Best Books of 2010

As is my typical end-of-year tradition, I've created a list of the best books I read in 2010. Generally, these are the ones that received 3 stars and above.

Fiction

1.  The Crying Tree, Naseem Rakha

2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer

3. The Favorites, Mary Yukari Waters

4. The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, Heidi Durrow

5. Windfalls, Jean Hegland

6. The Day the Falls Stood Still, Cathy Marie Buchanan

7. A Disobedient Girl, Ru Freeman

8. Before Women Had Wings, Connie May Fowler

9. The Color of Lightning, Paulette Jiles

10. The Millennium Trilogy (Girl with Dragon Tattoo, Played with Fire, Kicked the Hornet’s Nest), Stieg Larsson

11. In the Convent of Little Flowers, Indu Sundaresan

12. Vancouver, David Cruise and Alison Griffiths

13. Catching Fire and Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

14. When You Least Expect It, Whitney Gaskell

15. Secret Daughter, Shilpi Somaya Gowda

16. Push, Sapphire

17. Midori by Moonlight, Wendy Tokunaga

18. The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler

19. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery

20. Queen of Dreams, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

21. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia

22. The Help, Kathryn Stockett

23. Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin

24. The More You Ignore Me, Jo Brand

25. Small Wars, Sadie Jones

26. Broken Glass Park, Alina Bronsky

27. Supermarket, Satoshi Azuchi

28. The Palace Tiger, Barbara Cleverly

Nonfiction

1. This Lovely Life, Vicki Forman

2. Bad Mother, Ayelet Waldman

3. Open: An Autobiography, Andre Agassi

4. Stitches, David Small

5. Dating Jesus, Susan Campbell

6. Living Oprah, Robyn Okrant

7. Cowboy & Wills: A Love Story, Monica Holloway

8. Tattoos on the Heart, Gregory Boyle

9. Babyface: A Story of Heart and Bones, Jeanne McDermott

10. Pink Brain, Blue Brain, Lise Elliot

11. Siesta Lane, Amy Minato

12. Eat My Globe: One Year to Go Everywhere and Eat Everything, Simon Majumdar

13. Menu for the Future, Northwest Earth Institute

14. The Other Wes Moore, Wes Moore

15. In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan

16. Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven, Ute Ranke-Heinemann

17. Kabul Beauty School, Deborah Rodriguez

18. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, Rhoda Janzen

19. Get Real: What Kind of Real World Are You Buying, Mara Rockliff

20. Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata

And here are the recommendations from the rest of the family:

Mike’s Mentionables of 2010

1. Duma Key, Stephen King. My first experience with the master of horror.

2. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins. Best young adult novel.

3. Without Fail, Lee Child. Best thriller.

4. Jesus Freak, Sara Miles. Best religious book.

5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery. Best book about French snobs.

6. Dune, Frank Herbert. Read it to see how to create a world.

7. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card. Dystopian before dystopian became ‘in.’

8. Love, Aubrey, Suzanne LaFleur. Most touching children’s book I read this year.

9. I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President, Josh Lieb.
Most hilarious children’s book I read this year.

Kieran enjoyed the Boys Against the Girls series, the Lemony Snicket series, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and the A to Z Mysteries. Nicholas loves Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs and Christmas books, among many others. Chris’ favorites were Cricket Man; Point Blank; #6, #7, and #8 of the 39 Clues series; Eat My Globe; and George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom.