegger's Glasses- Thaisa Frank (November 28 2010)
139. Stay With Me- Sandra Barron Rodriguez (December 4 2010)
140. Choker- Elizabeth Woods (December 10 2010)
141. Salting Roses- Lorelle Marinello (December 11 2010)
142. The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel- Paulo Coelho (December 12 2010)
143. Every Riven Thing- Christian Wiman (December 13 2010)
144. Left Neglected- Lisa Genova (December 16 2010)
145. A Secret Gift- Ted Gup (December 18 2010)
146. Room- Emma Donoghue (December 23 2010)
147. Bending Toward the Sun- Leslie Gilbert-Lurie with Rita Lurie (December 24 2010)
148. Lost Lustre- Josh Karlen (December 26 2010)
149. Slice of Cherry- Dia Reeves (December 27 2010)
150. The Weird Sisters- Eleanor Brown (December 30 2010) + Author Interview

Books of 2010 I Wish I Hadn't Read- Adult

In 2010 I read a lot of really amazing books. Unfortunately I also read quite a few terrible ones, and so to help others avoid making the same mistake I have decided to share the top five books of 2010 that I wish I hadn't read.

5. Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman (Review)

His novel certainly had potential, but unfortunately Chuck Klosterman, author being the quirky and enjoyable (if slightly pretentious) Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, just doesn't do fiction well. Downtown Owl felt just like Klosterman, and while that works okay when you're doing opinion pieces the end result was a novel where all the characters sound the same and the reader can never really fall into the book.

4. Ruby and the Stone Age Diet by Martin Millar (Review)

Remind me again of that age-old saying, never judge a book by it's cover, because I did just that and picked up the visually stimulating but otherwise completely blah Ruby and the Stone Age Diet. Not only did the title have almost nothing to do with the book, but I'm still not entirely sure what the book was about, it just rambled and didn't really make any coherent sense in a way that mostly just got on my nerves. The novel itself is fairly short but it seems to drag on forever because the reader doesn't care about any of the characters or what is going to happen to them. There was a cute little story about a werewolf girl included though- why couldn't Millar have made that the novel instead? 

3. The Next Queen of Heaven by Gregory Maguire (Review)

I feel like I have probably berated The Next Queen of Heaven enough to last a lifetime, but that's only because I was so disappointed in it. Maguire had about twenty good story ideas- he just shouldn't have put them all in the same book. As somebody who enjoyed Wicked, although it has been about a decade since I read it, this book just lacked the polish and wit and instead left me muddled and bored.

2. Cleaving by Julie Powell (Review)

After only sorta enjoying Julie and Julia, I'm not sure what I decided to pick up Julie Powell's next memoir, Cleaving. The funny thing is, despite being a vegetarian, it was actually the portions about butchering I enjoyed the most. What wasn't so fantastic? The self-involved flaunting personality that Powell exhibits when it comes to her two year affair on her husband, as well as a pseudo "Eat Pray Love" journey to foreign countries to supposedly learn about butchering but really just tell the reader how attractive foreign men think she is.

1. Anything by Chuck Palahniuk (Specifically Snuff and Tell All) (Review #1, #2)

So maybe it is cheating to include two books under one option in a top five, but to be perfectly honest, I didn't want to waste any more of my life talking about the disgusting latest novels from Palahniuk. Besides, it's really hard to decide which book is worse. I mean, both Snuff and Tell All were so bad I honestly don't even want to write a whole paragraph discussing them, I just want to warn you to stay far far away- this coming from a girl who can pretty much quote Fight Club from memory. The only good thing I can tell you about these novels is that they are short, so at least the pain is over with quickly.

Do you agree or disagree with any of the titles I've included? What Adult books would make your worst of the year list?